entry
alchemy
/ˈælkəmi/medieval art of transforming matter mystically
From Arabic al (the definite article) + Arabic / Greek kimiya (alchemy).
from Medieval Latin alkimia
from PIE root *gheu- "to pour" [Watkins, but Klein, citing W. Muss-Arnolt, calls this folk etymology]. The word seems...
from Greek khymatos "that which is poured out,"
from Greek khemeioa (found c.300 C.E. in a decree of Diocletian against "the old writings of the Egyptians"), all...
from Arabic al-kimiya
from Old French alchimie (14c.), alquemie (13c.)
Word Ancestry
from Medieval Latin alkimia
from PIE root *gheu- "to pour" [Watkins, but Klein, citing W. Muss-Arnolt, calls this folk etymology]. The word seems...
from Greek khymatos "that which is poured out,"
from Greek khemeioa (found c.300 C.E. in a decree of Diocletian against "the old writings of the Egyptians"), all...
from Arabic al-kimiya
from Old French alchimie (14c.), alquemie (13c.)
This word began life wearing two costumes at once: the Arabic article al- was glued onto a mystery noun, the kind of grammatical accident that leaves a permanent scar in borrowed words. Somewhere in the Greek-speaking world of Alexandria, around the time of Diocletian, people were already talking about khemeioa, and nobody can quite agree whether that came from Egypt’s black-soil name Khemia or from a verb family linked to pouring and mixing. That ambiguity is perfect, because alchemy was always about liquids, fires, powders, and transformations that looked like magic until chemistry showed up and took over the lab. The same old root family left traces in chemistry and chymistry, while hermetic reminds us of the sealed vessels and secret seals alchemists loved. By the time the word traveled through Arabic Spain into Old French and then English, it had picked up all the romance of turning mud into gold — which is probably why people still use it whenever they mean some process that seems impossible but somehow works.
The Story
This word began life wearing two costumes at once: the Arabic article al- was glued onto a mystery noun, the kind of grammatical accident that leaves a permanent scar in borrowed words. Somewhere in the Greek-speaking world of Alexandria, around the time of Diocletian, people were already talking about khemeioa, and nobody can quite agree whether that came from Egypt’s black-soil name Khemia or from a verb family linked to pouring and mixing. That ambiguity is perfect, because alchemy was always about liquids, fires, powders, and transformations that looked like magic until chemistry showed up and took over the lab. The same old root family left traces in chemistry and chymistry, while hermetic reminds us of the sealed vessels and secret seals alchemists loved. By the time the word traveled through Arabic Spain into Old French and then English, it had picked up all the romance of turning mud into gold — which is probably why people still use it whenever they mean some process that seems impossible but somehow works.
Kin & Kindred
From 'al'·the definite article
Derived Terms
English words from this root
From 'kimiya'·alchemy, chemistry; possibly poured substance
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary