7

According to Wikipedia, in Europe the semantic distinction between the rational science of chimia and the occult alchimia arose in the early 18th century. So it seems like there was a need to separate these terms with the advancement of scientific practices and the term chemistry (with the Arabic article "al-" dropped) came to refer to the scientific practice while alchemy came to refer to the older non-scientific practice.

Turkish language in 19th century followed a different path by shifting the meaning of a completely different esoteric practice, sīmiya1 (letter magic), to be used in place of esoteric/old chemistry and by keeping the word kīmiya as the scientific/modern chemistry.

I am wondering if similar semantic changes/shifts happened in Arabic and Farsi languages, but could not find any information since I do not speak/read these languages and the online sources I found regarding the etymology of the word mostly focus on European languages.


1 "Sīmiya" (derived from Ancient Greek sema σήμα: "sign", "symbol") is etymologically unrelated to "kīmiya" (either derived from the ancient Egyptian khem/khm, meaning "blackness" or derived from the Greek χημεία, meaning "cast together").
1
  • 2
    I don't have enough information for an answer, but here's a start: in Farsi, alchemy is کیمیا (kīmiya) and chemistry is شیمی (shimi) - my assumption here is that shimi was borrowed from French (la chimie). Just given that, we can guess what the story might be - they kept the old word for the old practices, and borrowed a new (European) word for the new. The story in Arabic is more mysterious to me. Alchemy seems to be خيمياء (khīmiya) and chemistry is كيمياء (kīmiya).
    – Juhasz
    May 3, 2021 at 16:47

1 Answer 1

5

Kimiya (کیمیا) is the Persian word for the attempt of turning tin and copper to silver or gold, or finding the elixir.

Today in Persian, Kimiya is only used in a metaphoric sense in the literature for unreachable, and shimi (شیمی) derived from the French la chimie is used to refer to the scientific branch.

0

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.