Disque de miroir scorifié.

English translation: mirror disc corroded

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:Disque de miroir scorifié.
English translation:mirror disc corroded
Entered by: angela3thomas

18:48 Jun 12, 2017
French to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Metallurgy / Casting / ancient art
French term or phrase: Disque de miroir scorifié.
Hi again!
DOC: 1907 Museum catalog of ancient Egyptian mirrors. The whole catalog entry.
44085. ***Disque de miroir entièrement scorifié.*** - Argent. - Haut. environ 0 m. 15 cent., larg. environ 0 m. 16 cent., épaiss. 0 m. 002 mill. - Dahshoûr, fouilles de M. de Morgan, 1894. Tordu et ayant les contours rongés, il est informe. On peut néanmoins rétablir sa hauteur, son diamètre et son épaisseur.
I also found this exact mirror described by another Egyptologist in his own 1925 catalog:
Un miroir argent qui n'est plus qu'un bloc rocheux de chlorure d'argent. Cette pièce, devenue informe, laisse deviner qu'elle était ou circulaire ou elliptique.
ATTEMPT: 44085. Mirror disk entirely slagged/turned to slag?/scorified?. -- Silver. -- Height about 15 cm, width about 16 cm, thickness 2 mm. -- Dahshur, de Morgan excavations, 1894. Twisted with worn down contours, it is shapeless. Nevertheless its height, diameter, and thickness can be re-established.
Definition of scorify = to remove (impurities) from metals by forming scoria ANOTHER To reduce an ore to scoria.
ISSUE: I don't know what to make of "scorifié".
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
angela3thomas
United States
mirror disc corroded
Explanation:
I share the misgivings expresses by others with respect to "scorify"; like "scorifier" in French, it denotes a deliberate process of purification by reduction to scoria or dross, and I don't think it's really suitable here, even though the author has (mis?)used it in French.

Clearly the silver has deteriorated through some chemical process, and the second description, referring to silver chloride, suggests that this is beyond tarnishing. I think "corrode" is perfectly suitable and disagree with mrrafe's suggestion that this verb is not appropriate for conversion to silver chloride, even if crystallisation is involved. The following is from an account of tarnishing of silver by a conservation specialist at the Victoria and Albert Museum:

"Silver chloride is also found as a corrosion product of silver"
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/i...

"Corrode" is quite a general term that can be applied to any degenerative process in metals by chemical action, and seems to me a safe option here.

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Note added at 12 hrs (2017-06-13 07:37:11 GMT)
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By the way, I wouldn't find immersion in seawater very surprising. At the British Museum last year there was a wonderful exhibition of objects from the city of Thonis-Heracleion, in the Nile delta, which sank into the sea.
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 16:19
Grading comment
Thanks everyone! I think both proposed answers are correct and are a fine fit for my context. Wish I could select both!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2mirror disc corroded
Charles Davis
3mirror disk entirely reduced to scoria
Herbmione Granger


Discussion entries: 16





  

Answers


11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
mirror disc corroded


Explanation:
I share the misgivings expresses by others with respect to "scorify"; like "scorifier" in French, it denotes a deliberate process of purification by reduction to scoria or dross, and I don't think it's really suitable here, even though the author has (mis?)used it in French.

Clearly the silver has deteriorated through some chemical process, and the second description, referring to silver chloride, suggests that this is beyond tarnishing. I think "corrode" is perfectly suitable and disagree with mrrafe's suggestion that this verb is not appropriate for conversion to silver chloride, even if crystallisation is involved. The following is from an account of tarnishing of silver by a conservation specialist at the Victoria and Albert Museum:

"Silver chloride is also found as a corrosion product of silver"
http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/conservation-journal/i...

"Corrode" is quite a general term that can be applied to any degenerative process in metals by chemical action, and seems to me a safe option here.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2017-06-13 07:37:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

By the way, I wouldn't find immersion in seawater very surprising. At the British Museum last year there was a wonderful exhibition of objects from the city of Thonis-Heracleion, in the Nile delta, which sank into the sea.

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 16:19
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thanks everyone! I think both proposed answers are correct and are a fine fit for my context. Wish I could select both!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard
19 mins
  -> Thanks, Phil

neutral  mrrafe: Deterioration? Agnostic because the UK journal is talking about a white layer, whereas I imagined a crystalline rock encrustation based on Author 2, like this: http://www.themineralgallery.com/Tucson2012-66EmbolitePropri...
2 hrs
  -> True re. V&A article, and I agree that it's probably more like that picture, but I think "corroded" will serve nevertheless. The problem for me is that anything more specific makes assumptions that could be wrong.

agree  Yolanda Broad
2 days 18 hrs
  -> Thank you, Yolanda :)
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14 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Disque de miroir entièrement scorifié
mirror disk entirely reduced to scoria


Explanation:
From context and discussion:
To scorify = to reduce an ore to scoria
Scorifié = reduced to scoria ?

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Note added at 16 hrs (2017-06-13 11:48:00 GMT)
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Of course, 'reduced' is idiomatic, meaning transformed into less valuable material, since oxidation presumably took place to make scoria, leaving behind pure silver with a lower oxidation state.

Herbmione Granger
Germany
Local time: 16:19
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
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