• apothecary •
Pronunciation: ê-pah-thê-ke-ri • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Pharmacist, druggist, someone who prepares and sells medicines.
Notes: This word has recently been replaced in America by pharmacist and druggist, but It was prevalent in Colonial America. It may be used as an adjective, as in 'apothecary shop'. Don't forget to change the final Y to I before the plural ending -s: apothecaries.
In Play: The British now call them chemists as we Americans call them druggists: "Lloyd Coxwell, the Nottingham apothecary, concocted an elixir for whatever afflicted his customers." Whatever they are called today, a hundred years ago they were apothecaries: "Coxwell, the local apothecary, was also the town butcher, and many of the townsfolk suspected him of mixing his occupations."
Word History: English copped this word from Latin apothecarius "storekeeper", from apotheca "storehouse", which Latin nicked from Greek apotheke "barn, storehouse", literally a place where things are put away. The Greek word was put together from apo "away" + theke "receptacle". Sanskrit turned apo into apa "away from", Latin, into ab "(away) from", German into ab "(down) from, off", English, into of and off. Theke is what Greek turned PIE dhe-/dho- "to set, put" into. We see its remnants in Sanskrit dadhati "places", Greek tithemi "to set, put, place", Latin facere "to do, make", Russian det' "to place, put" and delo "deed, business", Lithuanian deti "to place, lay", Latvian dēt "to lay (eggs), English do, and German tun "to do". (Now for yet another gracious nod to grandmaster of suggestions William Hupy for a delightful trip into the history of a fascinating Good Word.)