Dictionary

apothecary en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /əˈpɒθəkəɹi/ (UK)
• /əˈpɑθəˌkɛəɹi/ (US)
• (US) audio

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep Proto-Indo-European *-o Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó Proto-Hellenic *apó Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πό (ăpó) Ancient Greek ᾰ̓πο- (ăpo-) Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European *dʰédʰeh₁ti Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi) Ancient Greek ἀποτίθημι (apotíthēmi)der. Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē)bor. Latin apothēca Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -ārius Medieval Latin apothēcāriusder. Old French apotecaireder. English apothecary From Old French apotecaire (whence French apothicaire), from Medieval Latin apothēcārius (“storekeeper”), from Latin apothēca (“(originally) repository, storehouse, warehouse; (later) shop, store”) + -ārius (occupational suffix), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “a repository, storehouse”), from ἀπό (apó, “away”) + τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”), literally “a place where things are put away”.

Meanings

1. (archaic, dated, in UK, in US) Synonym of pharmacist: a person who sells medicine, especially (historical) one who made and sold their own medicines in the medieval or early modern eras.
   • [K]nowledge of philtres, aphrodisiacs, and other sexual stimulants spread from the Arabs and the Moors, from Egypt and India into the European herbals, pharmacopeias, and apothecaries’ lore, and, on a more indeterminate level, among alchemists, wizards, and occultists. 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 155:
   • It amused me to see the bustle and the life in the apothecary's shop across the street. 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 2:
   • The girls, though their illness was long and dangerous, recovered under Mrs. Palmer's care, who watched over them as if they had been her own; and from that time an affection, as valuable as it was pleasant, sprang up between them. When Lady Anne returned, she called, and talked about every thing but the apothecary's bill. 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter V, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 62:
   • O true Appothecarie! / Thy drugs are quicke. Thus with a kiſſe I die. c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 75, column 2:
   • [T]he poticaries and barbarus wryters call it [the iris] Irios in the genetiue caſe. 1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Herbe Called in Latin Irio”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folio 23, recto:
2. (archaic, historical) Synonym of pharmacy: an apothecary's shop, a drugstore.
   • Seeds found in a 1630s refuse-filled clay borrow pit, located near an apothecary, illustrate colonists intense interest in experimenting with the medicinal qualities of New World plants. 2001, Audrey Horning, “Archeology and the Science of Discovery”, in Barbara Heath et al., Jamestown Archeological Assessment, U.S. National Parks Service, page 31
   • He was befriended by a local druggist, Jay Miller, who worked at the apothecary at the corner of Sixth and Harrison Street. 1998, Karen Holliday Tanner, Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, University of Oklahoma Press, published 2001, →ISBN, pages 205–206:
   • The Russian people as a whole almost revered the apothecary, and they entered it as they would enter a sanctum. 1919, S.A., “Pharmacy in Russia”, in Soviet Russia, volume 1, number 27, page 6
3. (uncommon) A glass jar of the sort once used for storing medicine.

Forms

Deriveds

apothecary rose · apothecarial · apothecaryship

Descendants

அப்போதிக்கரி

Relateds

talk like an apothecary · spermatheca · thecal · thecium · hypothecate · thecodonts · apothecary's Latin · theca · apothecary's shop · apothecium · thecate · hypothec · bibliotheca · apothecia

Synonyms

pharmacist · pharmacy

Translations (14)

mr औषधविक्रेता (Pharmacist) · pl aptekarka (Pharmacist) · es apoteca (pharmacy) · es apotecario (Pharmacist) · ta அப்போதிக்கரி (Pharmacist) · es apoticario (Pharmacist) · pl aptekarz (Pharmacist) · de Provisor (Pharmacist) · de Apothekerin (Pharmacist) · es boticario (Pharmacist) · pl apteka (pharmacy) · de Apotheker (Pharmacist) · es botica (pharmacy) · hi औषधालय (pharmacy)