pharmacia

Forms

pharmacia f (genitive pharmaciae); first declension^[1][2] The TLL notes that it is mostly spelled fa-.^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φαρμακεία (pharmakeía, “the use of drugs”),^[1][3][4][5] from φάρμακον (phármakon, “a drug, charm, enchantment”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Scribonius Largus, in a definition: surgery and dietetics cannot be complete without pharmacia, the part of medicine that uses helpful remedies.^[1][4]

Semantic evolution

In Latin medical writing it first named the branch of medicine that heals with remedies, and appears mostly in definitions beside the other branches:^[1] Caelius Aurelianus speaks of the rule of remedies that the Greeks call pharmacia, and Isidore of Seville defines it as cure by medicines.^[1] It also came to mean a remedy itself, especially the name of a particular remedy, as in the Latin translation of Hippocrates' aphorisms and in Cassius Felix, where it is a purgative.^[1]

Medieval Latin used it for a drug,^[6] and Neo-Latin for the art of preparing medicines.^[2] English took it in the late 14th century, partly through Old French, first for a medicine that purges the body.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus uses it in a definition of the parts of medicine.^[1][4]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus speaks of the rule of remedies the Greeks call pharmacia.^[1][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville defines it as cure by medicines.^[1][4]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as farmacie, the source of pharmacy.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The branch of medicine that heals with drugs or remedies.^[1][2]
2. (Late Latin) A remedy, especially a purgative.^[1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A drug.^[6]

Related words

• pharmaceuticus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
3. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill