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A.Word.A.Day--Talmi gold

This week's theme: eponyms.

Talmi gold (TAL-mee gold) noun

Brass, plated with gold, used in making cheap jewelry.

[After Tallois, the French inventor in the 19th century. The term comes to English from German Talmigold, a partial translation of French Tal. mi-or, a contraction of Tallois demi-or, from demi (half) + or (gold).]

-Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org)

"Talmi-gold and similar trinkets are identical with what they momentarily do for their wearer; genuine jewels are a value that goes beyond this." Georg Simmel; Simmel on Culture; Sage Publications; 1997.

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