magistery

English

WOTD – 24 February 2022

Etymology

PIE word
*méǵh₂s

From Middle English magisteri, magistery (“academic degree of Master”),[1] from Latin magisterium (“office of a chief, director, president, or superintendent; teaching office or authority of the Roman Catholic Church; authoritative statement”) (compare Late Latin magisterium (“philosopher’s stone”)), from magister (“master (title for a person in authority or one having a licence from a university to teach liberal arts and philosophy); teacher”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“big, great”) + *-teros (contrastive or oppositional suffix forming adjectives)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns, sometimes denoting groups and offices).[2] Doublet of magisterium.

cognates

French: magistère (fr) m
Old French: magisteire m

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmæd͡ʒɪstəɹi/, /ˈmæd͡ʒɪstɹi/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmæd͡ʒəˌstəɹi/
Hyphenation: ma‧gis‧tery

Noun

magistery (countable and uncountable, plural magisteries)

(chiefly historical)
1. (countable, alchemy, also figuratively)
  1. A pure quality with the power to cure or to turn one substance into another; also, a substance such as a philosopher's stone able to turn one substance into another.
    - 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXIII.] The Medicinable Vertues Considered in the Flowers, Leaves, Fruit, Boughs, Branches, Barke, Wood, Juice, Root, and Ashes of Many Trees of Severall Kinds.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the VVorld. Commonly Called, The Natvrall Historie of C. Plinivs Secvndus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, OCLC 1180792622, page 165:
      [T]hey made proofe of the ſaid flowers dried, and this high magiſterie they found, That being beaten to pouder, they cured thoſe of the bloudie flix,^{[sic – meaning flux]} vvho lay at the very point of death upon that diſeaſe; […]
    - 1645 March 5 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XLIII. To Sir Levvis Dives, in the Tovver.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren. […], volume II, 3rd edition, London: […] Humphrey Mos[e]ley, […], published 1655, OCLC 84295516, section VI, page 334:
      […] I have been here long enough, if I were matter capable thereof, to be made the Philoſophers Stone, to be converted from VVater to Povvder, vvhich is the vvhole Magiſtery: I have been beſides, ſo long upon the Anvil, that methinks I am grovvn malleable, and hammer-proof: I am ſo habituated to hardſhip.
    - 1657, Longus, “The Third Book”, in George Thornley, transl., Daphnis & Chloe […] (Abbey Classics; no. 13), London: Simpkin, Marshall, published 1924?, OCLC 16287834, page 124:
      This wanton Information being over, Daphnis, who had ſtill a Childish Pastorall mind, would presently be gone, and run up to Chloe, to have an experiment with her, how much he had profited by that magistery, as if indeed he had bin afraid lest staying but a little longer, he could forget to do his trick.
    - 1676, Matthew Hale, “Of the Moderation of the Affections. [A Preparative against Afflictions; with Directions for Our Deportment under Them, and upon Our Delivery out of Them.]”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. The Second Part, London: […] William Shrewsbury […], and Tho[mas] Leigh and D[aniel] Midwinter, […], published 1699, OCLC 1227563770, page 393:
      But yet farther, Gain aſſurance of thy Peace with God in Chriſt, and conſequently of thy future Happineſs; and be frequent in the Contemplation and Improvement of it. This is the great Engine of a Chriſtian, a Magiſtery that was never attained by the moſt exquiſite Philoſopher, nor is attainable but in and by the knowledge of Chriſt, who brought Life and Immortality to light: […]
    - [1837, William Whewell, “On the Mysticism of the Middle Ages”, in History of the Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Times. […], volume I, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, OCLC 1112872753, book IV (History of the Physical Sciences in the Middle Ages), pages 304–305:
      Some elements were conquerors, some conquered; there existed preparations which possessed the power of changing the whole of a body of a substance of another kind: these were called magisteries.]
  2. (obsolete) The product of such a transformation.
2. (countable, chemistry)
  1. A fine substance deposited by precipitation, formerly applied to certain white precipitates from metallic solutions.
    magistery of bismuth (BiONO₃·H₂O)
    - 1663, Robert Boyle, “Essay V. Proposing Some Particulars wherein Natural Philosophy may be Useful to the Therapeutical Part of Physick.”, in Some Considerations Touching the Vsefulnesse of Experimental Naturall Philosophy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Hen[ry] Hall printer to the University, for Ric[hard] Davis, OCLC 926120571, part II, section I (Of It’s Usefulness to Physick), chapter VI, pages 159–160:
      I am apt to think, that either Simples, or cheap, or unelaborate Galenical Mixtures, may furnih us vvith Specificks, that may perform much more than Chymiſts are vvont to think, and poſſibly be preferable to many of their coſtly Magiſteries, Quint-eſſences and Elixirs. […] The more Judicious of the Chymiſts themſelves do ſeveral of them novv acknovvledge, that the bare reducing of Pearls to fine Povvder, affords a Medicine much richer in the Vertues of the Pearls, then the Magiſtery, prepar'd by diſſolving them in acid Spirits, and precipitating them vvith Oyl of Tartar, and aftervvards ſcrupulously edulcorating them.
    - 1796, Erasmus Darwin, “[Class III. Diseases of Volition.] Ordo I. Increased Volition. Genus II. With Increased Actions of the Organs of Sense.”, in Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life, volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 1270980609, paragraph 12, page 375:
      [S]ome ladies apply to what are termed coſmetics under various names, which crowd the newspapers. Of theſe the white has deſtroyed the health of thouſands; a calx, or magiſtery, of biſmuth is ſuppoſed to be ſold in the ſhops for this purpoſe; but it is either, I am informed, in part or entirely white lead or ceruffa.
  2. (obsolete) A concentrated extract of a substance.
(obsolete)
1. (countable) An art or a skill.
2. (countable) Synonym of magistracy (“the dignity or office of a magistrate; the collective body of magistrates”)
3. (countable, pharmacology, veterinary medicine) A medicine prepared for a specific use.
4. (uncountable) The quality possessed by a master; authority, mastership, mastery; also, the exercise of authority.
5. (uncountable, Roman Catholicism) Synonym of magisterium (“the teaching authority or office of the Roman Catholic Church”)

Translations

pure quality with the power to cure or to turn one substance into another; a substance such as a philosopher’s stone able to turn one substance into another

fine substance deposited by precipitation — see precipitate

References

“maǧisterī, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
“magistery, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2021; “magistery, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.