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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 DictionaryCherio

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English Edition · Branch 679 of 740

Cherio

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A Chymical Dictionary

p. 679

Cherio

Qualities powers and relations · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. A hidden elemental virtue distinguished from familiar sensible qualities.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 15; facsimile PDF page 343.

Historical Definition

Cherio is the hidden accidental virtue of the external elements, rather than qualities such as heat, cold and the like.

Meaning

The definition makes an explicit contrast. Cherio is not simply heat, cold or another such quality; it belongs to a hidden virtue associated with the external elements. “Accidental” is retained as part of the historical philosophical vocabulary and should not be read casually as merely a mistake or chance occurrence.

Qualitas supplies the dictionary’s account of heat, cold, dryness and moisture through elemental predominance. Comparing the entries makes the exclusion concrete. Arcanum offers a related discussion of hidden virtue, but Cherio has its own elemental qualification. The link should clarify the conceptual field without erasing the distinction.

Places to Read

Qualitas. The balance of hot, cold, dry and moist qualities.

Arcanum. A hidden virtue in natural things, capable in this account of enhancement through art.

Elementum. The elemental domain described through corruption, transience and change.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 15; facsimile PDF page 343 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary (1650), s.v. Cherio ; compare Qualitas, Arcanum, Elementum

See also. Qualitas; Arcanum; Elementum

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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.