theriac
English
Alternative forms
- theriaca, theriace, theriack, theriaque (obs.)
Etymology
From Medieval Latin theriacum, from Ancient Greek θηριακὸν (thēriakòn) and Late Latin theriaca, from Ancient Greek θηριακὴ (thēriakḕ, “of or related to poisonous reptiles”), from θηρίον (thēríon, “little beast”) + -κός (-kós), from θήρ (thḗr, “beast”) + -ίον (-íon, “forming diminutives”). Doublet of theriaca.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈθɪriˌæk/, /ˈθɪəriˌæk/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈθɪərɪak/
Noun
theriac (countable and uncountable, plural theriacs)
- (historical medicine) A universal antidote against all poisons, particularly medicines considered to derive from a recipe of the Roman physician Andromachus and representing an improvement on mithridate.
- 1558, William Bullein, The Government of Health, fol. 120:
- 1811, John Quincy et al., Quincy's Lexicon-Medicum..., s.v:
- 1975, Guido Majno, The Healing Hand, Harvard University Press, page 415:
- From then on galene became the theriac par excellence, known simply as theriac, and there never was a more successful drug […] Those who could afford it gulped down a bean-sized lump of theriac for practically everything from the Black Death to nothing at all, as a preventive.
- Theriac was essentially homeopathic in its supposed function, being an improvement on mithridate by virtue of containing more poisons.
- (figurative) hyponym of panacea.
- (medicine, archaic) Synonym of antidote, particularly (pseudoscience) those incorporating snakemeat to cure snakebite.
- 1568, Gilbert Skeyne, Ane Breue Descriptioun of the Pest, Ch. 7:
- 2021, Alisha Rankin, The Poison Trials, page 179:
- ...in the herbal (Kra:uterbuch) of German physician Adam Lonicer... In his final edition, published in 1587 (the year after his death), Lonicer added an entry on bezoar, "a stone against all poison," which he highlighted as "more powerful than any other poison antidote or theriac."
- (obsolete) Synonym of molasses.
Synonyms
- theriaca, Venice treacle, treacle, see also mithridate
Translations
References
- “theriac, adj. and n.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2022.
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