Etymology

hederic acid

Today it means: hederagenin Full definition →

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The story

From taxonomic name Hedera + -ic + acid, apparently used for the first time in English in 1849 in Vol. VII of the Chemical Gazette published by Richard and John E. Taylor, London, England in an article titled "On the constituents of the seeds of ivy", written by German professor L. (Louis?) Posselt, who was the first to extract the substance from ivy (Hedera helix) seeds. Original article was published in Liebig's "Annalen der Chemie" in January 1849.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.