panacea

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [pa.naˈkeː.a]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [pa.naˈt͡ʃɛː.a]^[1]

Forms

panacēa f (genitive panacēae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia, “cure-all”),^[2][3][1] from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) and ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).^[1][4] The same plant was also called panacēs and panax.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil, in the Aeneid, has the juices of healing ambrosia and fragrant panacea sprinkled on a wound.^[2][6] Köbler dates Virgil 70–19 BC.^[7]

Semantic evolution

It was a herb believed to heal all diseases, an all-heal, which the OLD equates with panacēs.^[2][5] Lucan uses it too, and Pliny the Elder says some call a kind of savory by this name.^[2] Personified, Panacea was one of the daughters of Aesculapius, painted with her sisters, as Pliny records.^[2][8]

In medieval British Latin it was a plant, perhaps lovage.^[9] English panacea is recorded in the 1540s as a universal remedy.^[4]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil names it among healing juices.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of savory and names the goddess.^[2][7]
• 1540s – English panacea is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An all-healing herb, panacea.^[2][5]
2. A kind of savory.^[2]
3. (capitalized) Panacea, a daughter of Aesculapius.^[2][8]

Word family

• panacinus

Related words

• English panacea

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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