Charles Davis Jun 23, 2013:

Adamantine in poetry It's a splendid word. By the late Middle Ages "adamantine" seems to have meant specifically "made of diamond", and that is apparently what Milton meant by it in these wonderful lines from Paradise Lost (on Satan):

"Him the Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie
With hideous ruine and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,
Who durst defie th' Omnipotent to Arms."

"Our prison strong, this huge convex of Fire,
Outrageous to devour, immures us round
Ninefold, and gates of burning Adamant
Barr'd over us prohibit all egress."

psicutrinius Jun 23, 2013:

Charles... I certainly share your viewpoint -I meant to support your comment and to add "reinforcing evidence".

Charles Davis Jun 23, 2013:

@ psicutrinius Yes, it must mean a diamond bit. My comment was etymological, not technical :)

psicutrinius Jun 23, 2013:

besides which this refers to a diamond drill bit, not a diamond-LIKE one.

Definition of adamant
adjective
refusing to be persuaded or to change one’s mind:he is adamant that he is not going to resign

noun
[mass noun] archaic
a legendary rock or mineral to which many properties were attributed, formerly associated with diamond or lodestone.

Origin:

Old English (as a noun), from Old French adamaunt-, via Latin from Greek adamas, adamant-, 'untameable, invincible' (later used to denote the hardest metal or stone, hence diamond), from a- 'not' + daman 'to tame'. The phrase to be adamant dates from the 1930s, although adjectival use had been implied in such collocations as ‘an adamant heart’ since the 16th century

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/adamant

adamantino, na.
(Del lat. adamantĭnus).
1. adj. diamantino. U. m. en leng. poét. (DRAE)

diamantino, na.
1. adj. Perteneciente o relativo al diamante.
2. adj. poét. Duro, persistente, inquebrantable.

Charles Davis Jun 17, 2013:

Quite poetic, but a bit strange "Adamant" comes from the same Greek root as "diamond". Up to the nineteenth century it was used in English, as "adamante" was in Spanish", to refer to a diamond, and "adamantine" means "diamond-like". But it's a quaint old-fashioned way of putting it.