A Chymical Dictionary

Ysopus

Operations instruments and practitioners · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Alchemy described through separation of pure and impure.

In the book. Spagiria is commonly equated with alchemy, while Spagirus describes the practitioner’s ability to distinguish and separate.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 48; facsimile PDF page 376.

Historical Definition

Ysopus is the art of alchemy: separating pure from impure.

Meaning

The definition names an art and states its characteristic activity. The separation of pure from impure is the interpretive center of the sentence. The headword is not here given as a plant identification.

Use in the Book

Spagiria is commonly equated with alchemy, while Spagirus describes the practitioner’s ability to distinguish and separate. Read together, these entries supply an art name, an occupational name and a common operative emphasis.

Quintessentia describes an extracted spiritual matter raised toward purity through separation. Regulus concerns a pure metallic portion freed from dregs. These examples show how the general language of separation receives a different material subject in particular entries.

Places to Read

Spagiria. A name commonly used for alchemy.

Spagirus. The alchemical practitioner defined through discrimination and separation.

Quintessentia. A purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.

In This Edition

The historical headword is retained so that a reader does not substitute a familiar botanical-looking equivalent. Its actual gloss, the alchemical art and its separating action, remains explicit.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 48; facsimile PDF page 376 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Ysopus; 1650 facsimile PDF p. 376; compare Spagiria, Spagirus, Quintessentia, Regulus

See also. Spagiria; Spagirus; Quintessentia; Regulus