inunction

From Latin inunctio, from inunctus, past participle of inungo (“anoint”), from in- + ungo (“anoint”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷ- (“anoint”).

• IPA^(key): /ɪnˈʌŋkʃən/

inunction (plural inunctions)

1. The anointing or rubbing in of oil or balm.
   • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, partition II, section 5, member 3, subsection i:

     Besides these fomentations, irrigations, inunctions, odoraments, prescribed for the head, there must be the like used for the liver, spleen, stomach, hyperchondries, etc.