Etymology
of arabic words: the word الإكسير
(Al-Ikseer)
which means elixir,
the so called
philosopher's stone, is probably of Greek origin. The greek word is
ξήριον (xirion) , derives from the ancient word ξηρός
(xeros) ,which means dry, and refered initially to a special powder
for the healing of wounds
In
Turkish they use iksir and elixir.
al-Iksīr (868 words)
ReplyDeleteUllmann, M.
al-Iksīr
, the elixir (from Greek τό ξήριον, pl. akāsīr, also iksīrāt, e.g., Masʿūdī, Murūd̲j̲, viii, 175, 6; Yaʿḳūbī, i, 106 ult.), originally the term for externally applied dry-powder or sprinkling-powder used in medicine. Thus, for example, Yūḥannā b. Māsawayh, in his Kitāb Dag̲h̲al al-ʿayn, lists under the ophthalmic remedies six different elixirs ( akāsīr; see Isl., vi (1916), 252 f.). By the Arabic word iksīrīn, which is derived from the Syriac ksīrīn, an eye-powder is meant in al-Rāzī ( Kitāb al-Ḥāwī, Ḥaydarābād 1374/1955, ii, 21) and in ʿAlī b. al-ʿAbbās al-Mad̲j̲ūsī ( al-Kitāb al-Malakī, Būlāḳ 1294, ii, 284 f.), whilst in Pseudo-T̲h̲ābit b. Ḳurra ( Kitāb al-D̲h̲ak̲h̲īra. ed. G. Sobhy, Cairo 1928, 46, 141-3) a sprinkling-powder for the treatment of wounds is indicated.
By an early date the name al-Iksīr was transferred to the substance with which the alchemists believed it possible to effect the transformation of base metals into precious ones. Iksīr al-kīmiyāʾ (D̲j̲āḥiẓ, Tarbīʿ, ed. Ch. Pellat, 39, 7), iksīr al-ṣanʿa (Masʿūdī, Ak̲h̲bār al-zamān, Cairo 1357/1938, 113, 115), or iksīr al-falāsifa (D̲j̲ildakī, Kitāb al-Anwār) are mentioned, and the name is explained by a naive etymology: the substance is called al-iksīr because it breaks down ( kasara) the inferior form and changes it into a perfect one (thus D̲j̲ildakī; cf. also Pseudo-Mad̲j̲rīṭī, G̲h̲āya ed. H. Ritter, 8, and Yāḳūt, Udabāʾ iv, 170). Usually, however, the alchemists use pseudonyms for the elixir, such as ḥad̲j̲ar al-falāsifa (λίθος τῶν φιλοσόφων), ḥad̲j̲ar al-ḥukamāʾ, al-ḥad̲j̲ar al-mukarram (Ibn K̲h̲aldūn, Muḳaddima, iii, 229; Rosenthal, iii, 268), al-ḥad̲j̲ar al-karīm ( ibid., 203, Rosenthal, iii, 240), al-ḥad̲j̲ar al-aʿẓam, al-ḥad̲j̲ar allad̲h̲ī laysa bi-ḥad̲j̲ar (λίθος ὁς οὐ λίθος), al-bayḍa, al-kibrīt al-aḥmar (Bīrūnī, Ḏj̲amāhir, Ḥaydarābād 1355, 104). Al-D̲j̲ildakī ( Kitāb G̲h̲āyat al-surūr, ms. Berlin 4183, fol. 100 b) even says of it that the perfect elixir is the homunculus of the philosophers and the child of wisdom ( al-iksīr al-tāmm allad̲h̲ī huwa insān al-falāsifa wa-mawlūd al-ḥikma). The elixirs are called al-iksīr al-aḥmar or al-iksīr al-abyaḍ according to whether they produce gold or silver.
to be continued
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