The two words are related, but one has to go a long way back...
 
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, 'medicine' (4a) (=magic) is
from the Old French _medecine_, _medicine_, itself from the Latin
_medicina_ (meaning the art of the physician, a physician's laboratory
and a medicament or remedy).  'medicine' (=doctor) is from the French
_medicin_, from the Late Latin _medicinus_.  Both _medicina_ and
_medicinus_ have as their ultimate root the verb _mederi_, 'to heal'.
 
In message <Pine.OSF.3.91.961213140908.7317D-
[log in to unmask]>, Anna Mae Maday <[log in to unmask]> writes
>Volume 10 of Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York
>on page 700 Montcalm says of the Indians..."Should any misfortune happen
>to them they would say tis a medicine they are getting; a term in their
>language equivalent to charm in ours"... "....the English had thrown that
>medicine on the Indians..."
>
>Cyprien Tanguay states in one of his vols. that a certain individual was
>a "medecin a Saginaw" (a former soldier, married to a Saulteuse, and who
>wintered at Saginaw)
>
>It was formerly believed that this man may have been a doctor, healer
>or medicine man.  The French officials were known to have promised
>blacksmiths to the Indians of the Saginaw area, but are there any
>other instances of them sending "medecins" in other areas?
>
>Or do the two terms mentioned have anything in common?
>
>
>Anna Mae Maday
>Eddy Historical & Genealogy Collection
>Hoyt Public Library
>505 Janes Ave
>Saginaw MI 48607
>[log in to unmask]
>517-755-9827
 
--
Pat Reynolds
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