The word is from the Ancient Greekχημία, khēmia, or χημεία, khēmeia,[2][3] 'art of alloying metals', from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). [4]
The ultimate origin of the word is uncertain.[5]
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be derived from the greek "χημία", which is derived from the ancient Egyptian name of Egypt, khem or khm, khame, or khmi, meaning "blackness", i.e., the rich dark soil of the Nile river valley. Therefore, alchemy can be seen as the "Egyptian art" or the "black art".[2] However, it is also possible that al-kīmiyāʾ derived from χημεία, meaning "cast together".[6]
Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. It aims to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects. Latin words for Chemistry are derived from the Ancient Greek word χημία (kimia.)
The meaning of Kimia, in the Persian literature refers to what is behind the ‘materialistic’ conception of alchemy, and instead to the secret of the spirit’s action in nature and the Universe, the macro-cosmos. By acquiring this secular wisdom of action, alchemists aspired to discover their inner (microcosmic) reality, and transmute themselves.
[7]
The word appears ubiquitously in Persian literature. Some early usages can be seen in Vis and Ramin and Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh.
Other samples in verse and prose are:
که کیمیای سعادت در این جهان سخن است
بزرجمهر چنین گفته بود با کسری
The rare of happiness is what counts in life,
Told Kasra his minister Bozorgmehr
^ ab"alchemy", entry in The Oxford English Dictionary, J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1989, ISBN0-19-861213-3.
^p. 854, "Arabic alchemy", Georges C. Anawati, pp. 853-885 in Encyclopedia of the history of Arabic science, eds. Roshdi Rashed and Régis Morelon, London: Routledge, 1996, vol. 3, ISBN0-415-12412-3.
^Weekley, Ernest (1967). Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN0-486-21873-2
^Corbin, 1986, pp. 71–87, 196–208; Nasr, chapter 9
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