Etymologically
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panacea

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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

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