Nostrum
/ˈnɒs.trəm/noun
A medicine or remedy of questionable effectiveness, often promoted as a cure-all.
Did you know?In Latin, nostrum literally meant “our own,” but by the 17th century it was being used for a seller’s own proprietary remedy — the kind of mysterious cure that sounded powerful even when it wasn’t.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*nós
“the first-person plural pronoun “we””
Latin
Latin
noster
“our, belonging to us”
Late Latin
Latin
nostrum
“our own (thing), especially our own remedy or recipe”
17th Century
English
nostrum
“a medicine sold with an exaggerated claim to cure disease”
Modern English
English
nostrum
“a supposed cure-all or questionable remedy”