Etymologically
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pharmacum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpʰar.ma.kũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfar.ma.kum][1]

Forms

pharmacum n (genitive pharmacī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φάρμακον (phármakon, “drug, charm, enchantment”).[1][2][3] Köbler compares, for the Greek word, Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to cut, scratch, rub”).[2][4] The TLL gives Romanian farmec (“magic power or action”) as its continuant.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Late Latin, in the Latin Oribasius,[2][3] meaning a healing drug or remedy.[3]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary calls it post-Augustan.[1] In the Latin medical texts, the Latin Hippocrates and Oribasius, it is a healing medicine, often rendering Greek pharmakon or pharmakeia;[3] it is usually spelt with ⟨f⟩ in the manuscripts.[3] It could also mean a poison.[1][5][6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a remedy or medicine,[7] and medieval Latin kept both senses, poison and drug.[6] British medieval writers spell it farmacum and use it for a drug in general, or more narrowly for a laxative.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 325–c. 403 AD – The Latin Oribasius uses it of medicines.[3][2]
  • Medieval Latin – It means both poison and drug.[6][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A drug, medicine, remedy.[3][1][7]
  2. A poison.[1][5][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin, medicine) A laxative.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
  5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c 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