What is "minium"

minium \min"i*um\ (?; 277), n. [L. minium, an Iberian word, the Romans getting all their cinnabar from Spain; cf. Basque armine['a].] (Chem.) A heavy, brilliant red pigment, consisting of an oxide of lead, Pb3O4, obtained by exposing lead or massicot to a gentle and continued heat in the air. It is used as a cement, as a paint, and in the manufacture of flint glass. Called also red lead, lead tetroxide, lead orthoplumbate, mineral orange, mineral red, Paris red, Saturn red, and less definitively, lead oxide.

n. 1 (context now historical English) cinnabar, especially when used as a pigment; vermilion. (from 14th c.) 2 red lead. (from 17th c.)

n. a reddish oxide of lead (Pb3O4) used as a pigment in paints and in glass and ceramics [syn: red lead]

Minium is a genus of thalloid alga comprising approximately 1 species. The thalli take a crustose form.

Minium is the naturally occurring form of lead tetroxide, PbPbO also known as red lead. Minium is a light-to-vivid red and may have brown-to-yellow tints. It typically occurs in scaly-to-earthy masses. It crystallizes in the tetragonal crystal system.

Minium is rare and occurs in lead-mineral deposits that have been subjected to severe oxidizing conditions. It also occurs as a result of mine fires. It is associated with cerussite, galena, litharge, massicot, mimetite, native lead, and wulfenite.

It occurs in relatively small amounts throughout the world: Langhecke, Hesse; Badenweiler, Baden-Württemberg; Bleialf, Eifel district; Horhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It occurs at Mies, Slovenia; Leadhills, Lanarkshire, Scotland; Castelberg St. Avold, Moselle, France; from Langban, Varmland, Sweden; Sarrabus, Sardinia, Italy; near Anarak, Iran; and Tsumeb, Namibia. In the US, mines include the Jay Gould mine, Alturas County, Idaho; the Leadville district, Lake County, Colorado; and in the Tonopah-Belmont mine, Maricopa County, Arizona. It also occurs in Eschuchapa and Guerrero, Mexico. Good specimens were produced by a mine fire at the Broken Hill mine in New South Wales, Australia.

Minium has been identified as one of the pigments at Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Minium was named for the Iberian river known to the imperial Romans as Minius, now known as the Spanish Miño and the Portuguese Minho. The name was originally applied to certain forms of cinnabar that had been coated with the minium oxide; however, once the red lead contaminant was determined to be chemically distinct from cinnabar crystals, the name, minium, was applied.

For properties and uses of minium see lead tetroxide.

Minium, also known as red lead, is a bright orange red pigment that was widely used in the Middle Ages for the decoration of manuscripts and for painting. It was made by roasting white lead pigment in the air; the white lead would gradually turn yellow, then into an orange lead tetroxide. The color varied depending upon how long the mineral was roasted.

During the Roman Empire, the term minium could refer either to the pigment made from ground cinnabar or to the less expensive red lead. The name came from the river Minius in Iberia (now forming part of the Spanish-Portuguese border and known as Miño or Minho), located near the main Roman cinnabar mines. Pliny the Elder referred to it as flammeus, or flame color. The minium of red lead was easy to make and less expensive than the pigment made from the mineral cinnabar, and it was bright and cheerful, so it became the most commonly used bright red in Medieval painting until the introduction of vermilion.

The color was used in particular for the paragraph signs, versals, capitals, and headings which were colored red in Medieval manuscripts. The Latin verb for this kind of work was miniare, to apply minium, and a person who did this was known as a miniator. These medieval artists also made small illustrations and decorative drawings in the manuscripts, which became known as miniatures, the source of the English word for small works of art.

There was (and is) considerable confusion among the names of ancient and medieval pigments. As noted above, the term minium was used for cinnabar, vermilion, and for red lead. Minium of red lead was sometimes called stupium in classical Latin, adding to the confusion.

Minium may have been manufactured in China as early as 300 B.C. It was known in the Han Dynasty (200 BC-200 AD) under the name "cinnabar of lead" (ch'ien tan), The process of manufacturing it was described in a Chinese manuscript of the 5th century. Minium was widely used for Persian miniature painting and Indian miniature painting.

lead.jpg|A sample of minium pigment, made by roasting white lead pigment. e general estoria (códice del Escorial).jpg|The Códice del Escorial (1272-1284) from Spain. Medieval manuscripts often used red-orange minium pigment in the letters of the text and for small illustrations, called miniatures.