Julius Ruska. Tabula Smaragdina. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der hermetischen Literatur. Winter Heidelberg, 1926.
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Word of Greek origin, from τελεσμός (itself from τελέω, having meanings such as "to perform, accomplish" and "to consecrate, initiate"); "th"-initial spellings represent a corruption. The obscurity of this word's meaning brought forth many interpretations. An anonymous commentary from the 12th century explains telesmus as meaning "secret", mentioning that "divination among the Arabs" was "referred to as telesmus", and that it was "superior to all others"; of this later only the meaning of "a secret" would remain in the word. The word corresponds to طلسم (ṭilasm) in the Arabic text, which does indeed mean "enigma", but also "talisman" in Arabic. It has been asserted that the original meaning was in fact in reference to talismanic magic, and that this was lost in translation from Arabic to Latin (source: Jean-Marc Mandosio, La création verbale dans l’alchimie latine du Moyen Âge(չաշխատող հղում) (in French)). Otherwise, the word telesmus was also understood to mean "perfection", as can be seen in Isaac Newton's translation, or "treasure", or other things.
