Behind the name, Morphine

Most medicinal terms are so complicated and chemical-y: Amoxicillin, Atorvastatin, Lisinopril. Like a parade of syllables during a military march: a-mo-xi-ci-llin, le-ft-right-le-ft, A-tor-vast-a-tin, le-ft-right-le-ft. 

It is a cruel workout for the tongue. But there’s one medicine — a medicinal drug, actually — which has a humbler number of syllables in it (just two), with origins in Greek mythology. That is: Mor-phine. 

Morphine is named after Morpheus, the Greek God of Dreams, who is aptly the son of the Greek God of Sleep, Hypnos. They both, along with others, live in Hades’ Underworld, beside the River Lethe, which is a river of forgetfulness – how on theme! 

The myth goes that the cave where Morpheus spent most of his time crafting dreams for mortals and gods was surrounded by fields of poppy flowers!!

Kudos to German pharmacist Friedrich Sertürner, the first to extract morphine from the raw sap of that very same poppy plant, and for being whimsical and cultured enough to name it after a Greek God.

🖼️ 1️⃣ Claude Monet, Poppy Field (1881)

🖼️ 2️⃣ Van Gogh, Field with Poppies (1890)