Kimia is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

word and a feminine given name in

Persian language Persian ( ), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, Fārsī ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision ...

. It means

elixir of life The elixir of life (Medieval Latin: ' ), also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker Immortality, eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to Panacea (medicine), cure all diseases. Alch ...

alchemy Alchemy (from the Arabic word , ) is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practised in China, India, the Muslim world, and Europe. In its Western form, alchemy is first ...

, or the

philosopher’s stone The philosopher's stone is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold or silver; it was also known as "the tincture" and "the powder". Alchemists additionally believed that it could be used to mak ...

. In ancient Persian poetry, kimia means "rare" or "unique." The word is from the

, ''khēmia'', or , ''khēmeia'',"alchemy", entry in ''The Oxford English Dictionary'', J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner, vol. 1, 2nd ed., 1989, . 'art of alloying metals', from χύμα (khúma, “fluid”), from χέω (khéō, “I pour”). The ultimate origin of the word is uncertain. According to the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'', it may be derived from the greek , which is derived from the ancient

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

name of Egypt, ''khem'' or ''khm'', ''khame'', or ''khmi'', meaning "blackness", i.e., the rich dark soil of the Nile river valley. Therefore, alchemy can be seen as the "Egyptian art" or the "black art". However, it is also possible that ''al-kīmiyāʾ'' derived from , meaning "cast together". Alchemy is a philosophical and protoscientific tradition practiced throughout Europe, Africa, and Asia. It aims to purify, mature, and perfect certain objects. Latin words for Chemistry are derived from the Ancient Greek word χημία (kimia.) The meaning of Kimia, in the Persian literature refers to what is behind the ‘materialistic’ conception of alchemy, and instead to the secret of the spirit’s action in nature and the Universe, the macro-cosmos. By acquiring this secular wisdom of action, alchemists aspired to discover their inner (microcosmic) reality, and transmute themselves. Corbin, 1986, pp. 71–87, 196–208; Nasr, chapter 9 The word appears ubiquitously in Persian literature. Some early usages can be seen in

Vis and Ramin Vis, ViS, VIS, and other capitalizations may refer to: Places * Vis (island), a Croatian island in the Adriatic sea ** Vis (town), on the island of Vis * Vis (river), in south-central France * Vis, Bulgaria, a village in Haskovo Province * Vi ...

and Ferdowsi’s

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

. Other samples in verse and prose are: The word Kimia has been frequently used in other Persian poetry, including those of Hafez Shirazi: and also:

Notable persons

* Kimia Alizadeh (born 1998), Iranian Olympian athlete and taekwondo player * Kimia Hosseini (born 2003), Iranian actress * (born 1970), Japanese astronaut * (born 1989), Japanese racing driver

References

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