When World Drowns
Panacea

Panacea

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This word for a ‘remedy to heal all diseases’ came via Latin from Greek panakeia, from panakēs ‘all-healing’ formed from pan ‘all’ and akos ‘remedy’. The sense ‘solution for all problems’ dates from the early 17th century.

Panacea comes from a Greek word meaning "all-healing," and Panacea was the goddess of healing. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, alchemists who sought to concoct the "elixir of life" (which would give eternal life) and the "philosopher's stone" (which would turn ordinary metals into gold) also labored to find the panacea. But no such medicine was ever found, just as no solution to all of a society's difficulties has ever been found. Thus, panacea is almost always used to criticize the very idea of a total solution

(灵丹妙药):希腊神话中的医药女神帕那刻亚

希腊神话中,帕那刻亚(Panakeia)是医药神埃斯库拉庇乌斯的女儿,光明神阿波罗的孙女。埃斯库拉庇乌斯共有5个女儿,分别代表了阿波罗的一种医药能力,其中以帕那刻亚(Panakeia)和许癸厄亚(Hygieia)最为有名。帕那刻亚代表了治疗,许癸厄亚(Hygieia)代表了清洁卫生与健康。古代医生在开始正式从业前,要宣读著名的希波克拉底誓词,宣誓对象除了阿波罗与埃斯库拉庇乌斯外,还包括许癸厄亚和帕那刻亚姐妹俩。

帕那刻亚的名字在希腊语中是“治疗一切”的意思,由pan+akeia构成,相当于英语中的all+cure。所以从她的名字衍生出英语单词panacea,意思是“包治百病的灵丹妙药”。