Etymologically
Log in

medicatus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 15:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

medicatus1 medicinal

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

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