late 14c., drogge (early 14c. in Anglo-French), "any substance used in the composition or preparation of medicines," from Old French droge "supply, stock, provision" (14c.), which is of unknown origin. Perhaps it is from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German droge-vate "dry barrels," or droge waere, literally "dry wares" (but specifically drugs and spices), with first element mistaken as indicating the contents, or because medicines mostly consisted of dried herbs.
Compare dry goods(1708), so called because they were measured out in dry (not liquid) measure, and Latin species, in Late Latin "wares," then specialized to "spices" (French épice, English spice). The same source produced Italian and Spanish droga, Swedish drog.
Specific application to "narcotics and opiates" is by late 19c., though the association of the word with "poisons" is from 1500s. Druggie "drug addict" is recorded by 1968. Phrase a drug on (or in) the market "thing which has lost its value and is no longer wanted" (mid-17c.) is of doubtful connection and may be a different word, perhaps a play on drag, which was sometimes written drug c. 1240-1800.
Middle English foode, fode, from Old English foda "food, nourishment; fuel," also figurative, from Proto-Germanic *fodon (source also of Swedish föda, Danish föde, Gothic fodeins), from Germanic *fod- "food," from PIE *pat-, extended form of root *pa- "to feed."
Food chain is by 1915. Food poisoning attested by 1864; food processor in the kitchen appliance sense from 1973; food stamp (n.) is from 1962.
mid-14c., administracioun, "act of giving or dispensing;" late 14c., "management (of a business, property, etc.), act of administering," from Latin administrationem (nominative administratio) "aid, help, cooperation; direction, management," noun of action from past-participle stem of administrare "to help, assist; manage, control, guide, superintend; rule, direct," from ad "to" (see ad-) + ministrare "to serve, attend, wait upon," from minister "inferior, servant, priest's assistant" (see minister (n.)).
It is attested by early 15c. as "management of a deceased person's estate under a commission from authority." The sense of "management of public affairs" is from 1680s; hence, "executive power in a government" (1731), though in Britain later government was used in this sense. The meaning "a U.S. president's period in office" is recorded by 1796 in the writings of George Washington.
The administration of government, in its largest sense, comprehends all the operations of the body politic, whether legislative, executive, or judiciary; but in its most usual, and perhaps in its most precise, signification, it is limited to executive details, and falls peculiarly within the province of the executive department. ["The Federalist," No. 72 (Hamilton)]
c. 1600, "to mix (a drink, etc.) with drugs, make narcotic or poisonous," from drug (n.). Meaning "dose (a person or animal) to excess with drugs or medications" is from 1730. Related: drugged; drugging.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 1930, shortened from Food, Drug, and Insecticide Administration.
also mal-administration, "faulty or improper management of affairs, defective conduct in the administration of official duties," 1640s, from mal- + administration. Related: Maladminister (1705).
late 14c., farmacie, "a medicine that rids the body of an excess of humors (except blood);" also "treatment with medicine; theory of treatment with medicine," from Old French farmacie "a purgative" (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin pharmacia, from Greek pharmakeia "a healing or harmful medicine, a healing or poisonous herb; a drug, poisonous potion; magic (potion), dye, raw material for physical or chemical processing."
This is from pharmakeus (fem. pharmakis) "a preparer of drugs, a poisoner, a sorcerer" from pharmakon "a drug, a poison, philter, charm, spell, enchantment." Beekes writes that the original meaning cannot be clearly established, and "The word is clearly Pre-Greek." The ph- was restored 16c. in French, 17c. in English (see ph).
Buck ["Selected Indo-European Synonyms"] notes that "Words for 'poison', apart from an inherited group, are in some cases the same as those for 'drug' ...." In addition to the Greek word he has Latin venenum "poison," earlier "drug, medical potion" (source of Spanish veneno, French venin, English venom), and Old English lybb.
Meaning "the use or administration of drugs" is from c. 1400; the sense of "art or practice of preparing, preserving, and compounding medicines and dispensing them according to prescriptions" is from 1650s; that of "place where drugs are prepared and dispensed" is recorded by 1833.
U.S. space agency, acronym of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, set up in 1958.
"drug which induces hallucinations," 1954, from stem of hallucination + -gen.
