medicinalis

Forms

medicīnālis (neuter medicīnāle); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin medicīna (“the art of medicine”) + -ālis.^[2][1][3] medicīna is formed from medicus (“doctor”), from medeor (“to heal”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to measure”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Celsus, Scribonius Largus and Pliny the Elder on;^[3] in the preface of Celsus ars medicinalis is the art of medicine.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Pliny the Elder speaks of medical cupping glasses and a medical mortar,^[5][6] and Scribonius Largus of a surgeon's scalpel.^[5] Macrobius calls the finger next to the little finger the digitus medicinalis,^[5][7] a name medieval British writers still use beside anularis.^[8] A late grammatical work attributed to Augustine gives medicinale ferramentum “a medical instrument” as an example of a word named from medicina.^[3]

In Christian writers it also means healing in a spiritual sense, salutary.^[9] Medieval sources use it for medical books and learning and for curative herbs, springs and drugs;^[8] English borrowed it as medicinal in the mid-14th century, partly through French.^[10]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of the ars medicinalis, the art of medicine.^[5][11]
• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus has a medical scalpel.^[5][11]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of medical cupping glasses.^[5][11]
• 1st half of the 5th century AD – Macrobius names the ring finger digitus medicinalis.^[5][11]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of medical instruments that cure the sick.^[8][11]
• mid-14th century – English borrows it as medicinal.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or concerned with medicine, medical.^[2][5]
2. Used in medical practice (of instruments, cupping glasses, a mortar).^[5][8]
3. digitus medicinalis: the ring finger.^[5][7][8]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) healing, salutary.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin) curative, of herbs, springs and drugs.^[8]

Related words

• English medicinal

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de