φάρμακον

Forms

φᾰ́ρμᾰκον (phármakon) n (genitive φᾰρμᾰ́κου); second declension^[1] Mycenaean pa-ma-ko.^[2][1]

Etymology

Beekes considers it clearly Pre-Greek, from Pre-Greek: Furnée compared Hesychius' glosses φόρβαντα (phórbanta, “doctor's medicines”) and φόρβια (phórbia, “drugs”), which show the alternations of α with ο and of μ with β known from Pre-Greek words.^[2][3][4] Chantraine and Schwyzer had already suggested a foreign origin, since the word is isolated in Greek, like several plant names.^[2][5] The Mycenaean form is Mycenaean Greek pa-ma-ko.^[2][1]

Indo-European etymologies have often been tried: Osthoff compared a Baltic verb for bewitching, Havers derived it from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to strike”), as a cure for the “blow” of demons, Pisani proposed a compound with μάσσω (mássō, “to knead”), and Wharton a link with φύρω (phúrō, “to mix”).^[5] Chantraine rejects all four, because they do not explain the basic sense “simple herb”, and considers instead a link with φέρμα (phérma, “produce of the earth”), comparing Albanian bar (“grass, herb”).^[5] Frisk doubtfully thought of a root meaning “to cut”.^[5]

The Etymologicum Magnum explained the good drug as one that “brings the cure” and the harmful one as one that “brings pain”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears on the Mycenaean tablets as Mycenaean Greek pa-ma-ko.^[2][1] In Homer it is a drug, healing or harmful: a remedy laid on a wound, a potent herb, a drug cast into wine, and a magic potion.^[7][8][9] The Odyssey speaks of drugs “many good, and many baneful”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Its double sense remained: it is a medicine or remedy, as in Hesiod and Alcaeus, and a poison, as in Sophocles and Euripides.^[8][9] Antiphon and Plato's Phaedo speak of “drinking the drug”, the poison, and Thucydides of poison thrown into wells.^[8][9] It also meant a magic potion or charm.^[9][8] Figuratively it is a remedy for anything, or a means of producing something: Plato's Phaedrus calls writing a drug for memory and wisdom.^[8]

Empedocles, Herodotus and Plato use it for a dye or paint, and the alchemical papyri for a chemical reagent.^[8][2] The Septuagint has it for a medicine, a poison and a magic potion,^[10] and early Christian writings for a harmful drug, a poison.^[11] From its derivatives come φαρμακεία (pharmakeíā), whence, through Medieval Latin, English pharmacy, and φαρμακευτικός (pharmakeutikós), whence pharmaceutical.^[12] Latin borrowed the noun as Latin pharmacum.^[1]

Modern Greek φάρμακο (fármako, “medicine, drug”) is a learned borrowing of the ancient word.^[13]

Timeline

• Mycenaean – The tablets have pa-ma-ko.^[2]
• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for healing and harmful drugs and for magic potions.^[7][8][9]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod uses it for a remedy.^[8][14]
• 5th century BC – Herodotus and Empedocles use it for a dye.^[8][14]
• 5th century BC – Sophocles, Euripides and Thucydides use it for poison.^[8][9][14]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato's Phaedrus calls writing a drug for memory.^[8][14]
• 3rd–4th century AD – The alchemists use it for a chemical reagent.^[8][14]
• Modern Greek – φάρμακο means a medicine.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drug, healing or harmful; a medicinal herb.^[8][9][7]
2. A medicine, remedy, cure; figuratively, a remedy for anything or a means of producing something.^[8][9]
3. A poison.^[8][9]
4. A magic potion, charm, spell.^[8][9]
5. A dye, paint.^[8]
6. A chemical reagent; lye for washing.^[8]

Word family

• φαρμακεία (pharmakeíā)
• φαρμακεύς (pharmakeús)
• φαρμακευτικός (pharmakeutikós)
• φαρμακεύω (pharmakeúō)
• φαρμάκιον (pharmákion)
• φαρμακίς (pharmakís)
• φαρμακοπώλης (pharmakopṓlēs)
• φαρμακοτρίβης (pharmakotríbēs)
• φαρμακόω (pharmakóō)
• φαρμακώδης (pharmakṓdēs)
• φάρμαξις (phármaxis)
• φαρμάσσω (pharmássō)

Related words

• Latin pharmacum
• English pharmacy

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 Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2014), Pre-Greek: Phonology, Morphology, Lexicon, ed. Stefan Norbruis, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Scarborough, Matthew (2025), PHILOGLOSSA: database of Pre-Greek and other non-Indo-European words in Ancient Greek, version 1.0
5. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
6. ^ Gaisford, Thomas, ed. (1848), Etymologicum Magnum, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
10. ^ Lust, Johan; Eynikel, Erik; Hauspie, Katrin (2003), Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, rev. ed., Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft
11. ^ Bauer, Walter; Danker, Frederick W., et al. (2000), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed., Chicago: University of Chicago Press
12. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
14. ^ a b c d e Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge