fire philosopher

English

Etymology

From a calque of the Latin philosophus per ignem (“philosopher by means of fire”, literally “philosopher by fire”).

Noun

fire philosopher (plural fire philosophers)

(obsolete) An alchemist.
- 1834, Rennie, James, Alphabet of scientific chemistry, for the use of beginners, New edition, London: Orr and Smith, OCLC 752740509, page 1:
  Most of such experiments were made by means of fire, and hence, […] the experimenters were termed Alchemists, meaning “The Firists,” or “The Fire Philosophers;” […]
- For more examples of usage of this term, see Citations:fire philosopher.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:alchemist

References

alchemist,fire philosopher,philosopher by fire,philosopher of fire at Google Ngram Viewer

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