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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 DictionaryPeriodus

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English Edition · Branch 718 of 740

Periodus

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 718

Periodus

Language number and measures · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. The limit or duration of life.

In the book. The Iliaster family also uses term of life and balm-of-life language.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366.

Historical Definition

Periodus is the term of life.

Meaning

Term can mean the appointed extent or limit of a period. The definition concerns life’s temporal span, rather than identifying a medicine or a celestial body.

Use in the Book

The Iliaster family also uses term of life and balm-of-life language. Those fuller entries show how duration can be related to different accounts of life and its sustenance. The present short equivalence supplies no number of years.

Places to Read

Iliaster primus. The first human Iliaster described through life and its balsam.

Iliaster secundus. The second human Iliaster associated with elemental life.

Iliaster tertius. The third human Iliaster associated with life through quintessence.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 38; facsimile PDF page 366 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Periodus; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 366; compare Iliaster primus, Iliaster secundus, Iliaster tertius

See also. Iliaster primus; Iliaster secundus; Iliaster tertius

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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.