A Chymical Dictionary

Aqua corrodens

Salts solvents and liquid preparations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A liquid category defined by corrosive action, including vinegar.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 5; facsimile PDF page 333.

Historical Definition

Aqua corrodens is vinegar and every corrosive liquor.

Meaning

This expression is broader than the name of a single liquid. Vinegar is included, but “every corrosive liquor” extends the entry to an action-based family. In the dictionary’s classification, the relevant feature is what the liquid does to other matter. A passage must supply the particular substance and conditions.

Read the adjective carefully. A water described as dissolving, mercurial or permanent does not automatically become identical with this corrosive category. The vocabulary can distinguish an operation, a claimed origin or a philosophical property. Here, the explicitly named characteristic is corrosion.

Places to Read

Corrosiva. Surgical preparations classified by removal of excess flesh.

Aqua solvens. A direct identification of a dissolving water as distilled vinegar.

Acetum radicale. A dissolving water described through the root and matrix of vinegar.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 5; facsimile PDF page 333 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Aqua corrodens ; compare Corrosiva, Aqua solvens, Acetum radicale

See also. Corrosiva; Aqua solvens; Acetum radicale