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Glite Dictionary
apothecary's Latin

apothecary's Latin

9.9
An old form of Latin used in pharmacy for medical prescriptions
  • noun
  • Archaic
translation icon : latín de apotecario
  • The doctor wrote the prescription in apothecary's Latin.

Examples

  • The ancient manuscript was filled with prescriptions written in apothecary's Latin.

  • Many pharmacists no longer use apothecary's Latin in their practice.

  • Her familiarity with apothecary's Latin impressed her mentors at the historical archives.

  • Understanding apothecary's Latin can be quite challenging for modern pharmacy students.

  • The ancient manuscript was filled with prescriptions written in apothecary's Latin.

  • Understanding apothecary's Latin can be quite challenging for modern pharmacy students.

  • Many pharmacists no longer use apothecary's Latin in their practice.

Surface Forms

apothecary's Latin singular

Morphology

apothecary's + Latin

The phrase is compositionally built: 'apothecary's' specifies the domain (pharmacy/medicine) and 'Latin' names the language, so together they denote the variety/register of Latin used by apothecaries. Possessive + language constructions are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can readily infer this meaning.

Etymology

Apothecary's Latin comes from the old word apothecary, a shopkeeper who made medicines and wrote recipes and notes in Latin. That's why the phrase means the old, special form of Latin used in 'prescriptions' and medical notes.