Enunciado

Observaciones y contexto

Since prehistoric times, women have known and applied the healing properties of plants. In the Roman world, they were the ones who were the most familiar with the management of plants that were used in the preparation of healing substances. Women transmitted the necessary knowledge for the manufacture of medicinal remedies (venena*) from generation to generation, with techniques that were mysterious to men. Its targets were predominantly medical, and especially gynaecological, but, by far, the most well-known poisons are those used for deadly purposes. 

We know different Roman women who were judged for poisoning. In 153 BC, two female poisoners named Licinia and Publilia were sentenced to death for having poisoned their husbands. We know of others, such as Canidia or Martina, who were accused of poisoning Germanicus, Emperor Tiberius’ nephew. Processes of collective poisoning carried out by other Roman women have also gone down in history. The Roman historian Titus Livius relates that, in the year 331 BC, a female slave denounced the collusion of around twenty Roman ladies who were dedicated to preparing poisonous potions (Tito Livio: Historia-de-Roma-desde-su-fundación-libros-VIII-X. BCG-148, pp.52,53,54). 
 
*In Latin, the word venenum/venena (plural) was used to refer to both medicinal remedies and drugs, substances with magical properties and poisons. They were those that put an end to stomach problems, that managed to make the person object of desire fall madly in love, or that dealt with unwanted pregnancies.
 
Human beings were very early aware of the existence of poisons from animals, plants and minerals and used them for hunting and for war, to heal and to kill, searching for fast and effective poisons and antidotes that would protect humans from them. From plant substances (arsenic, cyanide...) to polonium (in the 21st century, which is not a chemical poison, but a radioactive substance), toxins have been used throughout history to depose rulers and change power balances. Often used as a silent and subtle weapon, poison has often been a decisive protagonist (although hidden most of the time) in history. 

In the Greco-Roman world, classical authors have left us news about the frequent use of poisonous substances as a way to eliminate someone unwanted, who hindered them for their purposes; and about men and women who knew the properties and uses of these substances, as in the case of Locusta, a 'professional' poisoner from the time of Nero.  

Descripción

In this activity we will investigate the Greek and Latin terms that were used to refer to the concept of poison and how they have been gathered in our language. With the stems of these terms we will make the lexical family, paying attention to Hellenisms and Latinisms, and differentiating between derived and compound words. 

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