Careful Words

cordial (n.)

cordial (adj.)

For gold in phisike is a cordial;

Therefore he loved gold in special.

Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400): Canterbury Tales. Prologue. Line 445.

  To smell to a turf of fresh earth is wholesome for the body; no less are thoughts of mortality cordial to the soul.

Thomas Fuller (1608-1661): Holy and Profane State. The Virtuous Lady.