Some etymology that I find interesting.
In Britain, the term chemist is often used both for pharmacists and some physical scientists. The word is derived from alchemist.
An alchemist was a philosopher who researched such subjects as why some things are alive and some are not or why metals such as lead and gold are similar in some respects but different in others. It was believed that common to all matter was a pure substance called the Philosopher's Stone which accounted for the similarities. If an alchemist could separate the Philospher's Stone, he or she could find out precisely why, e.g. lead is different from gold and, possibly, convert one to the other. Today, of course, chemists know a great deal about the fundamental constituents of matter and why e.g. lead and gold are both similar and different. Biochemists have also learned a lot about why some things are alive and some are not.
Alchemy is derived from Al Khemi, an Arabic term for Egypt. No doubt partly because of the fascinating and, certainly at one time, mysterious hieroglyphs, Egypt was regarded as a land of mystery and its name was transferred to what was once a very mysterious science. Gypsy, the English term for the Romany travellers who arrived with alleged mysterious skills such as fortune telling, is derived from the word Egyptian. (In Egypt, gypsies are called Halebi because it was believed that they arrived via Haleb [Aleppo] in Syria.)
Al Khemi is derived from the Coptic khemi meaning dark-coloured, which in turn is derived from the Ancient Egyptian word kem. Desert was Ancient Egyptian for a shade of red. Ancient Egyptians divided Egypt into Kem, the area of the dark silt soil of the Nile and Desert, meaning the reddish country beyond the fertile Nile. Thus at least two Ancient Egyptian words are commonly used in English, though with their meanings somewhat changed.
