Alchemy.
When we hear the word, we think of one central meaning: the process of turning a cheap, base metal like lead into a precious metal like gold.
But did you know that alchemy used to mean something much broader–and would have been used without any connotation of impossibility, magic, or even unlikelihood?
Alchemy in English is from the Middle Ages, but it meant all chemistry (specifically pharmacetical) and medicine. The word had originated with the Greek word for Egypt–khymeia. Why? Because the greatest chemists and apothecaries of the ancient days were known to be from Alexandria. The al- beginning is just the Arabic word for “the.”
As science continued to develop, however, the scientific community decided to use the word chemistry for its pursuits in the field, leaving alchemy to those who sought what wasn’t scientifically possible.
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Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.