physica

Forms

physica f (genitive physicae); first declension^[1] Also the Greek form physicē, and the neuter plural physica of physicus in the same sense.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φυσική (physikḗ, “natural science”),^[5][2][6] the feminine of φυσικός (physikós, “natural”), from φύσις (phúsis, “nature”).^[7][6] Etymonline traces the Greek word to the root of φύω (phúō, “to bring forth, make grow”), Proto-Indo-European *bʰuH-.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in the Academica and De finibus for natural science, beside philosophy and rhetoric.^[3][2][8]

Semantic evolution

For Cicero it is the study of nature, natural philosophy, one of the parts of philosophy.^[3][2] A glossary explains the word as Greek for “natural things”.^[9]

In Medieval Latin it took the sense of medical science and of a drug,^[10][6] beside the old sense of natural philosophy.^[11] Wiktionary gives the New Latin sense “physics”.^[1] English physic (c. 1300) comes from it partly through Old French, first meaning a healing potion and then natural science and medicine.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero: natural science.^[3][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius: to take up natural science.^[3][6]
• c. 1300 – English physic.^[7]
• 1580s – English physics, from the neuter plural.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. natural science, natural philosophy.^[2][8][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) medicine, medical science.^[10][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A drug, remedy.^[10]
4. (New Latin) physics.^[1]

Word family

• astrophysica
• metaphysica

Related words

• physicus
• English physic

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
11. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl