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alchemy

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Alchemy

Alchemy   Quick reference

The Oxford Dictionary of Islam

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2003
Subject:
Religion
Length:
111 words

Arabic ilm al-kimiyah. The science of alchemy combined occult practices, such as the transformation of the spirit, with scientific

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2005
Subject:
History, modern history (1700 to 1945), Religion
Length:
1,006 words

That alchemy reached its apogee during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries raises interesting questions. How could an occult science predicated

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2003
Subject:
Religion
Length:
251 words

(Arab., perhaps from Gk. via Syriac, al-kīmiyā).

The endeavour (minimally) to find the key to the transformation of chemical

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2010
Subject:
Classical studies, History
Length:
1,707 words

The origins of alchemy can be traced to Greco-Roman Egypt, where the so-called sacred art was practiced by Hellenized Egyptians

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2009
Subject:
Religion, Social sciences, Regional and Area Studies
Length:
1,584 words

From the perspective of the history of science, alchemy can legitimately be considered an Islamic creation. Notwithstanding some developments in

alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

The Oxford Companion to Chaucer

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2005
Subject:
Literature, Literary studies (early and medieval)
Length:
1,175 words

Various derivations have been offered for the Arabic word (out of Greek) that describes proto-chemistry. The leading contender, ‘the Egyptian

alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2010
Subject:
History, Early history (500 CE to 1500)
Length:
865 words
Illustration(s):
1

Alchemy intersected the medieval cultures of *scholasticism and the artisanal world of metallurgy, *pigment-making, and the manufacture of simulated

alchemy

alchemy   Quick reference

World Encyclopedia

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2004
Subject:
Encyclopedias
Length:
87 words

A system in European philosophy in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. It contained elements such as Gnosticism and astrology

alchemy

alchemy   Quick reference

The Oxford Companion to Local and Family History (2 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2009
Subject:
History, Local and Family History
Length:
23 words

The chemistry of the Middle Ages and throughout the 16th century, concerned especially with the attempt to transmute base metal into gold....

alchemy and chemistry

alchemy and chemistry   Reference library

The Oxford Dictionary of the Renaissance

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2005
Subject:
History, Early Modern History (1500 to 1700)
Length:
226 words
The Arabic origins of the term ‘chemistry’ are apparent in the cognate term ‘alchemy’, because al is simply the definite article in Arabic. In modern usage the term alchemy refers to the ... More
ALCHEMY

ALCHEMY   Reference library

The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (2 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2011
Subject:
Religion
Length:
602 words
the branch of chemistry dedicated to the transformation of base metals into gold. The precepts of alchemy had some impact on Jewish scientists, philosophers, and mystics during the Middle ... More
alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2010
Subject:
Philosophy
Length:
1,148 words

Although usually associated with attempts to turn lead into gold, or to create artificially an elixir of life with wonderful

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2010
Subject:
Religion, Social sciences
Length:
1,168 words

Alchemy in the West is chiefly understood as a European search, possibly from the first century developing initially in Hellenistic

alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2005
Subject:
History, Early history (500 CE to 1500)
Length:
1,351 words
Illustration(s):
1

Despite some earlier traces, alchemy is considered to have been introduced to the West in the movement of scientific translations

Alchemy

Alchemy   Reference library

David Pingree and Anthony Cutler

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2005
Subject:
History, Early history (500 CE to 1500)
Length:
999 words
(χυμεία or χημεία). The “sacred art” of the transmutation of metals into gold or silver was, in Byz., a continuation of older Mesopotamian and Egyptian traditions of coloring or making ... More
alchemy

alchemy   Quick reference

A Dictionary of Hinduism

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2009
Subject:
Religion
Length:
227 words
The goal of Hindu alchemy is to achieve immortality. What makes it distinctive, however, is the means it employs to attain this end: the transmutation and ultimate perfection of the body. ... More
alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

William H. Brock

The Oxford Companion to Medicine (3 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2006
Subject:
Medicine and health
Length:
1,017 words
The possibility of manipulating matter into substances of commercial value, such as silver and gold on the one hand, or of spiritually uplifting value, such as an elixir of life on the ... More
alchemy

alchemy   Reference library

Robert Halleux

The Oxford Classical Dictionary (4 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2012
Subject:
Classical studies, History
Length:
1,814 words
Of ancient texts on Greek alchemy there survive two papyri, three vast corpora of differing date and content, and a few isolated treatises. (a) Papyrus X from Leiden and the Stockholm ... More
alchemy

alchemy   Quick reference

The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)

Reference type:
Subject Reference
Current Version:
2006
Subject:
Language reference, History of English, Literature, Literary theory and cultural studies
Length:
56 words

the medieval forerunner of chemistry, concerned with the transmutation of matter, in particular with attempts to convert base metals into gold or find a universal elixir....

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