pyx

Etymology

pyx (sense 1) from southern France or Spain.]] The noun is derived from Late Middle English pix, pixe (“vessel for holding a host, pyx; hip bone socket, pyxis”) [and other forms], from Late Latin pyxis (“vessel for holding a host”), Latin pyxis (“small box for medicines or toiletries; box holding sample coins for testing; hip bone socket; sailor's compass”), from Koine Greek πυξίς (puxís), Ancient Greek πῠξῐ́ς (puxís, “box; box or tablet made of boxwood; cylinder”), from πῠ́ξος (púxos, “box tree; boxwood”) + -ῐς (-is, suffix forming feminine nouns). Doublet of box. The verb is derived from the noun.

noun

1. (Roman Catholicism, also figurative) A small, usually round container used to hold the host (“consecrated bread or wafer of the Eucharist”), especially when bringing communion to the sick or others unable to attend Mass.
   [F]oraſmuche as we have often and many tymes, to our inwarde regrete and diſpleaſure, ſeen at oure Jen, in diverſe and many Churches of our Realme, the holie Sacrament of the Aulter kept in ful simple and inhoneſt Pixes, ſpecially Pixes of copre and tymbre: we have appointed and commaunded the Treſourer of our Chambre, and Maiſtre of our Juellhouſe, to cauſe to be made furthwith Pixes of ſilver and gilte, in a greate nombre, for the keping of the holie Sacrament of th'Aultre, after the faction of a Pixe that we have cauſed to be delivered to theim, […] 1509 April 20 (Gregorian calendar), Henry VII of England, edited by Thomas Astle], The Will of King Henry VII, London: Printed for the editor; and sold by T[homas] Payne,[…]; and B[enjamin] White,[…], published 1775, →OCLC, pages 37–38
   They have Pixes and Chalices for the Bleſſed Sacrament five hundred and fifty, ſome of pure Gold, others of Silver and Criſtal; and among them, is one that was offer'd to our Bleſſed Saviour, by one of the three Kings, when they came to Worſhip him, and brought Preſents. 1702, [William Bromley], “[In Italy]”, in Several Years Travels through Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Prussia, Sweden, Denmark and the United Provinces.[…], London: […] A[bel] Roper,[…], R. Basset[…], and W. Turner[…], →OCLC, page 52
   In the twelfth century Germany was at the head of artistic movement, and even France sent to her for skilled workmen in the industrial arts. Her treasuries are still rich in the various beautiful objects comprehended under the name of altar furniture, such as chalices, pyxes and monstrances, missals, reliquaries, and so on. 26 March 1870, “Reviews. Ecclesiastical Art in Germany during the Middle Ages. By Dr. Wilhelm Lübke. London: Simpkin & Marshall.”, in The Architect. A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Art, Civil Engineering, and Building, volume III, London: Gilbert Wood; […], →OCLC, page 152, column 2
   Let chalice, pyx and paten, lamp and candelabrum, crozier and mitre be studded with diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, and further enriched with figured representations of divine persons and things. 1888 July, “Art and Religion. Annual Lecture of Sir [Frederic] Leighton, President of the Royal Academy. London. The Decline of Art. By Francis Turner Palgrave, Professor of Poetry at Oxford.”, in The American Catholic Quarterly Review, volume XIII, number 51, Philadelphia, Pa.: Hardy and Mahony,[…], →OCLC, page 412
   They plundered the abbey of Holyrood at their departure, and afterwards the abbeys of Melrose and Dryburgh in their retreat, venting their rage by slaying the prior of Melrose and a few old monks who were too frail to take to flight, and carrying off a pyx from the altar after they had contemptuously thrown away the host. 1893, Thomas Thomson, Charles Annandale, “Reign of Robert Bruce Continued (1318–1326)”, in A History of the Scottish People from the Earliest Times.[…], divisional volume I (Earliest Times till Death of Robert Bruce, 1329), London, Glasgow: Blackie & Son,[…], →OCLC, page 259, column 1
   Inventory references and examples preserved to this day attest to the fact that pyxes were among the objects most frequently made by Limousin workshops. […] It is likely that, as early as the ninth century, pyxes containing the body of Christ (cum corpore Domini) were placed on the altar and used for the Communion of the sick. […] The pyx from the former Côte Collection is among the oldest and most beautiful examples. 1996, “IV. Limoges in Transition (1190–1230)”, in John P. O’Neill, editor, Enamels of Limoges 1100–1350, New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Museum of Art, entry 74 (Pyx), page 258
   On one of these visits she asked me to get her pyx, a beautiful, golden, highly decorated container used to carry the hosts for Holy Communion. She gave this to her fellow church worker who gave Mum her last Holy Communion. 2009, Claire Leimbach, Trypheyna McShane, Zenith Virago, “Talking about Death”, in The Intimacy of Death and Dying: Simple Guidance to Help You Through, Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Inspired Living, Allen & Unwin, pages 6–7
2. (by extension, rare) A (small) box; a casket, a coffret.
3. (chiefly Britain) A box used in a mint as a place to deposit sample coins intended to have the fineness of their metal and their weight tested before the coins are issued to the public.
   [T]he said Tresurer and other Officers of the sayd Mynts, to bring with them, at that tyme and place, all ther Pixes, and ther severall Indentures of Coynag, by and for the holle tyme the said Assaye shall be taken. 16th–17th century, Rogers Ruding, “Of the Trial of the Pix”, in John Yonge Akerman], editor, Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain and Its Dependencies; from the Earliest Period of Authentic History to the Reign of Victoria.[…], volume I, London: Printed for John Hearne,[…]; by Manning and Mason,[…], published 1840, →OCLC, page 73
   When His Majesty is pleased to call for the money in the pyx to be tried, by order of his Council, the same is signified to the Lord Chancellor and Lords of the Treasury. The Lord Chancellor summons a jury of goldsmiths for the trial. The Treasury order the Mint officers to produce their pyx, and the King's Remembrancer to swear the jury. 1 June 1837, J. W. Morrison (witness), “Report from the Select Committee on the Royal Mint; together with the Minutes of Evidence, Appendix and Index.[…]”, in Reports from Committees:[…], volume 12, [London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office], →OCLC, paragraph 2028, page 142
   There is also opened in their presence the Mint pyx—or rather two pyxes, one filled with sample gold coin, the other with silver. The three officials produce their three keys; the two pyxes are unlocked and opened; the jury unwrap the papers in which the coins have been placed, and count and weigh all the gold and silver. 19 December 1868, “Plenty of Money”, in E[neas] S[weetland] Dallas, editor, Once a Week, volume II, number 51 (New Series), London: Bradbury, Evans, and Co.,[…], →OCLC, page 515, column 1
   The readers of the work will learn […] the proper methods of the survey of green-wax, and the trial of the pyx. 21 November 1891, Charles Elton, “Literature. Some Historical Books.”, in James Sutherland Cotton], editor, The Academy. A Weekly Review of Literature, Science, and Art, volume XL, number 1020 (New Series), London: Alexander and Shepheard,[…], →OCLC, page 447, column 3
   [I]n the indentures of this period a clause is always inserted providing for the trial of the pyx. The master is instructed to place specimens of each day's production (the journey-weight) of coins in a pyx, which is to be sealed at the end of every three months and sent for trial. 1983, C[hristopher] E[velyn] Blunt, “Privy-marking and the Trial of the Pyx”, in C[hristopher] N[ugent] L[awrence] Brooke, B[ernard] H[arold] I[an] H[adley] Stewart, J[ohn] G[raham] Pollard, T[erence] R[odney] Volk, editors, Studies in Numismatic Method: Presented to Philip Grierson, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, page 225
4. (nautical, obsolete, rare) A compass used by sailors.
   Here I lament I had not the accomodation of the Pyxis, or any Horizontal Plate divided into more points of the Compaſs, though I ſee not that Natural Knowledge requires ſo exact a Pyx as Navigation uſeth; becauſe I boggle at this, that I find the North Cardinal point gives more inſtances than the Weſt. 1686, J[ohn] Goad, chapter XII, in Astro-meteorologica, or, Aphorisms and Large Significant Discourses of the Natures and Influences of the Cœlestial Bodies;[…], 2nd edition, London: […] O[badiah] B[lagrave] and sold by John Sprint,[…], published 1699, →OCLC, book I, § 56, page 61
   Who travels in religious jars, / (Truth mixt with error, ſhade with rays,) / Like Whiſton wanting pyx or ſtars, / In ocean wide or ſinks or ſtrays. c. 1710, [Richard] Bentley, “A Reply to a Copy of Verses Made in Imitation of Book III. Ode 2. of Horace. Angustam amice pauperium pati, &c. And Sent by Mr. [Walter] Titley to Dr. Bentley.”, in R[obert] Dodsley, editor, A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes.[…], volume VI, London: […] J. Hughs, for J[ames] Dodsley,[…], published 1765, →OCLC, page 189

verb

1. (obsolete) To place (the host) in a pyx.
   Than was yt boxed pyxed and tabernacled & so borne forth in processyon with torche lyght banner crosse candelstyck. 1545, Iohan Bale [i.e., John Bale], A Mysterye of Inyquyte Contayned within the Heretycall Genealogye of Ponce Pantolabus [John Huntingdon],[…], Geneva: […] Mycheal Woode [actually Antwerp: A. Goinus], →OCLC, folio 34, recto
   The bread that was left of this consecration or breaking, which was so holy as the other, was neither housed nor churched, boxed nor pixed, but remained there still to the householders, to be eaten of whomsoever lusted. 1545, John Bale, “[The Image of both Churches, Being an Exposition of the Most Wonderful Book of Revelation of St John the Evangelist.] The Twenty-second Chapter.”, in Henry Christmas, editor, Select Works of John Bale,[…] (Parker Society for the Publication of the Works of the Fathers and Early Writers of the Reformed English Church; 1), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] The University Press, published 1849, →OCLC, page 628
   Christ ordained the supper to be a taking matter, an eating matter, a distributing and remembering matter: contrary our mass-men make it a matter, not of taking, but of gazing, peeping, pixing, boxing, carrying, re-carrying, worshipping, stooping, kneeling, knocking, with "stoop down before," "hold up higher," "I thank God I see my Maker to-day," etc. Christ ordained it a table-matter: we turn it to an altar-matter. 1583, John Foxe, “The Preface to the Reader”, in Josiah Pratt, editor, The Acts and Monuments of John Foxe.[…], 3rd edition, volume VI, London: George Seeley,[…], published 1870, →OCLC, book X (The Beginning of the Reign of Queen Mary), page 361
2. (figurative) To enclose (something) in a box or other container; specifically, to place (a deceased person's body) in a coffin">coffin; to coffin">coffin, to encoffin.
   Here lies poor Artedi, in foreign land pyx'd / Not a man nor a fish, but something betwixt, / Not a man, for his life amongst fishes he past, / Not a fish, for he perished by water at last. Based on a Latin epitaph by Anders Celsius, Shaw’s English translation was inscribed on the back flyleaf of Carl Linnaeus’s copy of Peter Artedi’s work Ichthyologica. Artedi, a Swedish naturalist known as the “father of ichthyology”, fell into a canal in Amsterdam and drowned. a. 1814, George Shaw, “In Humulum Artedi”, in Theodore W[ells] Pietsch [III], The Curious Death of Peter Artedi: A Mystery in the History of Science, New York, N.Y.: Scott & Nix, published 2010
   There pyxed in alabastrine cell, / All uncorrupt his shade shall dwell, / While waves his memory chime; […] 1888, James Saunders, “Raygarth’s Gladys”, in Raygarth’s Gladys: And Other Poems, London: Thomas Laurie,[…], →OCLC, stanza VI, page 37
3. (chiefly Britain) To deposit (sample coins) in a pyx; (by extension) to test (such coins) for the fineness of metal and weight before a mint issues them to the public.
   After the said moneys shall be by the said warden and the assaymaster tried and pyxed as ordered by the said indenture, the said master worker shall make true deliverance and payment of the same to every person by weight by the same balance and weight whereof he shall receive the same bullion, taking again his said bills; […] 1578 October 7 (Gregorian calendar), “Commission to Richard Martyn”, in Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office: Elizabeth I, volumes VII (1575–1578), London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 1982, part IV (20 Elizabeth I, C. 66/1167), paragraph 2885, page 437
   [W]hen the money is coined it is not allowed to go out of the mint until pixed; that is, until it had been ascertained, by the assay of one piece taken out of each journeyweight of coin, that it is of standard purity: […] 1842, “ASSA′Y”, in W[illiam] T[homas] Brande, assisted by Joseph Cauvin, editors, A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art:[…], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans,[…], →OCLC, page 95, column 2
   Among the incidental operations [in manufacturing coins] are […] "pyxing" the finished coin, or selecting specimens to be weighed and assayed; […] 1911, Thomas Kirke Rose, “MINT”, in Hugh Chisholm, editor, The Encyclopædia Britannica[…], 11th edition, volume XVIII (Medal to Mumps), New York, N.Y.: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, →OCLC, page 559, column 2
   It appears that, in this instance, the coin had to wait a certain time for what is called the regular pyxing day; would it not be possible for you to fix the time for pyxing as soon as the coin was delivered to you, without waiting for the regular days? 27 June 1837, Henry Labouchère, “Select Committee on the Royal Mint”, in Reports from Committees:[…], volume 12, [London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office], →OCLC, paragraph 2564, page 178
   Arrived per tramway before alluded to, they [the coins] are now "pyxed" by the senior officers. […] The pyxing at the Mint is a short operation, and after it the coins are ready for delivery to the Bank. 15 July 1859, “Money-making at the Royal Mint. No. VI.”, in R. J. Brooman, E[dward] J[ames] Reed, editors, The Mechanics’ Magazine and Journal of Engineering, Agricultural Machinery, Manufactures, and Shipbuilding, volume 2, number 29, London: Richard Archibald Brooman,[…], →OCLC, pages 38–39
   From hence arises myriad serpent brood / Of varied shape,—men, snakes and devils mixed. / Persuade or hiss according to their mood, / But inward grovel all, decretal-pyxed. Pyxed is apparently used here to mean “tested”; in an editor’s note on page 53, the term decretal-pyxed is explained as “[s]ettled by authoritative letter or decree”. 1915, T. K. E. [pseudonym; attributed to Le Roy Bliss Peckham], edited by W. G. Sette, Sin, Original and Actual: The Plain People’s Plaint, Boston, Mass.: Richard G. Badger; Toronto, Ont.: The Copp Clark Co., →OCLC, stanza XXXV, page 46
   If the random sample pyxed passed the tests, all was well, and the Master was entitled without charge to a quittance under the great seal of England; but if the moneys did not pass, then he was liable to an unlimited fine. 1981, George C. Boon, Cardiganshire Silver and the Aberystwyth Mint in Peace & War, Cardiff: Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru = National Museum of Wales, page 75
   Coins marked '2' were pyxed on 7 June 1603. 1986, Joe Cribb, editor, Money: From Cowrie Shells to Credit Cards:[…], London: British Museum Publications for the Trustees of the British Museum, page 62