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103-572: An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist or Alchemyst may also refer to: Alchemist Alchemy (from the Arabic word al-kīmīā , الكیمیاء ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy , a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China , India , the Muslim world , and Europe . In its Western form, alchemy is first attested in

206-464: A kasra , it would have been confused with the genitival particle. It could not have been given a ḍamma for fear of the following vowel being a kasra or ḍamma (which would result in awkward pronunciations as in لإبل * lu-ibil or لعنق * lu-‘unuq ). Despite the myriad of proofs for the argument, in most classical grammars and in modern Arabic, the opinion of Sibawayh is often taken as an axiomatic fact. There are many proofs and counterproofs, but

309-553: A proto-Semitic antecedent. There are three major possibilities regarding the form of the proto-Semitic particle that is the putative antecedent of al -: David Testen and Jacob Weingreen state that هل۔ / הל־ hal is the correct antecedent. Often cited is the Arabic word for 'this', هذا hādhā , which, when combined with a definite phrase, has been known to become shortened from هذا البيت hādhā al-bayt (this house) to هلبيت hal-bayt . However, hal-bayt may merely be

412-513: A 1st-century BC inscription in Qaryat al-Faw (formerly Qaryat Dhat Kahil, near Sulayyil , Saudi Arabia ), occurs in the 5th century BC, in the epithet of a goddess which Herodotus ( Histories I: 131, III: 8) quotes in its preclassical Arabic form as Alilat (Ἀλιλάτ, i. e., ʼal-ʼilat ), which means "the goddess". While the Proto-Semitic language did not have any articles,

515-514: A basic set of laboratory techniques , theories, and terms, some of which are still in use today. They did not abandon the Ancient Greek philosophical idea that everything is composed of four elements , and they tended to guard their work in secrecy, often making use of cyphers and cryptic symbolism. In Europe, the 12th-century translations of medieval Islamic works on science and the rediscovery of Aristotelian philosophy gave birth to

618-408: A collection of deities that are each said to represent and protect a specific body part or region. Although those who practised Neidan prioritized meditation over external alchemical strategies, many of the same elixirs and constituents from previous Daoist alchemical schools of thought continued to be utilized in tandem with meditation. Eternal life remained a consideration for Neidan alchemists, as it

721-469: A few others, it assimilates to that sound, thus doubling it. For example: for "the Nile", one does not say al-Nīl , but an-Nīl . When followed by a moon letter , like m- , there is no assimilation: al-masjid ("the mosque"). This affects only the pronunciation and not the spelling of the article. To put al - into perspective, there are many ways in which Arabic words can be made definite . These include

824-510: A flourishing tradition of Latin alchemy. This late medieval tradition of alchemy would go on to play a significant role in the development of early modern science (particularly chemistry and medicine ). Modern discussions of alchemy are generally split into an examination of its exoteric practical applications and its esoteric spiritual aspects, despite criticisms by scholars such as Eric J. Holmyard and Marie-Louise von Franz that they should be understood as complementary. The former

927-588: A highly influential work. In Sanskrit, rasa translates to "mercury", and Nāgārjuna Siddha was said to have developed a method of converting mercury into gold. Scholarship on Indian alchemy is in the publication of The Alchemical Body by David Gordon White. A modern bibliography on Indian alchemical studies has been written by White. The contents of 39 Sanskrit alchemical treatises have been analysed in detail in G. Jan Meulenbeld 's History of Indian Medical Literature . The discussion of these works in HIML gives

1030-490: A more obvious connection to medicine. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the Grand Elixir of Immortality sought by Chinese alchemists. In the hermetic view, these two goals were not unconnected, and the philosopher's stone was often equated with the universal panacea ; therefore, the two traditions may have had more in common than initially appears. As early as 317 AD, Ge Hong documented

1133-465: A new form of alchemy. Neidan emphasized appeasing the inner gods that inhabit the human body by practising alchemy with compounds found in the body, rather than the mixing of natural resources that was emphasized in early Dao alchemy. For example, saliva was often considered nourishment for the inner gods and did not require any conscious alchemical reaction to produce. The inner gods were not thought of as physical presences occupying each person, but rather

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1236-521: A number of pseudepigraphical texts written in Greco-Roman Egypt during the first few centuries AD. Greek-speaking alchemists often referred to their craft as "the Art" (τέχνη) or "Knowledge" (ἐπιστήμη), and it was often characterised as mystic (μυστική), sacred (ἱɛρά), or divine (θɛíα). Alchemists attempted to purify, mature, and perfect certain materials. Common aims were chrysopoeia ,

1339-411: A process of syncope so the alif in lā and the vowel over the lām were dropped, resulting in a sukūn (an Arabic diacritic) over the lām , and a volatile or elidable hamza was added to compensate for that. David Testen argues against both of these explanations. He says that there is no corroboratory evidence for either metathesis or syncope. It is possible that al - comes from the same root as

1442-565: A shortening of the demonstrative pronoun. Weingreen also states that the original form of the Hebrew ha- was in fact hal . Hebrew, then, dropped the final l to achieve ha - while Arabic softened the h - to a hamza, resulting in al -. However, there is no evidence supporting the existence of hal from ancient Hebrew texts. In fact, as early as the 6th century BC both han and al were being used simultaneously in different Arabic dialects, namely Northern and Central. The Arabic word hādhā

1545-415: A specific lion, or ‘the lion’ in the sense ‘the lion is a dangerous animal’. Notice that the meaning connoted by this function of al - is indefinite, which is in stark contrast with the primary function of the definite article. Because of this meaning, the noun following al - can be grammatically indefinite and one may, for example, modify the noun without the use of a relative pronoun. An example of this

1648-431: A summary of the contents of each work, their special features, and where possible the evidence concerning their dating. Chapter 13 of HIML, Various works on rasaśāstra and ratnaśāstra (or Various works on alchemy and gems ) gives brief details of a further 655 (six hundred and fifty-five) treatises. In some cases Meulenbeld gives notes on the contents and authorship of these works; in other cases references are made only to

1751-651: A wide variety of topics including optics , comparative linguistics , and medicine, composed his Great Work ( Latin : Opus Majus ) for Pope Clement IV as part of a project towards rebuilding the medieval university curriculum to include the new learning of his time. While alchemy was not more important to him than other sciences and he did not produce allegorical works on the topic, he did consider it and astrology to be important parts of both natural philosophy and theology and his contributions advanced alchemy's connections to soteriology and Christian theology. Bacon's writings integrated morality, salvation, alchemy, and

1854-519: Is actually pronounced " ar-rajul ". Notice that the lām is written but not pronounced. In more modern dialects, the sun letters have been extended to include the velars gīm and kāf. The ancient people of Himyar replace the lām in al - with mīm. The Islamic prophet Muhammad is recorded to have uttered the following words in that dialect: لَيْسَ مِن امْبِرِّ امْصِيامُ في امْسَفَرِ Laysa min am -birr-i am -ṣiyām-u fī am -safar-i In some Semitic languages like Hebrew, words that include

1957-399: Is always prefixed to another word and never stands alone. Consequently, many dictionaries do not list it, and it is almost invariably ignored in collation , as it is not an intrinsic part of the word. Al- does not inflect for gender , number or grammatical case . The sound of the final -l consonant, however, can vary; when followed by a sun letter such as t , d , r , s , n and

2060-541: Is as important a spiritual practice as Shangqing meditation. While Hongjing did not deny the power of alchemical elixirs to grant immortality or provide divine protection, he ultimately found the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs to be ambiguous and spiritually unfulfilling, aiming to implement more accessible practising techniques. In the early 700s, Neidan (also known as internal alchemy) was adopted by Daoists as

2163-441: Is equivalent to the Hebrew word זה zé . It appears that over time Hebrew shortened the demonstrative pronoun hazé ( eikh korím layéled hazé ? or What's this boy's name?) to simply zé . That indicates that the Hebrew ha- was the accurate retention of the original proto-Semitic source, as opposed to al- , which cannot conclusively be linked to the ancient cognate demonstrative pronoun hādhā/hazé . According to Jacob Barth, who

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2266-457: Is generally understood to form the basis for Western alchemical philosophy and practice, called the hermetic philosophy by its early practitioners. These writings were collected in the first centuries of the common era. The dawn of Western alchemy is sometimes associated with that of metallurgy , extending back to 3500 BC. Many writings were lost when the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered

2369-453: Is necessary that it be interchangeable with the word كل kull 'all, every'. Some classical grammarians assert that this kull may be figurative, in which case al -, in this capacity, would be a form of exaggeration . The most well known use of al - in this meaning occurs twice in the Qur'anic verse 1:1, الحمد لله رب العالمين (all praise is due to Allah, lord of all the worlds). Al -

2472-452: Is no further purpose for it. Khalīl further argues that the only reason the hamza in al - is ever dropped is not that it is volatile but that it is used too much. When asked why the lām in al - was not simply given a vowel if it is so heavily used and it needs to be easier to pronounce, followers of Khalīl said that if the lām had been given a fatḥa , it would have been confused with the asseverative-cum-precative particle. Had it been given

2575-406: Is often used in words to indicate the presence of something. For example, اليوم “al-yawm” means ‘this day’ i.e. ‘today’. In modern Arabic, this function is largely idiomatic and does not carry over to new words. Al - may be prefixed to names that are derived from Arabic nouns. This function is known as لمح الصفة lamḥ aṣ-ṣifah . The purpose of doing this is to point toward the meaning of

2678-584: Is pursued by historians of the physical sciences , who examine the subject in terms of early chemistry , medicine , and charlatanism , and the philosophical and religious contexts in which these events occurred. The latter interests historians of esotericism , psychologists , and some philosophers and spiritualists . The subject has also made an ongoing impact on literature and the arts. The word alchemy comes from old French alquemie , alkimie , used in Medieval Latin as alchymia . This name

2781-627: Is quite peculiar to them, which in Sanskrit is called Rasāyana and in Persian Rasavātam . It means the art of obtaining/manipulating Rasa : nectar, mercury, and juice. This art was restricted to certain operations, metals, drugs, compounds, and medicines, many of which have mercury as their core element. Its principles restored the health of those who were ill beyond hope and gave back youth to fading old age. The goals of alchemy in India included

2884-418: Is seen in the following couplet of poetry: Al - may be used to encompass all the individuals of a genus ( Arabic : استغراق الجِنس ). For example, الأسد “al-asad” can be used to mean ‘all lions’. This function is called استغراق istighrāq . One is encouraged to use caution when employing this form of al - as it may be confused with its other meanings. In order for al - to be in this capacity, it

2987-498: Is still an open question whether these three strands share a common origin, or to what extent they influenced each other. The start of Western alchemy may generally be traced to ancient and Hellenistic Egypt , where the city of Alexandria was a center of alchemical knowledge, and retained its pre-eminence through most of the Greek and Roman periods. Following the work of André-Jean Festugière, modern scholars see alchemical practice in

3090-419: Is that of Sibawayh (d. ca. 797), who considers the hamza volatile. In his opinion, the hamza neither is part of al - nor contributes to the definiteness of the following word. Khalīl, Ibn Keisān and Akhfash, on the other hand, consider the hamza not to be volatile. There is a further debate among the proponents of the second theory. Some do not consider the hamza volatile and assert that it contributes to

3193-408: Is volatile, that is required. An example is in the phrase بِئْسَ الإسْمُ bi’sa al-ismu . The phrase is read as بِئْسَ الاِسْمُ " bi’sa lismu " (Qur'an 49:11). The rule relates to hamza and is not in direct relation to al -. Moreover, it is a rare occurrence and is almost never applied in spoken varieties of modern or classical Arabic. Al - has been recorded to separate from its host word as in

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3296-667: The Indian subcontinent ; and Western alchemy, which occurred around the Mediterranean and whose center shifted over the millennia from Greco-Roman Egypt to the Islamic world , and finally medieval Europe . Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoism and Indian alchemy with the Dharmic faiths . In contrast, Western alchemy developed its philosophical system mostly independent of but influenced by various Western religions . It

3399-505: The al - while others will ignore it. Al - is sometimes prefixed to words without giving any grammatical benefit. This may occur in poetry, in which case the purpose may be to maintain metre, rhythm, or rhyme. It may also occur elsewhere to give a rhetorical benefit. For example, the al - attached to the relative pronoun الذي al-ladhī (that/which/etc) is considered to be extra ( Arabic : زائدة , romanized :  zāʾidah ), because relative pronouns are already definite and there

3502-609: The 13th century, Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon were the most notable of these, their work summarizing and explaining the newly imported alchemical knowledge in Aristotelian terms. Albertus Magnus, a Dominican friar , is known to have written works such as the Book of Minerals where he observed and commented on the operations and theories of alchemical authorities like Hermes Trismegistus , pseudo-Democritus and unnamed alchemists of his time. Albertus critically compared these to

3605-402: The 2nd to 5th centuries mention the transmutation of base metals to gold. According to some scholars Greek alchemy may have influenced Indian alchemy but there are no hard evidences to back this claim. The 11th-century Persian chemist and physician Abū Rayhān Bīrūnī , who visited Gujarat as part of the court of Mahmud of Ghazni , reported that they have a science similar to alchemy which

3708-429: The Arabic al - was thus a result of a dissimilation process. In Arabic, this gemination occurs when the word to which al - is prefixed begins with one of the fourteen sun letters . Twelve of these letters (including lām) are originally designed to geminate. Ḍād and shīn have been included due to their similarities in pronunciation with lām and ţā, respectively. For example, the word الرجل al-rajul 'the man'

3811-571: The Book of the Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature (317 AD), Hong argued that alchemical solutions such as elixirs were preferable to traditional medicinal treatment due to the spiritual protection they could provide. In the centuries following Ge Hong's death, the emphasis placed on alchemy as a spiritual practice among Chinese Daoists was reduced. In 499 AD, Tao Hongjing refuted Hong's statement that alchemy

3914-520: The Christian imagery of death and resurrection employed in the alchemical texts of Petrus Bonus , John of Rupescissa , and in works written in the name of Raymond Lull and Arnold of Villanova. Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist to the point where he had many pseudepigraphic imitators. Although the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612. Al- Unlike most other Arabic particles, al-

4017-560: The Classical planets, Isis , Osiris , Jason , and many others. The central figure in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (or Thrice-Great Hermes). His name is derived from the god Thoth and his Greek counterpart Hermes . Hermes and his caduceus or serpent-staff, were among alchemy's principal symbols. According to Clement of Alexandria , he wrote what were called the "forty-two books of Hermes", covering all fields of knowledge. The Hermetica of Thrice-Great Hermes

4120-640: The Composition of Alchemy") from an Arabic work attributed to Khalid ibn Yazid . Although European craftsmen and technicians pre-existed, Robert notes in his preface that alchemy (here still referring to the elixir rather than to the art itself) was unknown in Latin Europe at the time of his writing. The translation of Arabic texts concerning numerous disciplines including alchemy flourished in 12th-century Toledo, Spain , through contributors like Gerard of Cremona and Adelard of Bath . Translations of

4223-538: The Greek term. The first was proposed by Zosimos of Panopolis (3rd–4th centuries), who derived it from the name of a book, the Khemeu. Hermann Diels argued in 1914 that it rather derived from χύμα, used to describe metallic objects formed by casting. Others trace its roots to the Egyptian name kēme (hieroglyphic 𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖 khmi ), meaning 'black earth', which refers to the fertile and auriferous soil of

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4326-618: The Greek texts a work as systematic as that which is presented, for example, in the Book of Seventy . Islamic philosophers also made great contributions to alchemical hermeticism. The most influential author in this regard was arguably Jabir. Jabir's ultimate goal was Takwin , the artificial creation of life in the alchemical laboratory, up to, and including, human life. He analysed each Aristotelian element in terms of four basic qualities of hotness , coldness , dryness , and moistness . According to Jabir, in each metal two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead

4429-402: The Greek texts shows that a very small part only was organized according to true experiments of laboratory: even the supposedly technical writings, in the state where we find them today, are unintelligible nonsense which refuses any interpretation. It is different with Jabir's alchemy. The relatively clear description of the processes and the alchemical apparati, the methodical classification of

4532-468: The Greek were mostly qualitative aspects of matter, not quantitative, as our modern elements are; "...True alchemy never regarded earth, air, water, and fire as corporeal or chemical substances in the present-day sense of the word. The four elements are simply the primary, and most general, qualities by means of which the amorphous and purely quantitative substance of all bodies first reveals itself in differentiated form." Later alchemists extensively developed

4635-504: The Jewess , Pseudo-Democritus , and Agathodaimon , but very little is known about any of these authors. The most complete of their works, The Four Books of Pseudo-Democritus , were probably written in the first century AD. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the testimony of Zosimus, who traced the alchemical arts back to Egyptian metallurgical and ceremonial practices. It has also been argued that early alchemical writers borrowed

4738-488: The Middle Ages. The efforts of Berthelot and Ruelle to put a little order in this mass of literature led only to poor results, and the later researchers, among them in particular Mrs. Hammer-Jensen, Tannery, Lagercrantz, von Lippmann, Reitzenstein, Ruska, Bidez, Festugière and others, could make clear only few points of detail .... The study of the Greek alchemists is not very encouraging. An even surface examination of

4841-702: The Nile valley, as opposed to red desert sand. According to the Egyptologist Wallis Budge , the Arabic word al-kīmiya ʾ actually means "the Egyptian [science]", borrowing from the Coptic word for "Egypt", kēme (or its equivalent in the Mediaeval Bohairic dialect of Coptic, khēme ). This Coptic word derives from Demotic kmỉ , itself from ancient Egyptian kmt . The ancient Egyptian word referred to both

4944-544: The Persian texts written by Muslim scholars. Researchers have found evidence that Chinese alchemists and philosophers discovered complex mathematical phenomena that were shared with Arab alchemists during the medieval period. Discovered in BC China, the "magic square of three" was propagated to followers of Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān at some point over the proceeding several hundred years. Other commonalities shared between

5047-592: The Roman Empire as originating from the Egyptian goldsmith's art, Greek philosophy and different religious traditions. Tracing the origins of the alchemical art in Egypt is complicated by the pseudepigraphic nature of texts from the Greek alchemical corpus. The treatises of Zosimos of Panopolis , the earliest historically attested author ( fl. c. 300 AD), can help in situating the other authors. Zosimus based his work on that of older alchemical authors, such as Mary

5150-653: The Taoist heavens, the ensuing deaths encouraged people to eschew this method of alchemy in favour of external sources (the aforementioned Tai Chi Chuan, mastering of the qi , etc.) Chinese alchemy was introduced to the West by Obed Simon Johnson . The introduction of alchemy to Latin Europe may be dated to 11 February 1144, with the completion of Robert of Chester 's translation of the Liber de compositione alchemiae ("Book on

5253-429: The asseverative-cum-precative particle, لـَ la- ; it is the la- used at the beginning of nominal sentences for emphasis. The phonology of al - is the study of its constituent letters and vowels , and of its pronunciation in different dialects and in different lexical circumstances. A classical (and largely one-sided) debate in regards to al - is whether the hamza is volatile or not. The majority opinion

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5356-587: The burning of alchemical books after suppressing a revolt in Alexandria (AD 292). Few original Egyptian documents on alchemy have survived, most notable among them the Stockholm papyrus and the Leyden papyrus X . Dating from AD 250–300, they contained recipes for dyeing and making artificial gemstones, cleaning and fabricating pearls, and manufacturing of imitation gold and silver. These writings lack

5459-406: The classical book of Arabic grammar written by Sibawayh. Whenever grammarians talk about "the book", this is what they mean and it is always understood without explanation. One of the functions of al - is to render the noun onto which it is prefixed a class noun ( Arabic : اِسْم جِنس , romanized :  ism jins ). For example, the word الأسد “al-asad” can mean ‘the lion’, referring to

5562-613: The country and the colour "black" (Egypt was the "black Land", by contrast with the "red Land", the surrounding desert). Alchemy encompasses several philosophical traditions spanning some four millennia and three continents. These traditions' general penchant for cryptic and symbolic language makes it hard to trace their mutual influences and genetic relationships. One can distinguish at least three major strands, which appear to be mostly independent, at least in their earlier stages: Chinese alchemy , centered in China; Indian alchemy , centered on

5665-462: The creation of a divine body (Sanskrit divya-deham ) and immortality while still embodied (Sanskrit jīvan-mukti ). Sanskrit alchemical texts include much material on the manipulation of mercury and sulphur, that are homologized with the semen of the god Śiva and the menstrual blood of the goddess Devī. Some early alchemical writings seem to have their origins in the Kaula tantric schools associated to

5768-410: The definite article. For example, if one vocalizes the word البيت 'the house' after a pause, it will be pronounced "al-bayt". In fact, the hamza in al - is largely considered to be the only volatile hamza that has a fatḥa vowel. If, however, al - is vocalized in the middle of speech, the hamza will be dropped in pronunciation. As a result, the vowel preceding the definite article will be linked to

5871-452: The definiteness of the following word. Others assert that the hamza contributes to the definiteness of the following word but is still volatile. In his defence, Khalīl argues that when a word prefixed with al - is preceded by the interrogative hamza, the two hamzas mix. For example, when the word الآن al-āna (now) is prefixed with it, the result is آلآن āl-āna . Clearly, the hamza of al - does not drop in this case even though there

5974-409: The demons "the guardians of places" ( οἱ κατὰ τόπον ἔφοροι , hoi katà tópon éphoroi ) and those who offered them sacrifices "priests" ( ἱερέα , hieréa ), it is fairly clear that he was referring to the gods of Egypt and their priests. While critical of the kind of alchemy he associated with the Egyptian priests and their followers, Zosimos nonetheless saw the tradition's recent past as rooted in

6077-436: The element's physical properties. The elemental system used in medieval alchemy also originated with Jabir. His original system consisted of seven elements, which included the five classical elements ( aether , air , earth , fire , and water ) in addition to two chemical elements representing the metals: sulphur , "the stone which burns", which characterized the principle of combustibility, and mercury , which contained

6180-509: The false promises of transmutation made by pseudo-alchemists. Roman Catholic Inquisitor General Nicholas Eymerich 's Directorium Inquisitorum , written in 1376, associated alchemy with the performance of demonic rituals, which Eymerich differentiated from magic performed in accordance with scripture. This did not, however, lead to any change in the Inquisition's monitoring or prosecution of alchemists. In 1404, Henry IV of England banned

6283-403: The following couplet: The al - in بذال has been recorded both with and without the alif. It has been stripped from its host word شحم because of the meter of the couplet. It has then been repeated in the second half of the couplet reattached to its host. This happened very rarely and, even then, has been recorded only in poetry. The primary and most profuse function of al - is to render

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6386-433: The following word definite. Consequently, it turns out that the hamza in al - is considered the only volatile hamza in the language that has a fatḥa vowel. In very early Semitic languages, definiteness was achieved through gemination of the first letter in a word. For example, the word kitāb would be made definite by ak-kitāb . An additional benefit of this construction was to connote "determination". The lām in

6489-433: The following word definite. This is known as تعريف العهد   taʿrīf al-ʿahd . This function is of two types: There is also a special type of ḏihniyy known as "the al - for غلبة   ḡalabah ”. The noun on which the al - is prefixed, in this case, is never explicitly mentioned but the listener knows what is being referred to. For example, the word الكتاب al-kitāb (the book) may actually refer to

6592-437: The idealized principle of metallic properties. Shortly thereafter, this evolved into eight elements, with the Arabic concept of the three metallic principles: sulphur giving flammability or combustion, mercury giving volatility and stability, and salt giving solidity. The atomic theory of corpuscularianism , where all physical bodies possess an inner and outer layer of minute particles or corpuscles, also has its origins in

6695-467: The influx of alchemical thought. The 11th-century St Anselm put forth the opinion that faith and rationalism were compatible and encouraged rationalism in a Christian context. In the early 12th century, Peter Abelard followed Anselm's work, laying down the foundation for acceptance of Aristotelian thought before the first works of Aristotle had reached the West. In the early 13th century, Robert Grosseteste used Abelard's methods of analysis and added

6798-410: The late 7th and early 8th centuries through Syriac translations and scholarship. In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the Arabic works attributed to Jābir ibn Hayyān (Latinized as "Geber" or "Geberus") introduced a new approach to alchemy. Paul Kraus , who wrote the standard reference work on Jabir, put it as follows: To form an idea of the historical place of Jabir's alchemy and to tackle

6901-432: The letter lāmed have Arabic cognates that replace it with a Mīm as opposed to Lām, the equivalent letter. For example, skull in Hebrew is גֻּלְגֹּלֶת (gulgolet). Its Arabic cognate is جمجمة ( jumjúmah ). This gives plausibility to the case of Banū Ḥimiar and indicates that lām is frequently equated with Mīm. Regardless of whether the hamza in al - is volatile or not, it is read with a fatḥa when beginning speech with

7004-430: The lām of al -. For example, بابُ البيت (vocalized without any pauses) is pronounced "bābu l-bayt", بابَ البيت is pronounced "bāba l-bayt", and بابِ البيت is pronounced "bābi l-bayt". If the word onto which al - is prefixed starts with a hamza, the vowel from that hamza may transfer to the lām of al - after which the hamza not be pronounced. See Allah in "Arabic definite article" for an example. If this hamza

7107-408: The man being referred to as clearly as saying "this man", for example. Arabic has an indefinite article indicated by nunation ( tanwīn ) which is declined for three cases. The etymology of al - is the study of how it developed and how it changed over time. There are several major opinions in regards to the origins of the Arabic definite article. The earliest evidence of the article, besides

7210-671: The most likely theory is that the article al - comes from the same proto-Semitic source as the Hebrew definite article ה־ ha- . That theory is based primarily on the fact that the two share many similarities. Both particles are prefixed to nouns, and both geminate with certain following letters. Moreover, neither particle is prefixed to non- final nouns in a genitival construction . Finally, both are prefixed to relative clauses. According to David Testen, many northern and southwestern Semitic languages have particles that bear similarities to al -. With this fact, he posits that al - has

7313-747: The mystical aspects of this concept. Alchemy coexisted alongside emerging Christianity . Lactantius believed Hermes Trismegistus had prophesied its birth. St Augustine later affirmed this in the 4th and 5th centuries, but also condemned Trismegistus for idolatry. Examples of Pagan, Christian, and Jewish alchemists can be found during this period. Most of the Greco-Roman alchemists preceding Zosimos are known only by pseudonyms, such as Moses , Isis, Cleopatra , Democritus , and Ostanes . Others authors such as Komarios, and Chymes , we only know through fragments of text. After AD 400, Greek alchemical writers occupied themselves solely in commenting on

7416-463: The mystical, philosophical elements of alchemy, but do contain the works of Bolus of Mendes (or Pseudo-Democritus ), which aligned these recipes with theoretical knowledge of astrology and the classical elements . Between the time of Bolus and Zosimos, the change took place that transformed this metallurgy into a Hermetic art. Alexandria acted as a melting pot for philosophies of Pythagoreanism , Platonism , Stoicism and Gnosticism which formed

7519-472: The one named. For example, the name عادل ‘Adil (meaning 'just') may be read العادل " al-‘Adil " to allude to the fact that ‘Adil is a just person. In modern Arabic, however, this type of al - is largely idiomatic. That is to say, names traditionally prefixed with al - are kept as such and names without al - are also kept as such; the connotation of this al - is ignored. When it comes to alphabetic ordering , some sources will list names according to

7622-404: The origin of alchemy's character. An important example of alchemy's roots in Greek philosophy, originated by Empedocles and developed by Aristotle, was that all things in the universe were formed from only four elements: earth , air , water , and fire . According to Aristotle, each element had a sphere to which it belonged and to which it would return if left undisturbed. The four elements of

7725-449: The overarching argument in favour of this opinion is as follows: The lām in al - is the only lām particle in the language with a sukūn (to avoid confusion, as mentioned). Thus, it requires a volatile hamza. Moreover, al - is a particle, and Arabic particles do not drop letters (without losing their meanings or connotations). Yet the hamza in al - drops all the time. Therefore, it must be volatile, or al - would lose its ability to render

7828-481: The practice of multiplying metals by the passing of the Gold and Silver Act 1403 ( 5 Hen. 4 . c. 4) (although it was possible to buy a licence to attempt to make gold alchemically, and a number were granted by Henry VI and Edward IV). These critiques and regulations centered more around pseudo-alchemical charlatanism than the actual study of alchemy, which continued with an increasingly Christian tone. The 14th century saw

7931-451: The problem of its sources, it is advisable to compare it with what remains to us of the alchemical literature in the Greek language . One knows in which miserable state this literature reached us. Collected by Byzantine scientists from the tenth century, the corpus of the Greek alchemists is a cluster of incoherent fragments, going back to all the times since the third century until the end of

8034-614: The prolongation of life. His correspondence with Clement highlighted this, noting the importance of alchemy to the papacy. Like the Greeks before him, Bacon acknowledged the division of alchemy into practical and theoretical spheres. He noted that the theoretical lay outside the scope of Aristotle, the natural philosophers, and all Latin writers of his time. The practical confirmed the theoretical, and Bacon advocated its uses in natural science and medicine. In later European legend, he became an archmage. In particular, along with Albertus Magnus, he

8137-416: The rites of the Egyptian temples. Zosimos of Panopolis asserted that alchemy dated back to Pharaonic Egypt where it was the domain of the priestly class, though there is little to no evidence for his assertion. Alchemical writers used Classical figures from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology to illuminate their works and allegorize alchemical transmutation. These included the pantheon of gods related to

8240-590: The study and development of Greek alchemy in the Byzantine period. The 2nd millennium BC text Vedas describe a connection between eternal life and gold. A considerable knowledge of metallurgy has been exhibited in a third-century AD text called Arthashastra which provides ingredients of explosives (Agniyoga) and salts extracted from fertile soils and plant remains (Yavakshara) such as saltpetre/ nitre , perfume making (different qualities of perfumes are mentioned), granulated (refined) Sugar. Buddhist texts from

8343-408: The substances, mark an experimental spirit which is extremely far away from the weird and odd esotericism of the Greek texts. The theory on which Jabir supports his operations is one of clearness and of an impressive unity. More than with the other Arab authors, one notes with him a balance between theoretical teaching and practical teaching, between the 'ilm and the amal . In vain one would seek in

8446-559: The teachings of the personality of Matsyendranath . Other early writings are found in the Jaina medical treatise Kalyāṇakārakam of Ugrāditya, written in South India in the early 9th century. Two famous early Indian alchemical authors were Nāgārjuna Siddha and Nityanātha Siddha. Nāgārjuna Siddha was a Buddhist monk. His book, Rasendramangalam , is an example of Indian alchemy and medicine. Nityanātha Siddha wrote Rasaratnākara , also

8549-488: The technique to purify the human soul ). They believed in the four elements and the four qualities as described above, and they had a strong tradition of cloaking their written ideas in a labyrinth of coded jargon set with traps to mislead the uninitiated. Finally, the alchemists practised their art: they actively experimented with chemicals and made observations and theories about how the universe operated. Their entire philosophy revolved around their belief that man's soul

8652-573: The time included the Turba Philosophorum , and the works of Avicenna and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi . These brought with them many new words to the European vocabulary for which there was no previous Latin equivalent. Alcohol, carboy , elixir , and athanor are examples. Meanwhile, theologian contemporaries of the translators made strides towards the reconciliation of faith and experimental rationalism, thereby priming Europe for

8755-465: The transmutation of " base metals " (e.g., lead ) into " noble metals " (particularly gold ); the creation of an elixir of immortality ; and the creation of panaceas able to cure any disease. The perfection of the human body and soul was thought to result from the alchemical magnum opus ("Great Work"). The concept of creating the philosophers' stone was variously connected with all of these projects. Islamic and European alchemists developed

8858-406: The two alchemical schools of thought include discrete naming for ingredients and heavy influence from the natural elements. The silk road provided a clear path for the exchange of goods, ideas, ingredients, religion, and many other aspects of life with which alchemy is intertwined. Whereas European alchemy eventually centered on the transmutation of base metals into noble metals, Chinese alchemy had

8961-532: The unpublished manuscripts of these titles. A great deal remains to be discovered about Indian alchemical literature. The content of the Sanskrit alchemical corpus has not yet (2014) been adequately integrated into the wider general history of alchemy. After the fall of the Roman Empire , the focus of alchemical development moved to the Islamic World. Much more is known about Islamic alchemy because it

9064-415: The unusual clarity with which they were described. By the end of the 13th century, alchemy had developed into a fairly structured system of belief. Adepts believed in the macrocosm-microcosm theories of Hermes, that is to say, they believed that processes that affect minerals and other substances could have an effect on the human body (for example, if one could learn the secret of purifying gold, one could use

9167-805: The use of gunpowder spread to Japan, the Mongols , the Muslim world, and Europe. Gunpowder was used by the Mongols against the Hungarians in 1241, and in Europe by the 14th century. Chinese alchemy was closely connected to Taoist forms of traditional Chinese medicine , such as Acupuncture and Moxibustion . In the early Song dynasty , followers of this Taoist idea (chiefly the elite and upper class) would ingest mercuric sulfide , which, though tolerable in low levels, led many to suicide. Thinking that this consequential death would lead to freedom and access to

9270-410: The use of personal pronouns like "me", the use of proper nouns like "Saudi Arabia", demonstrative pronouns like "this man", relative pronouns like "the man who ...", vocation like "O man", possession like "my man", and of course the definite article like "the man". Apart from possession, prefixing a noun with al - is the weakest form of definiteness. That is, saying "the man" does not define

9373-514: The use of metals, minerals, and elixirs in early Chinese medicine. Hong identified three ancient Chinese documents, titled Scripture of Great Clarity, Scripture of the Nine Elixirs , and Scripture of the Golden Liquor, as texts containing fundamental alchemical information. He also described alchemy, along with meditation, as the sole spiritual practices that could allow one to gain immortality or to transcend. In his work Inner Chapters of

9476-417: The use of observation, experimentation, and conclusions when conducting scientific investigations. Grosseteste also did much work to reconcile Platonic and Aristotelian thinking. Through much of the 12th and 13th centuries, alchemical knowledge in Europe remained centered on translations, and new Latin contributions were not made. The efforts of the translators were succeeded by that of the encyclopaedists. In

9579-502: The vocabulary of Greek philosophical schools but did not implement any of its doctrines in a systematic way. Zosimos of Panopolis wrote in the Final Abstinence (also known as the "Final Count"). Zosimos explains that the ancient practice of "tinctures" (the technical Greek name for the alchemical arts) had been taken over by certain "demons" who taught the art only to those who offered them sacrifices. Since Zosimos also called

9682-439: The work of Jabir. From the 9th to 14th centuries, alchemical theories faced criticism from a variety of practical Muslim chemists, including Alkindus , Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī , Avicenna and Ibn Khaldun . In particular, they wrote refutations against the idea of the transmutation of metals . From the 14th century onwards, many materials and practices originally belonging to Indian alchemy ( Rasayana ) were assimilated in

9785-549: The works of these predecessors. By the middle of the 7th century alchemy was almost an entirely mystical discipline. It was at that time that Khalid Ibn Yazid sparked its migration from Alexandria to the Islamic world, facilitating the translation and preservation of Greek alchemical texts in the 8th and 9th centuries. Greek alchemy was preserved in medieval Byzantine manuscripts after the fall of Egypt , and yet historians have only relatively recently begun to pay attention to

9888-428: The writings of Aristotle and Avicenna, where they concerned the transmutation of metals. From the time shortly after his death through to the 15th century, more than 28 alchemical tracts were misattributed to him, a common practice giving rise to his reputation as an accomplished alchemist. Likewise, alchemical texts have been attributed to Albert's student Thomas Aquinas . Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar who wrote on

9991-489: Was believed that one would become immortal if an inner god were to be immortalized within them through spiritual fulfilment. Black powder may have been an important invention of Chinese alchemists. It is said that the Chinese invented gunpowder while trying to find a potion for eternal life. Described in 9th-century texts and used in fireworks in China by the 10th century, it was used in cannons by 1290. From China,

10094-419: Was better documented: indeed, most of the earlier writings that have come down through the years were preserved as Arabic translations. The word alchemy itself was derived from the Arabic word al-kīmiyā (الكيمياء). The early Islamic world was a melting pot for alchemy. Platonic and Aristotelian thought, which had already been somewhat appropriated into hermetical science, continued to be assimilated during

10197-440: Was credited with the forging of a brazen head capable of answering its owner's questions. Soon after Bacon, the influential work of Pseudo-Geber (sometimes identified as Paul of Taranto ) appeared. His Summa Perfectionis remained a staple summary of alchemical practice and theory through the medieval and renaissance periods. It was notable for its inclusion of practical chemical operations alongside sulphur-mercury theory, and

10300-563: Was divided within himself after the fall of Adam. By purifying the two parts of man's soul, man could be reunited with God. In the 14th century, alchemy became more accessible to Europeans outside the confines of Latin-speaking churchmen and scholars. Alchemical discourse shifted from scholarly philosophical debate to an exposed social commentary on the alchemists themselves. Dante , Piers Plowman , and Chaucer all painted unflattering pictures of alchemists as thieves and liars. Pope John XXII 's 1317 edict, Spondent quas non-exhibent forbade

10403-419: Was externally cold and dry, while gold was hot and moist. Thus, Jabir theorized, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, a different metal would result. By this reasoning, the search for the philosopher's stone was introduced to Western alchemy. Jabir developed an elaborate numerology whereby the root letters of a substance's name in Arabic, when treated with various transformations, held correspondences to

10506-529: Was itself adopted from the Arabic word al-kīmiyā ( الكيمياء ). The Arabic al-kīmiyā in turn was a borrowing of the Late Greek term khēmeía ( χημεία ), also spelled khumeia ( χυμεία ) and khēmía ( χημία ), with al- being the Arabic definite article 'the'. Together this association can be interpreted as 'the process of transmutation by which to fuse or reunite with the divine or original form'. Several etymologies have been proposed for

10609-550: Was lecturer in Hebrew at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary , al - comes directly from the Arabic negating particle, لا lā. He conjectures that lā became al - through a process of metathesis . That is to say, the lām and the alif swapped positions. It is noteworthy that the negation denoted by lā and the definiteness denoted by al - are in stark contrast to each other. Barth also asserts that lā could have resulted in al - through

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