Skip to main content

Rx Symbol


Have you ever wondered why medicines are denoted with an ℞ or Rx symbol? There are actually many theories about its origin but the most common one is that the symbol for prescriptions originated from the "Eye of Horus", which was an ancient Egyptian symbol associated with healing powers. According to Egyptian mythology, Horus lost his eye in battle but his mom used her powers to restore his eye, hence it became a symbol of healing. 

Eye of Horus

In the 2nd century, Greek physician Galen adapted this symbol to impress his patients. Galen’s influence on medicine was so strong that even the symbol was borrowed through the centuries and it eventually evolved into the modern symbol Rx (the eye of Horus kinda looks like an Rx).

Other theories place its origin in Latin and Roman times. One theory is that Rx was used as an abbreviation of the Latin word recipere, meaning “to prepare,” which physicians wrote on medical prescriptions. Yet another theory points to the similarity of the Rx symbol to the symbol for Jupiter, the Roman god.

Jupiter's symbol

Some folks believe that the Roman physicians wrote the Jupiter’s symbol on prescriptions as a prayer for the patient, while others think it might have been used to defy Christianity. Whatever the case, it is believed Jupiter’s symbol eventually morphed into the modern symbol of ℞.

While all three theories sound plausible, I personally find the first one most interesting and so I choose to believe that one. The truth is probably a combination of some or all of the theories.

Comparison of Eye of Horus, Jupiter and Rx prescription symbols

Whatever its origin, the ℞ symbol was used until around the 18th century, which then evolved to the modern letters Rx denoting the verb "take." A prescription reading "Rx two advils" means "take two advils." 


Sources:

https://www.history.com/news/where-did-the-rx-symbol-come-from
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Rx 

 


Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hippocrates: Father of Medicine

Another important person in Greek medicine is Hippocrates. Hippocrates is considered the father of modern medicine who continues to influence medicine more than 2000 years later. Although he is as revered as Asclepius, they have very different origins. While Asclepius is a mythological character, considered to be descended from God, Hippocrates is very much a historical figure, whose origin and life is recorded in history. Hippocrates lived from 460 to 375 BCE during the Classical Greece period and practiced medicine in Greece. His contribution to western medicine is rivaled by none other, and his collection of works covers almost every aspect of disease and medicine including infection, hygiene, epidemiology and the human immune system. Bust of Hippocrates Also, unlike Asclepius, Hippocrates practiced medicine as a science, not as divine magic. He was one of the first to separate religion from medicine, and sought to match treatment with symptoms.  His observations in the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

World's First Physicians

Today, March 30, is celebrated as National Doctors' Day to honor the noble profession and show our gratitude to the many doctors who show up to work for a greater calling than most professions. On this day, I thought it would be fitting to honor the first doctors in history, those who paved the way for the medical profession to become a sought-after career path for people like me. I thought I would explore the earliest physicians known to the different ancient civilizations that I have covered in this blog and their place in history. Looking at the list of ancient physicians, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_physicians), I found the earliest known physician to be Egyptian, so let's start with that. Around the same time, medicine was developing as a science in India too. Ancient Greece and China appear to have dedicated medical professionals almost 2000 years later.  Egypt: The oldest known Egyptian physician is Imhotep, who lived around 2700 BCE . He was worshippe...
Post a Comment
Read more