![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prettygoodwordTheme week: words coined (or repurposed) by the Renaissance physician, alchemist, and esoteric philosopher Paracelsus.
undine (uhn-DEEN, UHN-deen) - n., in Paracelsian occult philosophy, the elemental being of water; a female water-sprite or nymph.
Despite being better known today for his alchemy and related occult theories, the contemporary reputation of Paracelsus (full name: Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) was as a physician and pioneer in modern medical science, especially for emphasizing the value of observation in combination with received wisdom -- he's particularly known for advancing knowledge of toxicology (he first propounded the principle that any substance can be harmful if applied in high enough concentrations, and that harmful substances can be harmless in sufficiently low doses). His theory of elementals, which he gave original names, wasn't published until 25 years after his death in 1566, in a theological tract attempting to reconcile classical elemental theory with Christian cosmology, but was immediately and widely influential for the next century. He coined the name undine (in Latin as undīna) from Latin unda, wave.
---L.
undine (uhn-DEEN, UHN-deen) - n., in Paracelsian occult philosophy, the elemental being of water; a female water-sprite or nymph.
Despite being better known today for his alchemy and related occult theories, the contemporary reputation of Paracelsus (full name: Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim) was as a physician and pioneer in modern medical science, especially for emphasizing the value of observation in combination with received wisdom -- he's particularly known for advancing knowledge of toxicology (he first propounded the principle that any substance can be harmful if applied in high enough concentrations, and that harmful substances can be harmless in sufficiently low doses). His theory of elementals, which he gave original names, wasn't published until 25 years after his death in 1566, in a theological tract attempting to reconcile classical elemental theory with Christian cosmology, but was immediately and widely influential for the next century. He coined the name undine (in Latin as undīna) from Latin unda, wave.
---L.
