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CAMEO

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 104 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMEO , a See also:

term of doubtful origin, applied in the first instance to engraved See also:work executed in See also:relief on hard or See also:precious stones. It is also applied to imitations of such stones in See also:glass, called " pastes," or on the shells of molluscous animals. A cameo is therefore the converse of an See also:intaglio, which consists of an incised or sunk See also:engraving in the same class of materials. For the See also:history of this See also:branch of See also:art, and for an See also:account of some of its most remarkable examples, see See also:GEM. The origin of the word is doubtful and has been a See also:matter of copious controversy. The New See also:English See also:Dictionary quotes its use in a Sarum See also:inventory of 1222, " lapis unus cameu " and " See also:magnus camehu." The word is in current use in the 13th See also:century. Thus See also:Matthew See also:Paris, in his See also:Life of See also:Abbot See also:Leofric of St Albans, in the Abbatum S. See also:Albani Vitae, says: " retentis quibusdam nobilibus lapidibus insculptis, quos camaeos vulgariter appellamus." In variant forms the word has found its way into most See also:languages, e.g. Latin, camahutus, camahelus, camaynus; See also:Italian, chammeo, chameo; See also:French, camahieu, chemahou, camaut, camaieu. The following may be mentioned among the derivations that have been proposed: von See also:Hammer: camaut, the hump of a See also:camel; See also:Littre and others: camateum, an assumed See also:Low Latin See also:form from Kaµamevety and Kaµarov; Chabouillet and Babelon: See also:KEt,t lXta, treasures, connecting the word in particular with the See also:dispersion of treasures from See also:Constantinople, in 1204; See also:King: Arabic camea, an See also:amulet. For a bibliography of the question, see Babelon, See also:Cat. See also:des Garages . . de la Bibliotheque Nationale, p. iv.

End of Article: CAMEO

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