From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordGrowing things described through rootedness and branching.
- In the bookThis is a broad account of a natural kingdom.
- A place to readThe 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
- VegetabiliaRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- QuintessentiaA purified spiritual matter obtained from living things.
- Sophia herbaA 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.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 46; facsimile PDF page 374 — Facsimile