'officinalis' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'officina' combined with the adjectival suffix '-alis', where 'officina' meant 'workshop' or 'storehouse' (esp. a place where medicines were prepared) and '-alis' meant 'pertaining to'.

'officina' in Classical Latin gave rise to Medieval Latin uses such as 'officinalis' meaning 'belonging to the dispensary'; from there it entered modern scientific and pharmaceutical usage as the botanical epithet 'officinalis' and the English adjective 'officinal'.

Initially it meant 'of the workshop/storehouse', especially a place for preparing goods; over time its use narrowed to mean 'kept in or used in the dispensary' and thus 'medicinal' in modern botanical and pharmaceutical contexts.