Alchemy
noun
A method or reaction that astonishingly or mystically transforms something
An early field of study and predecessor of modern chemistry dedicated to the transformation of ordinary elements into rarer and more useful substances
Usage
One of the most remarkable things about people is our drive and capacity to change the world around us, for better or worse. Whether it’s the engineering feats (and slave labor) that constructed the Pyramids of Giza, the alchemy of the Middle Ages, or modern experimental genetic modification, we have always attempted to transform reality into something more valuable. In a way, alchemy is a quintessentially human tradition.
Alchemy refers to a field of study that focused on transforming common chemical elements into more exotic or useful substances, a process known as transmutation. Today, we know that alchemy itself isn’t supported by science, but the experiments (and failures) of its medieval practitioners, called alchemists, helped pave the way for contemporary chemistry. One of the primary goals of alchemy was to transform base metals such as lead and mercury into gold, so that alchemists, and the principalities that employed them, could accrue enormous wealth and forego the laborious task of mining for gold. Alchemy is commonly associated with medieval and Renaissance Europe, but the field originated in Egypt and was practiced in one form or another in India, China, and the Middle East.
Even more enticing, and elusive, was the prospect that alchemy could synthesize a philosopher’s stone, a mythical (though, at the time, supposedly very real) substance capable of curing all diseases and granting the possessor eternal life, in addition to turning common metals into gold. Suffice it to say, alchemists never discovered such an elixir, but they did generate interest in chemistry, biology, and physics, and their mistakes would help future scientists understand the need for an objective, rigorous, reproducible scientific method.
In modern English, alchemy is more commonly used figuratively to refer to a process or reaction which changes one thing into another in an astounding or seemingly miraculous way. For example, if one minute your little brother was fuming at you for accidentally breaking his favorite toy, only for him to suddenly turn happy again after a quick talk with your mother, you could say that her pacification was a feat of alchemy. Likewise, if a skilled origami artist folded a white sheet of paper into a rose that looked real even up closer, their craft could be considered an artistic alchemy. In the former case, your mother managed to transform your brother’s mood from furious to conciliatory as if by magic, while in the latter the artist made something stunningly realistic out of an ordinary object. Whether transmuting metals or moods, true alchemy is a remarkable feat!
Example: Though medieval alchemy never produced the philosopher’s stone, it did inspire some fascinating tales!
Example: The students stood in awe of their chemistry teacher’s alchemy, in which she plated the penny with brass.
Example: I couldn’t understand the alchemy my neighbor used to get the broken lawnmower started again.
Origin
The ultimate origin of the word alchemy is uncertain, though researchers have advanced two principal theories. The first is that the word derives from Khemia, the ancient Greek name for Egypt that literally translates to “land of the black earth.” The practice of alchemy arose in Hellenistic Egypt, suggesting the word may have been a way of specifically connecting the study with its geographic origins. The second theory contends that the word alchemy derives from the Greek khymatos, meaning “poured liquid,” which itself comes from khein, meaning “to pour out,” and before that khymos, meaning “sap” or “syrup.”
The earliest word we know for sure is an ancestor of alchemy is the Greek khemeioa, meaning “the mixing of juices or liquids.” This is consistent with our modern primary sense of alchemy. Khemeioa was adapted into the Arabic al-kimiya (by prepending the Arabic article al for “the”) before emerging in Medieval Latin as alkimia. From there, it cropped up in Old French as alchimie (also the source of chemistry), before finally arriving with its present spelling in English in the mid-1300s. At first, alchemy served as a catch-all term for studies that mixed metallurgy, mysticism, and chemistry-like experiments. Beginning in the early-1600s, however, alchemy was used solely to refer to the pseudoscientific pursuits that we associate with it today, like the transformation of lead into gold and the search for the philosopher’s stone. Chemistry, on the other hand, came to describe the truly scientific study of elements and compounds.
Derivative Words
Alchemical: The adjective form of alchemy indicates when something is related to that early practice or undergoes a surprising transformation.
Example: Their alchemical search to turn lead into gold yielded no breakthroughs.
Example: The contractors refurbished the drab kitchen into the picture of modern minimalist aesthetics with alchemical thoroughness.
Example: Through alchemical makeup, Mike changed from an ordinary accountant into a lovable clown.
Alchemically: The adverb alchemically describes an action, adjective, or other adverb as related to the early predecessor of chemistry or to an astoundingly stark transformation.
Example: They alchemically subjected the metal to all kinds of conditions, but couldn’t change it into anything new.
Example: The negotiator alchemically converted the two sides’ animosity into compassion.
Alchemist: An alchemist is a person who practices the early predecessor of chemistry, or who accomplishes an astonishing transmutation of one thing into another.
Example: The alchemist tried every reaction she could think of, but the philosopher’s stone was always beyond her grasp.
Example: The artist was something of an alchemist to observers, taking mundane objects and fashioning them into striking sculptures.
In Literature
From Aldous Huxley’s The Genius and the Goddess:
What a gulf between impression and expression! That’s our ironic fate—to have Shakespearean feelings and (unless by some billion-to-one chance we happen to be Shakespeare) to talk about them like automobile salesmen or teen-agers or college professors. We practice alchemy in reverse—touch gold and it turns into lead; touch the pure lyrics of experience, and they turn into the verbal equivalents of tripe and hogwash.
In this passage, Huxley bemoans how difficult it is to express our emotions in ways that don’t come off as diluted or trite. Rather than accurately depicting the poignancy of our feelings, he states, we end up performing a process of transmutation, or alchemy, the other way, making our experiences seem insipid and mundane in how we describe them.
Mnemonic
All chemists have alchemy to thank for their field.
Alchemist: Magical Chemist
Tags
Chemistry, Science, Magic, Pseudoscience
Bring out the linguist in you! What is your own interpretation of alchemy. Did you use alchemy in a game? Provide an example sentence or a literary quote.