laudanum English · revision 1396

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈlɔːdənəm/, /ˈlɔːdnəm/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-new|laudanum]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) a name coined by Paracelsus for a medicine supposed to contain opium.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) Its origin is uncertain:^(Barnhart 1995) it may be from [[la-med|labdanum]] or ''lādanum'' “a gum resin”,^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(RHWU) or from Latin ''laudāre'' “to praise”.^(Etymonline)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Various preparations in which opium was the main ingredient (1602–3).^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) Barnhart dates the word to 1543.^(Barnhart 1995)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Etymonline notes that Paracelsus's remedy was said to contain gold and crushed pearls but probably owed its effect only to the opium.^(Etymonline) The word soon came to mean any alcoholic tincture of opium,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and this is its only sense today.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1540s – New Latin ''laudanum'', coined by Paracelsus.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1602–3 – opium preparations.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1616 – the gum resin ladanum.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1839–40 – verb, to dose with laudanum.^(OED 1989)

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+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[tincture]] of [[opium]], formerly widely used as a medicine.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ladanum]]

+ * [[opium]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}