laudanum

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈlɔːdənəm/, /ˈlɔːdnəm/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from New Latin laudanum,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a name coined by Paracelsus for a medicine supposed to contain opium.^[3][4][6] Its origin is uncertain:^[3] it may be from Medieval Latin labdanum or lādanum “a gum resin”,^[2][3][6] or from Latin laudāre “to praise”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Various preparations in which opium was the main ingredient (1602–3).^[7][5][4] Barnhart dates the word to 1543.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that Paracelsus's remedy was said to contain gold and crushed pearls but probably owed its effect only to the opium.^[4] The word soon came to mean any alcoholic tincture of opium,^[4][7] and this is its only sense today.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1540s – New Latin laudanum, coined by Paracelsus.^[4][3]
• 1602–3 – opium preparations.^[7][5]
• 1616 – the gum resin ladanum.^[7]
• 1839–40 – verb, to dose with laudanum.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tincture of opium, formerly widely used as a medicine.

Related words

• ladanum
• opium

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press