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Adamant is any especially hard substance, whether diamond, other gem or metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word adamas, meaning untameable.
Unlike iron, adamantine can affect the gods. In Greek mythology, Chronos uses an adamantine sickle to cut his father, a god-titan. In Norse myth, Loki is bound underground by adamantine chains.
Since diamond is now used exclusively for the hardest gem, adamant has mostly poetic or figurative use. As an increasingly archaic word, it -- and its adjectival form adamantine -- is especially often seen in fantasy fiction. For instance, in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Galadriel's ring Nenya is also named the "Ring of Adamant". The tower of the fortress built by the character Lord Asriel in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy is made of adamant. Adamantium is another form found in science fiction and fantasy.
In the book Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, the bottom of the flying isle of Laputa is made of adamant. The gigantic loadstone in the Astronomers' Cave that enables the island to move is also supported by adamant.
The word adamant is comparable to the word brimstone, an archaic word for sulfur or sulphur.
In the King James Version of the Bible the word adamant is used in several verses.
Ezekiel 3:9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they [be] a rebellious house. Later translations substitute the word diamond for Adamant
Other uses of the word
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