Placebo's name

what does the word placebo mean and where does it come from?
Main Entry: pla-ce-bo
Pronunciation: plah-'see-(,)bo
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural -bos
Etymology: Latin, 'I shall please'
Date: 1785
Definitions: 1) "something tending to soothe"
             2) a : "a usually pharmacologically inert preparation
                     prescribed more for the mental relief of the
                     patient than for its actual effect on a disorder"
                b : "an inert or innocuous substance used especially
                     in controlled experiments testing the efficacy
                     of another substance (as a drug)"

       -- definitions taken from Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary 

why did they choose the name Placebo?

"The name was a jokey addition to the list of bands named after drugs -
 Codeine, Morphine etc. How about a drug which cannot work, something,"
claims Molko, "which you only think makes you feel better."

                                        -- taken from a Q magazine article 

"And though placebo means 'I will please' in Latin, their only criterion
 for their monicker was that it be a name they could imagine 40,000 people
 screaming."

                             -- taken from a Rolling Stone magazine article 



Also, before Placebo, the band was called Ashtray Heart,
a phrase they borrowed from a Captain Beefheart song.