# This folk etymology of "panacea" is wrong, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 4, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744 "2007-12-04T03:18:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/1 "2007-12-04T03:18:18Z")
Flipping through one of my Foxfire books this morning (Foxfire 3, if you’re interested), I found the following quote in the chapter on Ginseng: > [@](#): > > Alice Lounsberry’s _Southern Wildflowers and Trees_ (Frederick A Stokes Company, New York, 1901; page 364) says: > > “Its true value lies, as we know, in its curious rootstock, long famed as being a cure for almost every sort of ill, and an antidote for every poison. Even the word panacea is believed by many to have been derived from its generic name…” Now, as the latin binomial is Panax cinquefolium, and it’s often shortened in slang to “Panax cinq,” pronounced “Panax sink”, I can sorta see where she’s coming from. But really? Wasn’t Panacea a Greek goddess, long before this plant got its scientific name? “is believed by many” is a heck of a cop-out, of course. It is believed by many that pineapples grow on trees, but that doesn’t seem to affect bromeliads much. Still, it’s a fun little tidbit I wouldn’t mind sharing with my students, but not if it’s, y’know, wrong. What’s the Straight Dope on the origin of “panacea”? ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/2 "2007-12-04T03:24:01Z")
The [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=panacea) and [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panacea) support your position. Trust their veracity at your own risk. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/3 "2007-12-04T03:27:38Z")
According to the OED: > [@OED](#): > > [\< classical Latin panaca, any of various plants reputed to have universal healing powers, also personified as the daughter of Aesculapius \< Hellenistic Greek plant reputed to have universal healing powers, universal remedy, already in ancient Greek personified as the daughter of Asclepius, god of healing \< Hellenistic Greek all-healing (see PANACE n.) + - -IA suffix1. Cf. earlier PANACE n.] So Panacea was a Greek god, from “All-healing.” However, the “panacea” meaning “a cure-all” may have come from the name of a plant. BTW, this is an urban legend. “Folk etymology” is something else entirely – the changing of a word’s spelling or pronuciation in order to match it to existing words. For instance, the French “tortue” becoming “turtle” because the word already existed as the name of a bird (two of them, and a partridge in a pear tree). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/4 "2007-12-04T03:46:33Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] BTW, this is an urban legend. “Folk etymology” is something else entirely – the changing of a word’s spelling or pronuciation in order to match it to existing words. For instance, the French “tortue” becoming “turtle” because the word already existed as the name of a bird (two of them, and a partridge in a pear tree). [/QUOTE] Oh, hey, thanks! I feel like one of those folks who’s been saying “for all intensive purposes” all these years. :smack: I thought folk etymology was etymology (that is, the origins of words) that was speculated and reported by, y’know, folks, as opposed to actual supported and documented study. Ignorance fought. I don’t suppose anyone knows how Panax cinq. got its name, do you? It’s just so neat that it is a panacea (or touted as a panacea) and it sounds like panacea, but I suppose it’s just coincidence. Could it have been named after Panacea or panacea somehow? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/5 "2007-12-04T03:51:55Z")
The word _Panax_ for the herb and _panacea_ to mean “all-healing” can be found in tandem as early as 1714, using Google Book search. > **[T. Lucretius Carus,](https://books.google.com/books?id=dDpBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA309&dq=Panax%2Bpanacea%2Bdate:1350-1714&as_brr=0)** I wouldn’t be surprised to find it available even earlier in a language other than English. Not that this proves anything one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/6 "2007-12-04T03:58:00Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] The word _Panax_ for the herb and _panacea_ to mean “all-healing” can be found in tandem as early as 1714, using Google Book search. > **[T. Lucretius Carus,](https://books.google.com/books?id=dDpBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA309&dq=Panax+panacea+date:1350-1714&as_brr=0)** I wouldn’t be surprised to find it available even earlier in a language other than English. Not that this proves anything one way or the other. [/QUOTE] Oooooo! “The juice of the herb called Panax, or Panacea, so called [something not in English] from healing all diseases…” and a reference to Pliny. So it does look as though it’s not entirely coincidental, after all. I’m intrigued! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/7 "2007-12-04T06:29:51Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Oh, hey, thanks! I feel like one of those folks who’s been saying “for all intensive purposes” all these years. :smack: I thought folk etymology was etymology (that is, the origins of words) that was speculated and reported by, y’know, folks, as opposed to actual supported and documented study. Ignorance fought. [/QUOTE] A Haiku: Why Not cry out, “cite?” Ignorance not fought! Transferred! Both uses are fine. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/8 "2007-12-04T08:19:42Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I thought folk etymology was etymology (that is, the origins of words) that was speculated and reported by, y’know, folks, as opposed to actual supported and documented study. [/QUOTE] Feel free to re-learn that, it means that [too](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_etymology) . EDIT: Come to think of it, though, that usage might itself be a folk etymology, in the other sense. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/9 "2007-12-04T14:51:46Z")
Oy. Now my brain hurts. If only there was an herb that could treat nearly anything… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/10 "2007-12-04T15:51:34Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I don’t suppose anyone knows how Panax cinq. got its name, do you? It’s just so neat that it is a panacea (or touted as a panacea) and it sounds like panacea, but I suppose it’s just coincidence. Could it have been named after Panacea or panacea somehow? [/QUOTE] Not a coincidence at all. The scientific name _Panax_ comes from the same root, the Greek meaning “heals all”. But this doesn’t mean that “panacaea” comes from _Panax_, rather that _Panax_ was given that name because it was reputed to have the properties of a panacaea. By the way, it’s [_Panax quinquefolius_](http://www.esf.edu/resorg/rooseveltwildlife/Research/ginseng/ginseng.htm), not _cinquefolium_. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/11 "2007-12-04T15:58:35Z")
I missed the edit window, but the scientific name _Panax_ was applied to ginseng by the man himself, Linnaeus, in 1753. [Cite](http://www.floranordica.org/publicreview/accounts/Araliaceae.html). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/12 "2007-12-04T17:35:10Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] Oh, hey, thanks! I feel like one of those folks who’s been saying “for all intensive purposes” all these years. :smack: I thought folk etymology was etymology (that is, the origins of words) that was speculated and reported by, y’know, folks, as opposed to actual supported and documented study. Ignorance fought. I don’t suppose anyone knows how Panax cinq. got its name, do you? It’s just so neat that it is a panacea (or touted as a panacea) and it sounds like panacea, but I suppose it’s just coincidence. Could it have been named after Panacea or panacea somehow? [/QUOTE] Actually, **WhyNot** , you were right in the first place (as **Peak Banana** said), and **RealityChuck** is wrong. This is not a legend, urban or otherwise, because there is no story. An “urban legend” is a believable narrative that circulates in contemporary society. In common usage, however, both “urban legend” and “folklore” are used to mean “untrue belief,” as above. I wish people would stop doing that, but they won’t. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/13 "2007-12-04T18:14:05Z")
As for folk etymology, we might contemplate the randy, goat-legged god Pan, who is sometimes pictured with a flute, a hot babe, and an ax. Specifically, the Pan ax. Folk like me make up stuff like that, just to etymologize folk like you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/14 "2007-12-05T01:13:21Z")
Well, you are right, WhyNot; Miss Lounsberry was pretty sadly misinformed. As said, Linnaeus named it using a Greek term, and that would have been easy for her to look up in any botanical or mythological work. Another cite, from an [ginseng article](http://content.herbalgram.org/naturesflavors/herbalgram/articleview.asp?a=2447) by the American Botanical Council, backs this up, with detail on the Chinese name of the plant: > [@](#): > > Ginseng, or, in Chinese, ren-shen, has been translated roughly as “man-root.” Fulder states that the Chinese characters for ginseng, both the common name and specific epithet for Asian or Oriental ginseng, represent ideas rather than sounds.1 Ren embraces multiple concepts, including “the spirit of man or the shape and dimensions of man. Shen, Sêng, or sang means root, but also a ‘crystallization of the essence of the earth’.” Hu in her 1976 review explained, "Sêng is . . . a term used by Chinese medicinal plant collectors for all fleshy [rootstocks] used as tonic."2 She also listed 22 species of Sêng-producing plants from 12 genera in seven plant families of the Dicotyledoneae from Volume 1 of the Chinese Materia Medica. In a subsequent letter to botanist and author Steven Foster,3 Hu further expanded her list of Sêngs to 62 species in 40 genera of 20 families. Only products derived from Panax species are properly termed gin-seng. Unfortunately, Siegel, in his infamous article4 referring to a supposed Ginseng Abuse Syndrome,5 stated erroneously that “the term ‘ginseng’ can refer to any of 22 related plants.” The plant that Foxfire talks about is Panax quinquefolius, American Ginseng. The most widely used Euro-American folk slang for the root, in the mountains, is 'Sang, a shortening for ginseng. From The Cherokee Herbal, JT Garrett, the Cherokee name for the herb is " O ta le ga le", or “Tali kuli”, translating as “It climbs the mountain”, which describes where ginseng grows in the wild, but perhaps a nod to it’s effect of giving strength to the body. And, I found this [page](http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Panax.html) interesting, as it shows how many plants worldwide were called Panax due to their medicinal attributes, their botanical reclassification, and, scrolling down, the names in different languages. Panacea, yearning, Sangs out for the Holy Grail Rootin’ for truth In the Fountain of Youth ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-folk-etymology-of-panacea-is-wrong-right/428744/15 "2007-12-05T04:17:08Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Drake] Actually, **WhyNot** , you were right in the first place (as **Peak Banana** said), and **RealityChuck** is wrong. This is not a legend, urban or otherwise, because there is no story. An “urban legend” is a believable narrative that circulates in contemporary society. In common usage, however, both “urban legend” and “folklore” are used to mean “untrue belief,” as above. I wish people would stop doing that, but they won’t. [/QUOTE] It seems to me that those “untrue beliefs” used to be called “popular misconceptions”, but it’s been a long time since I’ve heard that term. I think it may have been replaced by “urban legend”, even though that’s not what urban legend was supposed to mean.