Vitrescent

Vitrescent (pronounced vi-tres-uhnt)

(1) Becoming glass.

(2) Tending to become glass.

(3) Capable of being formed into glass.

1750–1760: A construct from the Latin vitr(um) (glass) + -escent (from the Latin –ēscēns (present participle of –ēscō) (I become); vitrescence is the noun.  Vitrum was from the Proto-Italic wedrom (glass), from the primitive Indo-European wed-ro- (water-like), from wed- (water) (from which Latin gained unda (water)). The semantic parallel exists also in Middle Iranian where "glass" is also derived from "water", the Middle Persian p̄ḵynk (ābgēnag) (crystal, glass), a compound of ʾp̄ (āb), (water) + -kyn' (-gēn) + -k' (-ag) from the Persian آبگینه‎ (ābgīna) (glass).

Many verbs ending in -ēscō are inchoatives in -scō formed from statives in -eō. However, some verbs exist that are derived directly from the adjective, with no "intermediate" stative verb existing (eg amārus > amārēscō (but no amāreō) & celeber > celebrēscō (but no celebreō).

666

It’s an urban myth the glass panes in the Louvre Pyramid number exactly 666.  That number is known from the Book of Revelation (13:1-18) in the New Testament (in other ancient texts the number is given as 616 but 666 has long been the universal translation).

Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.  He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men.

And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived.  He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.

Either as misprint, mistake or mischief, promotional material published during the construction twice mentioned 666 panes (and once 672); there are actually 673 (603 rhombi & 70 triangles).

Lindsay Lohan in front of the Louvre Pyramid, Paris, March, 2015.