φαρμακοποιία

Forms

φᾰρμᾰκοποιῐ́ᾱ (pharmakopoiíā) f (genitive φᾰρμᾰκοποιῐ́ᾱς); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Ancient Greek φαρμακοποιός (pharmakopoiós, “preparing drugs”).^[2][3] The adjective is a compound of φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug”) and ποιέω (poiéō, “to make”).^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

LSJ cites it only from Diogenes Laertius (7.117), meaning the preparation of drugs.^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

Bailly takes the drugs to include poisons as well as medicines, and Pape defines it as the art of the pharmacist.^[2][7]

The word was revived in the learned language.^[8] Modern Greek φαρμακοποιία (farmakopoiía) keeps the old sense and also names the official list of medicines and the rules for preparing them, a sense the Χρηστικό Λεξικό traces to French pharmacopée and English pharmacopoeia.^[8][9][10] The English word, from medical Latin, is recorded from the 1620s;^[4] Anutius Foesius was the first to use it as the title of a book.^[4]

Timeline

• 3rd century AD – Diogenes Laertius uses it for the preparation of drugs.^[5][2]
• 1620s – English pharmacopoeia is first recorded, through medical Latin.^[4]
• Modern Greek – The learned word means pharmacy as an art and the official list of medicines.^[8][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. The preparation of drugs or medicines.^[5][2][12]
2. The art of preparing drugs, pharmacy.^[7]

Related words

• φάρμακον (phármakon)
• English pharmacopoeia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Bailly, Anatole (2020), Dictionnaire grec-français, Bailly 2020 Hugo Chávez ed., ed. Gérard Gréco et al.
3. ^ Τεγόπουλος, Γ.; Φυτράκης, Ε. (1997), Μείζον Ελληνικό Λεξικό, Athens: Αρμονία
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Keersmaekers, Alek (2021–2025), GLAUx: The Greek Language Automated corpus, https://github.com/alekkeersmaekers/glaux
7. ^ a b Pape, Wilhelm (1914), Griechisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 3rd ed., rev. Max Sengebusch, Braunschweig: Vieweg
8. ^ a b c Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
9. ^ Ακαδημία Αθηνών (2014), Χρηστικό Λεξικό της Νεοελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Academy of Athens
10. ^ Πάπυρος–Larousse–Britannica, Μέγα Λεξικό της Ελληνικής Γλώσσας, Athens: Πάπυρος
11. ^ Πολυλεξικό, in the encyclopedia Επιστήμη και Ζωή, Athens
12. ^ Korinthios, J. (2025), Grande Dizionario Greco Classico: Greco–Italiano, digital ed., Milan: Hoepli