Etymologically
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physica

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpʰy.sɪ.ka], [ˈpʰy.sɪ.kaː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfiː.s̬i.ka], [ˈfiː.s̬i.ka][1]

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
  • 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