Chemistry · a Light

The still was Greek, the words for it are Arabic

Distilling apparatus existed in Greco-Egyptian alchemy centuries before Islam, and one of its practitioners, Maria the Jewess, is credited with the water bath that a cook still calls a bain-marie. What happened in the Arabic laboratories was refinement and scale: better condensation, glass that would take the heat, and distillation run as an industry for rosewater, essential oils, naphtha and medicines. Al-Razi's book of secrets lists the equipment like a workshop inventory. The vocabulary crossed into Europe with the technique. Alembic is al-anbiq, itself from a Greek word. Alkali is al-qali, the ash of a saltwort plant. Elixir is al-iksir. Alcohol is al-kuhl, which meant the fine dark powder used on the eyes and came to mean the spirit of wine only later, in European usage.

Arabic chemical apparatus · 9th to 10th centuries