different between alchemy vs technology

English

Etymology

From Old French alkimie, arquemie (French alchimie), from Medieval Latin alkimia, from Arabic ?????????????? (al-k?miy??), from Ancient Greek ?????? (kh?meía) or ?????? (khumeía) originally “a mingling, infusion, juice, liquid, as extracted from gold” and later “alchemy”, perhaps from ????? (Kh?mía, “black earth (ancient name for Egypt)”) and/or ????? (khumós, “juice, sap”). (Compare Spanish alquimia and Italian alchimia).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?ælk?mi/

Noun

alchemy (countable and uncountable, plural alchemies)

1. (uncountable) The ancient search for a universal panacea, and of the philosopher's stone, that eventually developed into chemistry.
   • 1605, Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, IV. (11),^[1]

     And yet surely to alchemy this right is due, that it may be compared to the husbandman whereof Æsop makes the fable; that, when he died, told his sons that he had left unto them gold buried underground in his vineyard; and they digged over all the ground, and gold they found none; but by reason of their stirring and digging the mould about the roots of their vines, they had a great vintage the year following: so assuredly the search and stir to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitful inventions and experiments, as well for the disclosing of nature as for the use of man’s life.
2. (countable) The causing of any sort of mysterious sudden transmutation.
   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene 3,^[2]

     O, he sits high in all the people’s hearts:

     And that which would appear offence in us,

     His countenance, like richest alchemy,

     Will change to virtue and to worthiness.

   • 1640, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum; or, Outlandish Proverbs, Sentences, etc., in The Remains of that Sweet Singer of the Temple George Herbert, London: Pickering, 1841, p. 143,^[3]

     No alchymy to saving.

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2,^[4]

     Then of their session ended they bid cry

     With trumpet’s regal sound the great result:

     Toward the four winds four speedy Cherubim

     Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy,

     By herald’s voice explained; the hollow Abyss

     Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell

     With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim.

   • 1840, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry,”^[5]

     [Poetry] transmutes all that it touches, and every form moving within the radiance of its presence is changed by wondrous sympathy to an incarnation of the spirit which it breathes: its secret alchemy turns to potable gold the poisonous waters which flow from death through life; it strips the veil of familiarity from the world, and lays bare the naked and sleeping beauty, which is the spirit of its forms.

   • 2016, Boris Johnson

     There is such a rich thesaurus now of things that I have said that have been, one way or another, through what alchemy I do not know, somehow misconstrued, that it would really take me too long to engage in a full global itinerary of apology to all concerned.

3. (computing, slang, countable) Any elaborate transformation process or algorithm.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• elixir of life
• philosophers' stone

References

• alchemy on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• alchemy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “alchemy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ?????????? (tekhnología, “systematic treatment (of grammar)”), from ????? (tékhn?, “art”) + -????? (-logía, “study”). Synchronically analysable as techno- +? -logy.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /t?k?n?l?d?i/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /t?k?n?l?d?i/
• Rhymes: -?l?d?i

Noun

technology (countable and uncountable, plural technologies)

1. (uncountable) The organization of knowledge for practical purposes.
2. All the different and usable technologies developed by a culture or people.
3. (archaic) A discourse or treatise on the arts.

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "technology": assistive, automotive, biological, chemical, domestic, educational, environmental, geospatial, industrial, instructional, medical, microbial, military, nuclear, visual, advanced, sophisticated, high, modern, outdated, obsolete, simple, complex, medieval, ancient, safe, secure, effective, efficient, mechanical, electrical, electronic, emerging, alternative, appropriate, clean, disruptive.
• In some milieus and contexts, the word "technology" is understood to be limited to digital communications technology, e.g. "technology companies were overvalued during the dotcom bubble."

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ?????? (tekunoroj?)

Translations

Further reading

• technology on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

References

• technology at OneLook Dictionary Search
• technology in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "technology" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 315.
• technology in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• technology in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.