#gold

• Abbasids — Members of the second great dynasty of caliphs who ruled the Islamic Caliphate (750–1258), centered in Baghdad. In the history of medicine, the Abbasid era represents the 'Golden Age' of Islamic medical sciences, characterized by the massive translation movement of Greek texts (Galen, Hippocrates), the founding of the first modern public hospitals (Bimaristan), the development of pharmacy as an independent discipline, and the emergence of illustrious medical encyclopedists such as Avicenna and Rhazes.
• Abrud — A town in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, located in the Abrud Depression within the Apuseni Mountains, on the river of the same name; it is an ancient mining center known since the Roman era as Abruttus, closely tied to gold extraction and historical events like the Revolt of Horea, Cloșca, and Crișan and the 1848 Revolution.
• Abul Vefa — The Latinized name of Abu al-Wafa al-Buzjani (Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Ismail ibn al-Abbas al-Buzjani), a legendary Persian mathematician and astronomer who flourished in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. He is considered one of the fathers of modern trigonometry, having introduced the secant and cosecant functions, perfected sine and tangent tables, and developed foundational trigonometric identities still used today in complex astronomical and geometric calculations.
• Acrostichum aureum — The bilingual scientific name of a specific mangrove fern species (commonly known as the golden leather fern), remarkable for its gigantic stature and extreme salinity tolerance. This halophytic plant presents large, leathery, golden-green fronds, with the fertile pinnae at the apex becoming completely covered underneath by a dense layer of sporangia of an intense golden-brown color, from which the specific epithet 'aureum' is derived.
• Gold kiwi — Scientific name for a species of climbing vine in the Actinidiaceae family, native to China and widely recognized as one of the primary species from which commercial kiwi fruit originates. Structurally, it is closely related to Actinidia deliciosa but is distinguished by its yellow or greenish-fleshed fruits, featuring a smoother, hairless skin and a sweeter, more tropical flavor, often marketed under the name 'yellow kiwi' or 'gold kiwi'.
• Aeetes — Mythological king of Colchis, son of the sun god Helios and the nymph Perseis, brother of the sorceress Circe and father of Medea. He is celebrated in Greek legends as the original owner of the Golden Fleece, which he guarded with a monstrous dragon that never slept, becoming the primary antagonist of Jason and the invading Argonauts.
• Agamemnon — A central character in Greek mythology and Homer's epic 'Iliad', legendary king of Mycenae and the supreme commander of the Achaean armies during the Trojan War. Son of Atreus and brother of Menelaus, his structural figure embodies absolute royal authority, but also the tragic pride that triggered the conflict with Achilles, being assassinated upon his return by his wife, Clytemnestra.
• Agathyrsi — An ancient population of Scythian or Thracian stock that inhabited the current territory of Transylvania, along the Mureș river valley, during the first millennium BC. Historically mentioned by Herodotus, they were renowned for their wealth in gold, their custom of tattooing their bodies and hair with blue designs as a sign of nobility, and for their laws transmitted orally in the form of chanted verses.
• Native gold variant — An old rare regionalism or archaism occasionally used in the past within mining communities or auriferous basins of Transylvania to designate a specific variety of native gold combined with other minerals or a pale-hued natural alloy; silvered white gold. In a structural context, the term preserves a strictly lexicographical value, being documented in applied ethnolinguistics studies and old mining glossaries of the Apuseni Mountains.
• Alburnus Maior — The ancient name of Roșia Montană in the Apuseni Mountains, Romania, founded as a mining settlement by the Romans during the reign of Emperor Trajan for the exploitation of rich gold deposits. The site is globally famous for its vast network of unique Roman mining galleries and for the discovery of wooden wax tablets (tăblițele cerate), which provide invaluable legal and economic insights into daily life in the Roman province of Dacia.
• Aldan — A major river in the Russian Federation (Eastern Siberia), serving as the largest right-bank tributary of the Lena River. Stretching over 2200 kilometers, it traverses the Aldan Highlands in Yakutia, a region rich in valuable mineral resources such as gold, coal, and mica. The term also designates the homonymous mining town located near the waterway.
• Allamanda — A genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, native to the tropical regions of Central and South America. It comprises species of climbing shrubs and vigorous vines, widely cultivated in warm climates or greenhouses as ornamental plants due to their glossy foliage and spectacular, large, usually yellow or purple funnel-shaped flowers.
• Allamanda cathartica — The scientific name of the most well-known species in the genus Allamanda, a vigorous tropical climbing plant popularly known as the 'golden trumpet' or 'common allamanda'. It is famous for its large, waxy yellow flowers up to 12 cm in diameter and is heavily used in tropical landscaping; all parts of the plant are toxic and possess strong purgative properties, from which the specific epithet 'cathartica' originates.
• Allium moly — The scientific name of an ornamental onion species in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to southern Europe (Spain, France, Italy), commonly known as 'golden garlic' or 'lily leek'. The plant develops rapidly into dense tufts and produces loose umbel inflorescences composed of large, bright golden-yellow star-shaped flowers, heavily used for naturalizing in partially shaded zones and cottage gardens.
• Almașu Mare — The name of a commune and its homonymous residential village located in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, situated in the Metaliferi Mountains. The region is famous since antiquity (the Daco-Roman period) for its rich gold and precious metal mining operations, while also hosting spectacular natural monuments such as the Cibul or Glod Gorges and a valuable local ethnographic museum.
• altaite — A rare metallic mineral, a lead telluride with the chemical formula PbTe, crystallizing in the cubic (isometric) system; it stands out structurally due to a yellowish-white or tin-white color with bright yellow reflections, high density, and perfect cleavage. It was initially discovered in the Altai Mountains, from which it derives its name, encountered in hydrothermal veins often associated with native gold and other tellurides.
• Altun — An old Ottoman gold coin, occasionally used also in the Romanian Principalities during the period of Turkish suzerainty; a high-value monetary piece made of precious metal, used in major commercial transactions, for hoarding, or for paying tribute to the Sublime Porte.
• Gold hoard — An archaic collective term used to designate a large sum of money consisting exclusively of gold coins (altuns) or the totality of precious metallic wealth owned by a person; by extension, it describes a state of opulence or a hoard accumulated from taxes and trade.
• Altun — Traditional graphical variant (spelled with 'î') for 'altângea'; an old high-value Ottoman gold coin that also circulated in the Romanian Principalities, specifically used for hoarding, large-scale commercial transactions, and paying tribute to the Sublime Porte.
• Basket-of-gold — A taxonomic synonym frequently used in horticulture for the species 'Aurinia saxatilis' (commonly known as goldentuft alyssum or basket-of-gold); a perennial herbaceous plant native to Central and Southern Europe, characterized by dense mounds, persistent grayish leaves, and bright-yellow inflorescences. It is highly valued for decorating retaining walls and alpine landscape arrangements.