narcotic

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English narcotik,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French narcotique, a noun use of the adjective, and directly borrowed from Medieval Latin narcōticum,^[4][3][5][6] from Ancient Greek ναρκωτικόν (narkōtikón), the neuter of ναρκωτικός (narkōtikós, “making stiff or numb, benumbing”),^[4][5][7] from ναρκοῦν (narkoûn, “to benumb, deaden”), from νάρκη (nárkē, “numbness, deadness, stupor, cramp; the electric ray”).^[4][7][8] The OED notes that the Greek noun was short for "narcotic medicament", and that the French word is recorded from 1314;^[5] Klein attributes its introduction into French to the surgeon Mondeville.^[7] The adjective, from 1526, is from Middle French narcotique and Medieval Latin narcōticus;^[5][9][8] Barnhart and Etymonline also allow German narkotisch, used by Paracelsus in 1525.^[3][4] Klein and Barnhart connect the Greek noun with Proto-Indo-European *(s)nerq- (“to turn, twist”), the source of snare and, through a simpler base, of narrow,^[7][3][4] but Beekes, quoted by Etymonline, finds this semantically far from convincing and suspects a Pre-Greek word.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A drug that brings on sleep or dulls the senses: about 1385, in Chaucer's Knight's Tale, where a prisoner escapes after giving his jailer wine mixed "with nercotikes and opye".^[2][5][3] Chaucer used the word twice.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Lydgate used narkotykes about 1425,^[2] and the adjective is recorded from 1526, in the Grete Herball,^[5][9] though Barnhart's first record is Holland's translation of Pliny (1601).^[3] From 1661 the adjective also described the state of narcosis itself.^[5][4] The extended sense "dull, sleep-inducing" was applied to people and things from 1751, in Johnson's Rambler,^[5] and the noun was used from 1796 for anything that produces torpor or boredom.^[5] The modern sense, any drug used for non-medical purposes and controlled by law, began in the United States: the OED's first record is a Maryland law of 1894, and it explains the use for drugs such as cocaine, which are not narcotic in effect, by their inclusion in lists of proscribed drugs in American narcotics laws.^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart date the sense "any illegal drug" to 1926.^[4][3]

Timeline

• c. 1385 – a drug that induces sleep or insensibility, in Chaucer.^[5][2][3]
• 1526 – adjective, producing sleep or stupor.^[5][9]
• 1661 – adjective, of the nature of narcosis.^[5][4]
• 1751 – adjective, of people or things: dull, sleep-inducing.^[5]
• 1796 – noun, something that produces torpor or boredom.^[5]
• 1894 – a drug used for non-medical purposes and controlled by law, originally in the United States.^[5] Etymonline and Barnhart date the sense "any illegal drug" to 1926.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drug, such as morphine or heroin, that dulls the senses, relieves pain and brings on sleep or stupor, and whose prolonged use can cause addiction.^[11][9][5]
2. Any illegal or legally controlled drug, whether narcotic in effect or not: The police found narcotics hidden in the van.^[11][9][5]
3. Anything that soothes, numbs the mind or produces boredom.^[11][5]

Adjective

1. Having the effect of a narcotic; inducing sleep or insensibility.^[9][11][5]
2. Causing mental lethargy; soporific: a narcotic sermon.^[9][5]
3. Of or relating to narcotics or their users: narcotic offences.^[11][9]
4. Of or relating to narcosis.^[11][5]

Word family

• narcotically
• subnarcotic
• nonnarcotic
• antinarcotic

Related words

• narco-
• narcosis
• narcoterrorism
• narcotize
• snare
• narrow

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins