fermacy

Middle English

Noun

fermacy

1. medicine; pharmacy
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 2711-2714:

     To othere woundes, and to broken armes,
     Some hadden salves, and some hadden charmes;
     Fermacies of herbes, and eek save
     They dronken, for they wolde hir limes have.

     To other wounds and to broken arms,
     Some had salves, and some had charms;
     Medicines made of herbs, and also of sage
     They drank, for they wanted to have their limbs cured.

References

• “fermacy”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.