Middle English Dictionary Entry
catholicon n.
Entry Info
| Forms | catholicon n. |
| Etymology | ML, from Gr. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) A general treatise (as of grammar, vocabulary, etc.); (b) the title of a work, prob. the encyclopedic work (also known as the "Summa Grammaticalis") of the twelfth-century grammarian Johannes Balbus; (c) an electuary or salve for general use.
Associated quotations
a
- (1374-5) Will Court Hust.(Gldh)2.169 : [To St. Paul's Church he leaves his book called] Catholicon.
- (c1456) Pecock Faith (Trin-C B.14.45)286 : Loke also alle men, whether the book of Januense in gramer..is called catholicon for that it is orthodoxe, or for that it is universal.
- a1475(?a1430) Lydg.Pilgr.(Vit C.13)2452 : Ianuence..In hys book Catholicon.
- 1483 Cath.Angl.(Monson 168)428 : Explicit Catholicon in lingua materna.
b
- a1450(1408) Vegetius(1) (Dc 291)62/7 : Þey þat were..techeris of dedes of armes..were rewarded wiþ double reward of corne for vitayles of þe hole ȝere, and þat is clepid in þis book annona, þat is nouȝt ellis to seie as Catholicon [vr. Caton] seiþ.
c
- ?a1425 *Chauliac(1) (NY 12)148a/b : Þe materie digested it may be auoided wiþ pillulis de agarico or benedicta or catholicon [*Ch.(2): diachatholicon; L dyacatholicone].
- c1440 Thrn.Med.Bk.(Thrn)47/7 : Tak halfe an vnce of Diatarascos, halfe l vnce of Catholicon.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: Med., etc., see further J.Norri, Dictionary of Medical Vocabulary, s.v. catholicon.