Etymologically
Log in

laudanum

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word laudanum

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Coinage
First attested
1540s, Paracelsus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin laudanum
English laudanum

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫau̯.da.nũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈlaːu̯.da.num][1]

Forms

laudanum n (genitive laudanī); second declension[1]

Etymology

As the name of a medicine it was coined by Paracelsus, who gave a pretended recipe for it with leaf gold and unpierced pearls among the ingredients.[2][3] The OED considers it doubtful whether he applied the medieval Latin spelling laudanum of ladanum (the gum resin) fancifully, took the name from laudāre “to praise”, or formed it arbitrarily.[2] Etymonline gives both explanations.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before Paracelsus, laudanum was a spelling of ladanum, the gum resin, which the TLL finds in late medical texts; it suggests that the spelling came from a supposed derivation from laudāre.[4]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Latin the form is used for the resin in a recipe cited by Du Cange,[5] and a Polish source uses it for the shrub that yields the resin.[6]

It was early suspected that the real agent of the cures Paracelsus claimed was opium, and the name was therefore applied to opiate preparations sold as his remedy;[2][3] it soon came to mean any alcoholic tincture of opium.[3]

Timeline

  • 1540s – Paracelsus uses laudanum as the name of his medicine.[3]
  • c. 1602 – The English word laudanum is recorded for a compound that soothes pain.[2]
  • 1616 – English laudanum is also used for the gum resin ladanum.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) The gum resin ladanum, or the shrub that yields it.[5][6][7]
  2. (New Latin) laudanum, a medicine of Paracelsus, later an opiate preparation.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  6. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  7. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Laudanum.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/laudanum. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·