aurifex

Etymology

From aurum (“gold”) +‎ -fex (“suffix representing a maker or producer”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯.ri.feks/, [ˈäu̯rɪfɛks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯.ri.feks/, [ˈäːu̯rifeks]

Noun

aurifex m (genitive aurificis); third declension

1. A worker in gold, goldsmith.

   Synonym: aurārius

   • c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 18.23:

     Acus vocatur cum per se pisitur spica tantum aurificum ad usus.

     When the beard is ground by itself, without the grain, the result is known as acus, but it is only used by goldsmiths.

References

• “aurifex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “aurifex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "aurifex", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• aurifex in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “aurĭfex”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 25: Refonte Apaideutos–Azymus, page 1006
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “aurifex”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 52