πανάκεια

Pronunciation

• IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /pa.ná.keː.a/^[1]
• IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /paˈna.ci.a/^[1]
• IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /paˈna.ci.a/^[1]

Forms

πᾰνᾰ́κεια (panákeia) f (genitive πᾰνᾰ́κείᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”) with the suffix -ια (-ia).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aristophanes' Wealth and the Hippocratic Oath name Panakeia, “All-Healer”, a daughter of Asclepius.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As a common noun it was the name of a healing herb or its juice, which Callimachus plays on, Theophrastus identifies with Hercules' woundwort, and later writers with other plants.^[2][3] Philo, Longinus and Galen use it for a universal remedy, a panacea.^[2] The Pythagoreans used it as a name for the number six.^[2] Hesychius glosses it simply as “healing”.^[4]

Modern Greek πανάκεια (panákeia) is a learned word for a remedy for every illness, and figuratively for anything that cures all problems.^[5]

Timeline

• 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes names Panakeia, daughter of Asclepius.^[2][3]
• 4th–3rd century BC – Theophrastus uses it for a medicinal plant.^[2]
• 1st century BC – 1st century AD – Philo uses it for a universal remedy.^[2]
• 2nd century AD – Galen uses it for a remedy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (personified) Panakeia, a daughter of Asclepius.^[2][3]
2. A healing herb, as Hercules' woundwort, or its juice.^[2][1]
3. A universal remedy, panacea.^[2][1]
4. (Pythagorean) The number six.^[2]

Related words

• πανακής (panakḗs)
• English panacea

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
4. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. Kurt Latte (Α–Ο, Copenhagen 1953–1966) and Moritz Schmidt (Π–Ω, Jena 1858–1868)
5. ^ Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki