[ti:How the 'Rx' Sign Came to Be]
[ar:Warren Sheer]
[al:WORDS AND THEIR STORIES]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]Go to 51voa.com for more...
[00:10.00]Now, the VOA Special English program
[00:14.72]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:18.42]Every week at this time,
[00:21.35]the Voice of America tells about popular words
[00:25.23]and expressions used in the United States.
[00:29.18]Some of these words and expressions are old.
[00:33.55]Some are new.
[00:35.94]Together,
[00:36.94]they form the living speech of the American people.
[00:40.77]Our story today is very old.
[00:45.42]It goes back about five-thousand years.
[00:50.65]It is about a sign
[00:52.79]that is used to represent some words.
[00:56.13]We see this sign on drug stores
[01:00.41]and whenever we visit a doctor
[01:03.24]to get an order for medicine.
[01:05.98]It also appears on bottles of pills
[01:09.52]and other medicines.
[01:11.13]The sign is formed by a line
[01:15.31]across the right foot of the letter "R."
[01:19.25]It represents the word "prescription."
[01:23.63]It has come to mean "take this medicine."
[01:27.88]The sign has its beginnings
[01:30.92]five thousand years ago in Egypt.
[01:35.25]At that time, people prayed to Horus,
[01:39.64]the god of the Sun.
[01:41.78]It was said that when Horus was a child,
[01:45.91]he was attacked by Seth, the demon of evil.
[01:51.64]The evil Seth put out the eye of the young Horus.
[01:57.33]The mother of Horus called for help.
[02:01.46]Her cry was answered by Thoth,
[02:04.74]the god of learning and magic.
[02:07.68]Thoth, with his wisdom and special powers,
[02:11.76]healed the eye of Horus.
[02:14.36]And the child was able to see again.
[02:17.99]The ancient Egyptians
[02:20.79]used a drawing of the eye of Horus
[02:23.92]as a magic sign to protect themselves
[02:27.96]from disease, suffering and evil.
[02:31.60]They cut this sign 
[02:34.40]in the stones they used for buildings.
[02:37.43]And it was painted on the papyrus rolls
[02:41.87]used for writing about medicine and doctors.
[02:46.55]For thousands of years, the eye of Horus
[02:51.62]remained as a sign of the god's help
[02:55.01]to the suffering and sick.
[02:57.51]Long after the fall 
[03:00.29]of the ancient Egyptian civilization,
[03:02.73]doctors and alchemists in Europe
[03:06.23]continued the custom of showing
[03:09.16]a sign of the gods' help and protection.
[03:12.85]But over the years, the sign changed
[03:16.90]from the eye of Horus to the sign for Jupiter,
[03:21.88]the chief god of the Romans.
[03:24.72]Jupiter's sign looked much 
[03:28.76]like the printed number "four."
[03:31.15]That sign changed, also.
[03:34.28]Today, it is the easily-recognized capital "R"
[03:39.77]with a line across its foot.
[03:42.70]The sign no longer offers heavenly assistance to the sick.
[03:47.49]It now means "take this medicine."
[03:50.98](MUSIC)
[04:01.65]This VOA Special English program
[04:05.78]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES was written by Frank Beardsley.
[04:11.26]The narrator was Maurice Joyce.
[04:14.50]I'm Warren Sheer.