transmutation
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transmutation
- /tɹanzmjuːˈteɪʃn̩/ UK
Where it comes from
Late 14th century, from Old French transmutacion (“transformation, metamorphosis”), from Late Latin transmutationem, from Latin transmutare (“to change”).
noun transmutations
- Change, alteration.
- The conversion of one thing into something else; transformation. Up I rose and forth I fared: / Took my plunge within the bath-pool, pacified the watch-dog scared, / Saw proceed the transmutation—Jura's black to one gold glow, […]
- The supposed transformation of one element into another, especially of a base metal into gold. The transmutation of metals was secondary to the main aim, which was the spiritual transformation of the adept.
- The actual transformation of one element into another by a nuclear reaction. Years later, scientists learned that the sun’s light—visible and invisible—is merely the by-product of a process alchemists had vainly tried to reproduce for centuries—the transmutation of one element into another. That nature accomplishes this before our very eyes, and that it is what creates the s
