anglicized form of L. trismegistus, Gr. τρισμέγιστος ‘thrice-greatest’ (cf. F. trismégiste), title of the Egyptian Hermes (see HERMES 3): in quots. used allusively. So Trismegistian, Trismegistic, -ical adjs., belonging or ascribed to, following, or having the character of Hermes Trismegistus.
1657. H. Pinnell, Philos. Ref., A viij. He that listed himselfe a true Chymist, had faire hopes to become a great Trismegist.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. 307. Δεύτερον θεὸν, as the Hermaick or Trismegistick Writers call it, The Second God. Ibid., 323. Books, called Hermetical and Trismegistical.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. xlvi. Is this all that the Trismegistian Bottle’s Word means?
1913. 19th Cent., Jan., 178. The extant tractates and fragments of this Trismegistic literature.
