An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Arzenei

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Arzenei, feminine (in the 17th century accented on the A also), ‘medicine,’ from Middle High German arzenîe (erzonîe), feminine, ‘art of healing, remedy.’ The Old High German word does not occur, but only a derivative Old High German erzinen, giarzinôn, Middle High German erzenen, ‘to heal;’ the verb, by its suffix, suggests Gothic lêkinôn, Anglo-Saxon lœ̂cnian, Old High German lâhhinôn, ‘to heal.’ From Old High German gi-arzinôn, the Middle High German substantival arzenîe, which did not appear until a later period, might then have been formed with a Romance termination. The assumption that Middle High German arzenîe referred to Archigenes of Apamea (in Syria), a famous physician, is untenable; if this assumption were correct, we should have expected Old High German *arzin, or rather *arzino, ‘physician,’ which, however, nowhere to be found. Besides, Old High German arzinôn formed into arzât, ‘physician,’ under the influence of the genuinely Teutonic and Gothic lêkinôn, Old High German lâhhinôn, ‘to heal,’ makes any reference to Archigenes quite superfluous. Moreover, Middle High German has also a form arzatîe (Middle Dutch arsedîe), ‘medicine.’ See Arzt.