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What is the etymology of the word medicine and how did it come to be used by Native Americans to describe something that does not strictly meet the denotative meaning of medicine?

Or is that just a Hollywood piece of nonsense?

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8 Answers

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Medicine comes from the Latin [ars] medicina, from medicus (physician), from medeor (to heal). The root mad- or med- occurs in several languages: middle Persian madha (medical science, wisdom); Sanscrit medha (intelligence, wisdom); ancient Greek medos (advice), medomai (to think about). Consider also words such as meditate, from the Latin meditari.

I'd venture to say that med- or mad- was a paleo-indoeuropean root related to considering, advising or knowledge. In archaic times, giving advice on how to treat illnesses must have been the prerogative of the learned man, the priest. It turns out, then, that using "medicine man" for "shaman" might have been more appropriate than it seems at first.

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Except that the term "medecine man" dates from the 17th century at the earliest, so the meaning of the Proto-Indo-European term would have no relevance. – morphail Oct 10 '11 at 17:36
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@morphail: thanks for the downvote. I don't think you understood what I wrote. – LaC Oct 11 '11 at 8:57
What did I misunderstand? – morphail Oct 11 '11 at 20:22
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I was not suggesting that the term "medicine man" is directly descended from its distant PIE ancestor, or that the people who introduced it were aware of the etymology. Rather, it just happened by chance that this new coinage has a meaning which seems more appropriate in light of the etymology, and this is serendipitous precisely because the people who coined it were probably not aware of those roots. – LaC Oct 12 '11 at 4:35
OK. However, the Proto-Indo-European root med- is thought to mean "to take appropriate measures" according to Fortson's Indo-European Language and Culture. – morphail Oct 12 '11 at 13:54
up vote 11 down vote

It appears this is derived from the French term for "doctor" (médécin). See Encyclopedia of Native American healing By William S. Lyon.

Medecine Man The most popular term applied to Native North American healers ... The origin of the term can be traced at least to the time of the French Jesuit missionaries during the seventeenth century. Among the Huron, Mangagnais, Ottawa, and other inhabitants of New France, the missionaries wrote of the healers, the hommes-médécins ...

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It seems this is a case of a poor google translation back in the 17th century. – horatio May 25 '11 at 17:17
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Interesting the etymology doesn't seem to go anywhere. ie. medicine from the latin medica, meaning medicine = very helpful!

This article discusses it, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC195119/pdf/mlab00237-0040.pdf

The medicine man usage for shaman/healer is from 1800 apparently and is presumably either an native term based on it being doctors that the white people go to for help - so a doctor was the white man's shamen and the definition of doctor was a medicine man.

Or an English invention for what they thought shamans were doing - and some author decided to render it in simplified "native speak".

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@z7sg - yes, I don't know which way round. I'm guessing it's a native invention because the English speakers would call the shaman doctor – mgb May 25 '11 at 16:07
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Doesn't the usage of medicine in the Native American context also have greater scope than simply 'medicine man'? For instance: "That is some bad medicine..." referring to a spiritual or psychological experience rather than some decoction of nature's materia? – Shane L Harris May 25 '11 at 16:15
@Harris - I think those are all much more modern usages. Alcohol as bad medicine is older but isn't really the same thing. – mgb May 25 '11 at 16:38
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Disclaimer: I know nothing about Latin.

But regarding the etymology of medicine from Latin medica this Perseus Project entry is very interesting and seems to indicate that it is derived from medeor and is related to the Greek μαθήσιος - the act of learning, acquiring knowledge.

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According to the OED, "medecine man" is a calque (loan translation) of Ojibwa mashkikiiwinini "physician" (mashkiki "medicine" + inini "man"). The first citation is 1801.

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up vote 0 down vote

The Shaman was not a simple doctor, since he dedicated himself also to matters that didn't strictly concern medical stuff as we know it. But about the Etymology, I found something else and here it goes (taken from the NOAD):

ORIGIN Middle English: via Old French from Latin medicina, from medicus ‘physician.’

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The word medicine originates from the name of Medea, the main character of the Greek myth of Argonauts. According to the myth Medea is a daughter of Aeete, King of Colchis (country of Georgia at present) who uses secret recipes of herbs to cure diseases. See the text of the myth: http://www.milica.com.au/greek_myths/legends/argo1_t.htm

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This is not true. The word is from Latin medicīna "art or practice of healing". – morphail Oct 10 '11 at 17:15
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@morphail: since the Latin is considerably younger than the Greek, you need to show that medecina doesn't come from Medea:easier said than done. – TimLymington Jan 20 '12 at 22:14
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Medicine comes from Medea, the daughter of King Ayet, who governed ancient Georgia, at the black sea cost. Medea was mixing different herbs for healing purposes.

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That only answers one half of the question. – RegDwighт♦ Nov 15 '12 at 12:20

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