ψάμμος, ἡ,
but in [[ 3rd c.BC: Archimedes Geometra “ψαμμίτης” 1.1, +others, ] Refs 3rd c.BC+] always ὁ:— sand, used by [[ 8th c.BC: Homerus Epicus for ψάμαθος only in 8th c.BC: Odyssea Homerus Epicus “Odyssey” 12.243 ] Refs 8th c.BC+], later very frequently, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 8.71, etc.] Refs 5th c.BC+]: plural, grains of sand, αἱ ἀπ᾽ ἀλλήλων ἐσκεδασμέναι ψάμμοι [[ 2nd c.AD: Sextus Empiricus Philosophus “Πυρρώνειοι ὑποτυπώσεις” 1.130: proverbial, ψάμμος ἀριθμὸν περιπέφευγεν 5th c.BC: Pindarus Lyricus “O.” 2.98 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; οἶδα δ᾽ ἐγὼ ψάμμου τ᾽ ἀριθμόν Oracle texts cited in [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 1.47 ] Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἐκ ψάμμου σχοινίον πλέκειν, of labour in vain, [[ 2nd c.AD: Aristides Rhetor 2.309J. ] Refs 2nd c.AD+]; of something worthless, [[ LXX.Wis.7.9, 4th c.BC: Demosthenes Orator Chr.77/ 8.30; ψάμμου ἄξιον 2nd c.AD: Oenomaus Philosophus cited in 4th c.AD: Eusebius Caesariensis Scriptor Ecclesiasticus “Praeparatio Evangelica” 5.21. ] LXX+4th c.BC+]
__2 metallic ore used by alchemists, in plural, Olymp.[[Alch. p.106B., 3rd-4th c.AD: Zosimus Alchemista p.239 5th c.BC: Bacchylides Lyricus ] Refs 5th c.BC+]
__II ἡ ψ. the sandy desert of Libya, the sand, [[ 5th c.BC: Herodotus Historicus 3.25, 4.173; πλείστης ψάμμου “OGI” 666.27 (Egypt, 1st c.AD). (Prob. Ψαφ-μος, compare ψαφαρός, ψῆφος,] Refs 5th c.BC+] Latin sabulum.)