medicina

Forms

medicina f (plural medicinas)^[1] Old Spanish had melezina (Berceo, the Libro de Alexandre, Alfonso X), medecina, medezina and medeçina;^[1] medicina is recorded from about 1250.^[2][3][4] Melecina is still common in popular speech, as in Asturias;^[1] Murcia has mecina and Navarre merecina.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin medicīna (“the art of healing; remedy”).^[2][6][7][1] The Latin noun is the feminine of medicīnus (“of a doctor, healing”), from medicus (“doctor”).^[8][1][9] These go back to medeor (“to heal, cure”), from Proto-Italic *med-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).^[10]

Popular forms of the same word are Portuguese mezinha “home remedy”, Catalan metzina “poison” and Old French mecine.^[11][12] French médecine and Italian medicina were taken from Latin, as the Spanish word was; the French word replaced the popular Old French form.^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first hit is the Fazienda de Ultra Mar of about 1200, in a 13th-century copy, with the plural medecinas.^[3] The first without a later copy is the Semejanza del mundo of about 1223, where stones are good para tener medeçinas “for keeping medicines”.^[3] The DTME dates the word from 1228, and Corominas dates medicina from the Setenario of about 1250 and melezina from Berceo.^[14][2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant both a remedy and the art of healing: Berceo calls the Virgin de cuerpos e de almas salud e medicina “health and medicine of bodies and souls”, and Alfonso X writes of Galen as learned en la arte de la melezina.^[3][4] In the Middle Ages the physician was usually físico rather than médico.^[2] Covarrubias defined medicina in 1611 as the faculty the doctor professes and the remedies he gives, and the Autoridades called it a purely Latin word.^[15][16] The Academy's dictionary of 1884 added medicina legal, medical science applied to the courts.^[17] Moliner also gives the sense “remedy” for anything that relieves a trouble.^[18] In El Salvador the word is used jokingly for liquor.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – the Fazienda de Ultra Mar has medecinas (in a 13th-century copy).^[3]
• c. 1223 – the Semejanza del mundo has medeçinas.^[3]
• c. 1230 – Berceo has melezina and medezina.^[2][3]
• c. 1250 – the Setenario has medicina.^[2][6]
• 1494 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[20]
• 1611 – Covarrubias defines it.^[15]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives its etymology and medicina legal.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. medicine: the science and practice of preventing, diagnosing and treating disease.^[7][1]
2. A medicine; a medicamento.^[7][18]
3. The medical profession and its work: la medicina rural del siglo XIX.^[18]
4. A remedy (remedio) for any trouble: El deporte es su medicina contra el estrés.^[18]
5. (El Salvador, humorous) Liquor.^[19]

Word family

• medicinal
• medicinar

Related words

• médico
• medicamento
• remedio
• Latin medicīna

Usage notes

Set phrases include medicina legal “forensic medicine”, medicina interna and medicina alternativa.^[7][18]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 11
3. ^ a b c d e f g Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. medicina
4. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. medicina
5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. medicina
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. médico
7. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. medicina
8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. s.v. medicina
9. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. medicina
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. medicina
12. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. mezinha
13. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. médecine
14. ^ Real Academia Nacional de Medicina (2011), Diccionario de términos médicos, Madrid: Editorial Médica Panamericana; online at https://dtme.ranm.es, p. s.v. medicina
15. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1125
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. s.v. medicina
17. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 689
18. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. medicina
19. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. medicina
20. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. medecina