Merry 'Pharmers' and Jolly Ranchers by Rob Kyff on Creators.com

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Merry 'Pharmers' and Jolly Ranchers

Whenever I hear the pharmaceutical industry described as "Big Pharm," I can't help picturing tractors cultivating acres of Celebrex as silos filled with Viagra loom in the background. (Alternative name for Big Pharm: "Tyrannosaurus Rx.")

So, you might ask, is there a linguistic connection between "farm" and "pharmacy"?

Sorry. There's no farmer in the dell … er, pill.

"Pharmacy" is derived from the Old French "farmacie," from the Greek word "pharmacon," meaning a "a magic charm, poison or drug." "Farm," a completely unrelated word, derives from the Latin "firmus" (firm).

But how did "firm" become "farm"? Scholars say it's because agricultural plots were made firm, either physically by walls around them or metaphorically by signatures on a lease.

If you're feeling a little queasy about the origins of other "pharm" terms, here's your prescription: Take one etymology every 20 seconds for the next two minutes.

"Apothecary," an old-fashioned word for a pharmacist or pharmacy, is derived from the Latin "apotheca" (storehouse). So when "apothecary" first appeared in English, it referred to shops that sold a wide range of dry goods in addition to medicine, just as today's drugstores sell squirt guns, cosmetics and Jolly Ranchers candy (aka "Jolly Pharmers").

By the 1500s, "apothecary" had narrowed in meaning to denote a store or person specializing in medicines.

This leaves me wondering how Romeo and Juliet might have fared if the apothecary had replaced his potion with Jolly Ranchers.

If you're all curious about cure-alls, "panacea" (a remedy for everything) derives from the Greek words "pan" (all) and "akos" (remedy), while "remedy" itself comes from the Latin "re-" (again) and "mederi" (to heal). And "patent medicines" were so-called because their makers (supposedly) held patents for their recipes.

"Nostrum" ("NAH-strum") refers to a quack medicine prepared by someone who makes great claims for its effectiveness. It's derived from the Latin "noster" (ours) because charlatans would tout such panaceas and patent medicines as being uniquely "ours."

By extension, "nostrum" came to mean any questionable remedy or scheme. In 1921, for instance, the alliteratively minded President Warren G. Harding declared that America needed "not nostrums, but normalcy." As a native Ohioan eager for a return to small-town values, this jolly ranter clearly preferred Big Farm to Big Pharm.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045. To find out more about Rob Kyff and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.