physicus

Forms

physicus (feminine physica, neuter physicum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φυσικός (phusikós, “natural, of nature”),^[2][1][3] which Köbler connects with φύσις (phúsis, “nature”).^[4] The noun is the adjective used as a substantive.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest quotation in the OLD is from Varro, who, as Augustine reports, called the theology of the poets “mythical” and that of the philosophers physicon, “natural”.^[2] In his work on farming Varro also uses the noun, for Democritus and Anaxagoras as natural philosophers.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL counts about 75 uses in Cicero, the first prose author to use it, beside Varro and Vitruvius.^[7] Cicero glosses the noun himself: physicum, id est speculatorem venatoremque naturae, “a natural philosopher, that is, an observer and hunter of nature”.^[5][6] The neuter plural physica named natural science as a subject of study.^[2][6] The OLD also gives it the sense “natural, inborn”, with a passage of Hyginus.^[2]

In Late Latin the noun came to mean a physician: Jerome uses it so, and a scholiast on Horace uses it of an astrologer.^[6] Vegetius calls a remedy that suits the body's nature physicum.^[6] Niermeyer gives only “physician” for medieval Latin,^[8] while British sources use the adjective for natural philosophy and medical practice and the feminine or neuter as a noun for physics, also as the title of Aristotle's Physics.^[9] English physic comes partly straight from Latin physica, the feminine of physicus.^[10]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro calls the philosophers' theology physicon and uses the noun for natural philosophers.^[2][5][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses the adjective and the noun often in his philosophical works.^[7][5][4]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses the noun for a physician.^[6][4]
• c. 400 AD – Vegetius calls a remedy physicum, suited to the body's nature.^[6][4]
• c. 1300 – English borrows physic, partly straight from Latin physica.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to physical nature or natural philosophy; scientific.^[2][5]
2. Natural, inborn.^[2]
3. (Late Latin) Suited to the body's nature, wholesome (of a remedy).^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Concerned with natural philosophy or with medical practice.^[9]

Noun

1. A natural philosopher, natural scientist.^[2][5]
2. (Late Latin) A physician.^[6][8]
3. (Late Latin) An astrologer.^[6]
4. (neuter plural) physica: natural science, physics.^[2][6]

Related words

• English physic
• English physics

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com