Basic Guidelines For English Spellings
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noun
GeologyAny of various eruptive or metamorphic rocks which have spots or markings like a snake and are usually green; serpentine.
Origin
Late 16th century; earliest use found in Robert Dallington (b. 1561), author and courtier. From classical Latin ophītēs ophites.
noun
Christian ChurchA member of an early Gnostic sect which worshipped the serpent.
According to the Ophites, the serpent in the story of the fall (Genesis 3) symbolized a higher god, who illuminates and liberates mankind.
Origin
Early 17th century; earliest use found in Edward Topsell (d. 1625), Church of England clergyman and author. From post-classical Latin Ophitae (late 2nd or early 3rd century in Tertullian) from Hellenistic Greek Ὀϕῖται, plural of Ὀϕίτης from ancient Greek ὄϕις serpent + -ίτης.
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