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medicatus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word medicatus

medicatus1 medicinal

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin (medeor)

Forms

medicātus (feminine medicāta, neuter medicātum, comparative medicātior, superlative medicātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

The adjective is from Latin medicō (“to heal; to treat with a drug”): its perfect passive participle, used as an adjective.[1][2][3] That verb is formed from medicus (“doctor”),[1] which de Vaan derives from medeor (“to heal”); he explains its meaning by a shift from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”) to dispensing a cure.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is from Ovid's Metamorphoses, of a wand imbued with magic, medicāta … virga, soothing drowsy eyes.[1][3] Köbler dates it from Celsus,[5] who speaks of springs with healing properties, in medicātīs fontibus.[3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means having healing powers: Seneca uses it of waters and springs, Quintus Curtius of a healing draught, and Pliny the Younger of the mineral taste of water.[2][6] Pliny the Elder has a comparative for cow's milk and a superlative for the most medicinal things.[2][6]

The sense imbued with magic or other potent substances goes on in Lucan, of a charmed fire around a camp, and in Silius Italicus, of drugged poppies.[1]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a magic wand.[1][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of healing springs.[3][5]
  • 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it of a charmed fire.[1][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses its comparative and superlative.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having medicinal properties, healing.[1][2][3]
  2. Imbued with magic or other potent substances; drugged.[1][3]

medicatus2 magic charm

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
43 BC–18 AD, Ovid
Ultimate origin
Latin (medeor)

Forms

medicātus m (genitive medicātūs); fourth declension[1][2]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin medicō (“to heal; to drug”) + -tus, an action noun of the fourth declension;[1][7] Georges and Lewis and Short derive it from the deponent medicor (“to heal”).[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found only in Ovid's Heroides,[2][6][3] in a letter the TLL assigns to Medea: quaeque ferōs pepulī doctīs medicātibus ignēs, nōn valeō flammās effugere ipsa meās, “I who drove back fierce fires with skilled charms cannot escape my own flames”.[7]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries read the single passage differently: the OLD as the application of drugs, the TLL as an act of medicating or an incantation, Lewis and Short and Georges as a charm, Conte as a magic potion and Gaffiot as a magic preparation.[1][7][8][2][3][6]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of magic charms against fire.[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The application of drugs; a magic charm or potion.[1][7][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Medicatus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/medicatus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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