Mesmerize, meaning to attract strongly or hold spellbound, comes from Franz Mesmer, an 18th-century German doctor who promoted a theory he called animal magnetism. After completing a medical thesis in Vienna in 1766, Mesmer treated patients with iron preparations and magnets, then later with his hands, claiming he could remove internal blockages caused by invisible forces. His dimly lit salons, music, and theatrical cures helped his ideas spread from Vienna to Paris, where Marie Antoinette became taken with them. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of ““Mesmerize” Comes From Franz Mesmer’s Purported Magnetic Healing”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
Sometimes I just can’t help myself. I’ll be in the middle of a conversation, and somebody will say a word, and I’ll have to stop it down and just say, oh my gosh, do you know the etymology of that word? It’s so fascinating.
I’m like, yes, Martha, go ahead. I know. I’ve stopped down many a dinner party, and people are like, how nice for you. We’ll be out on the veranda.
Right. This happened again the other day, Grant, and I thought I would share with you the etymology and see if you can guess what the word is.
Oh, okay. Bring it on. Let’s see how this goes.
Okay. Well, this etymology involves a German who studied theology and law and then later medicine. He completed his doctoral thesis in Vienna in 1766. And he had this theory that just as the moon exerts a pull on ocean tides, the planets exert this kind of gravitational force on our bodies, and they affect our health that way. And he said that this was a kind of animal magnetism.
And he applied this animal magnetism in his practice in Vienna by doing things like having patients swallow a preparation containing iron and then holding magnets on different parts of their body to try to disrupt those gravitational tides. And the basic idea was that somehow he could remove blockages that were causing problems and create this kind of artificial tide to make the problems leave.
And later he stopped using magnets and he started using his hands to channel these invisible magnetic fields. He was something of a showman. And supposedly for a while there, he was curing things like convulsions and paralysis. And he would hold these special salons with dim lights and music. And actually, Mozart was one of his fans. And then later he moved to Paris and Marie Antoinette became very taken with him, and his idea of animal magnetism spread for a while.
And do you have any idea who this was?
It’s Mesmer.
It’s Mesmer, Franz Mesmer, giving us the word mesmerize, meaning to attract strongly or hold spellbound.
Oh, interesting. Sounds like the David Blaine of his era, or something like that.
Or is it kind of like Deepak Chopper plus David Blaine? I’m not sure.
Yeah, something like that.
But he was working kind of like a Western version of chi.
Sort of, yeah, with magnets and stuff. But, yeah, I stopped down the conversation the other day just because it’s such a great story, right?
And they were all mesmerized by your explanation.
That’s right, and then we lost the thread.
Or maybe I was told I was mesmerized. I can’t remember.
Something like that.
So at the root of most English words is an interesting history. You just have to dig it up.
That’s right. Words have secrets locked inside of them.
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