chelidonius

Ultimately from Ancient Greek χελῑδών (khelīdṓn, “swallow”).

chelidonius

1. (rare) A stone supposed to be taken from the stomach of a swallow, with purported magical or medicinal properties.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition II, section 4, member 1, subsection iv:

     In the belly of a swallow, there is a stone found, called chelidonius, “which, if it be lapped in a fair cloth, and tied to the right arm, will cure lunaticks, mad men, make them amiable and merry.”

   • 1915, George Frederick Kunz, The Magic of Jewels and Charms, page 172:

     According to Thomas de Cantimpré the swallow-stone is a talisman for merchants and tradesmen. The merits of the chelidonius, as this stone was called, were fully recognized in Saxon England and are given due prominence in an Anglo-Saxon medical treatise, dating form the first half of the tenth century.

   • 1923, Lynn Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, volume IV, page 421:

     while he discusses the chelidonius, he says nothing of extracting it so soon and describes the colors of its two varieties as black and red, and so does Bartholomew later on.

Borrowed from Ancient Greek χελῑδόνῐος (khelīdónios).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kʰe.liːˈdo.ni.us/, [kʰɛlʲiːˈd̪ɔniʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ke.liˈdo.ni.us/, [keliˈd̪ɔːnius]

chelīdonius (feminine chelīdonia, neuter chelīdonium); first/second-declension adjective

1. of, belonging to, coloured like, or pertaining to the swallow

First/second-declension adjective.

• chelīdonia

• “chĕlīdŏnĭus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• chĕlīdŏnĭus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 300/1.
• “chelīdonius” on page 309/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)