elixir

英文词源

elixir

elixir: [14] Although nowadays we think of an elixir as liquid, it probably originated in the Greek word for ‘dry’, xērós (whence English xerox). From this was derived a term for a ‘dry’ powder for treating wounds, xérion, and it has been speculated that this was borrowed by Arabic as (with the definite article al) aliksīr. Medieval alchemists used this as a word for a substance which could change base metals into gold, and also for a substance (according to some the same substance) which could confer immortality (known more fully as the elixir of life).
=> xerox

elixir (n.)

mid-13c., from Medieval Latin elixir "philosopher's stone," believed by alchemists to transmute baser metals into gold and/or to cure diseases and prolong life, from Arabic al-iksir "the philosopher's stone," probably from late Greek xerion "powder for drying wounds," from xeros "dry" (see xerasia). Later in medical use for "a tincture with more than one base." General sense of "strong tonic" is 1590s; used for quack medicines from at least 1630s.