Prima materia

Prima materia is a very fancy-sounding term that comes from alchemy, which is a type of old-timey science that tried to turn everyday things into gold and better understand how the world works. Prima materia means "first matter" in Latin, and it's kind of like the starting point for alchemists. It's kind of like when you want to make a sandcastle at the beach, you start by getting some sand to work with. In alchemy, the prima materia is like the sand for making gold or other special things.

But here's the funny thing - alchemists thought that the prima materia was something so simple that nobody could really describe it! They believed that it was like a blank slate, or like the simplest form of matter that there could be. Some people think that they were talking about air, water, earth, or fire, but nobody knows for sure. So even though prima materia might sound like a cool and important thing, no one really knows exactly what it is!