- aspirin
- coined 1899 in Ger. as a trademark name, from Gk. a- "without" + L. Spiraea (ulmaria), the plant in whose flowers or leaves the processed acid in the medicine is found naturally. "Hence aspirin prop. means 'acetylo-salicylic acid which is gained not from the Spiraea ulmaria (but in a chemical way)' " [Klein]. Or the second element might be a contraction of acetylierte spirsäure, the Ger. name of the acid [OED].