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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

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A Chymical DictionaryVegetabilia

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English Edition · Branch 442 of 740

Vegetabilia

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 442

Vegetabilia

Plants animals and natural materials · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Growing things described through rootedness and branching.

In the book. This is a broad account of a natural kingdom.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374.

Historical Definition

Vegetabilia are things that grow with a root fixed in earth and a stem and branches in air, such as herbs, plants and trees.

Meaning

The definition organizes the vegetable category through a relation to earth and air. A fixed root and an exposed stem and branches give the structural description. The examples are herbs, plants and trees.

Use in the Book

This is a broad account of a natural kingdom. It need not imply that every plant discussed by an author displays the same conspicuous trunk or branches. The text’s own examples establish the scope intended by the compiler.

Places to Read

Quintessentia. A purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.

Sophia herba. A plant identified as a particularly valued kind of bonewort.

In This Edition

Vegetable is used in its historical sense of growing plant life, rather than restricted to the modern culinary category. The Latin heading preserves that wider use.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Vegetabilia; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 374; compare Quintessentia, Sophia herba

See also. Quintessentia; Sophia herba

442

About This Reading Edition

The complete 706 historical definitions of the 1650 English dictionary, modernised and accompanied by expanded Diotimos commentary, reading routes, 15 textual notes and complete linked indexes.

Historical Text

A Chymicall Dictionary, London 1650, English version associated with John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The containing volume also prints Sendivogius and Paracelsus; neither neighboring work changes this dictionary’s attribution.

About This Edition

Complete 706 definition paragraphs with new introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes; Diotimos Editions, 2026.

Rights

The historical 1650 English text is in the public domain. New introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and published with the site owner’s authorization.