Notes

Millefolium

Telephium

Plate caption: Telephium purpurascens
Wundkraut mennle

Sedum telephium L. ssp. telephium
English: orpine

telephium

Invenit et Achilles discipulus Chironis qua volneribus mederetur. quae ob id achilleos vocatur. hac sanasse Telephum dicitur. alii primum aeruginem invenisse utilissimam emplastris, ideoque pingitur ex cuspide decutiens eam gladio in volnus Telephi, alii utroque usum medicamento volunt. aliqui et hanc panacem Heracliam, alii sideriten et apud nos millefoliam vocant, cubitali scapo, ramosam, minutioribus quam feniculi foliis vestitam ab imo. alii fatentur quidem illam vulneribus utilem, sed veram achilleon esse scapo caeruleo pedali, sine ramis, ex omni parte singulis foliis rotundis eleganter vestitam; alii quadrato caule, capitulis marrubii, foliis quercus, hac etiam praecisos nervos glutinari. faciunt alii et sideritim in maceriis nascentem, cum teratur, foedi odoris, etiamnum aliam similem huic sed candidioribus foliis et pinguioribus, teneriorem cauliculis, in vineis nascentem; aliam vero binum cubitorum, ramulis exilibus, triangulis, folio filicis, pediculo longo, betae semine; omnes volneribus praecipuas. nostri eam quae est latissimo folio scopas regias vocant. medetur anginis suum.

Achilles too, the pupil of Chiron, discovered [By “discovering” a plant Pliny seems to mean discovering its value in medicine] a plant to heal wounds, which is therefore called achilleos, and by it he is said to have cured Telephus. Some have it that he was the first to find out that copper-rust is a most useful ingredient of plasters, for which reason he is represented in paintings as scraping it with his sword from his spear on to the wound of Telephus, while others hold that he used both remedies. This plant is also called by some Heraclean panaces, by others siderites, and by us millefolia; the stalk is a cubit high, and the plant branchy, covered from the bottom with leaves smaller than those of fennel. Others admit that this plant is good for wounds, but say that the real achilleos has a blue stalk a foot long and without branches, gracefully covered all over with separate, rounded leaves. Others describe achilleos as having a square stem, heads like those of horehound, and leaves like those of the oak; they claim that it even unites severed sinews. Some give the name sideritis to another plant, which grows on boundary walls and has a foul smell when crushed, and also to yet another, like this but with paler and more fleshy leaves, and with more tender stalks, growing in vineyards; finally to a third, two cubits high, with thin, triangular twigs, leaves like those of the fern, a long foot-stalk and seed like that of beet. All are said to be excellent for wounds. Roman authorities call the one with the broadest leaf royal broom; it cures quinsy in pigs.

telephium

Telephion porcilacae similis est et caule et foliis. rami a radice septeni octonique fruticant foliis crassis, carnosis. nascitur in cultis et maxime inter vites. inlinitur lentigini et, cum inaruit, deteritur. inlinitur et vitiligini ternis fere mensibus, senis horis noctis aut diei, postea farina hordeacia inlinatur. medetur et vulneribus et fistulis.

Telephion resembles purslane in both stem and leaves. Seven or eight branches from the root make a bushy plant with coarse, fleshy leaves. It grows on cultivated ground, especially among vines. It is used as liniment for freckles and rubbed off when dry; it makes liniment also for psoriasis, to be applied for about three months, six hours each night or day; afterwards barley meal should be applied. It is also good treatment for wounds and fistulas.

Telephium

Pliny xxv 5, § 19. Achilleos, with which Achilles is said to have healed Telephus.

telephium

Télèphe, fils d’Hercule, fut blessé et guéri par Achille au siège de Troie. « Telephion porcilacæ similis est et caule et foliis », dit Pline, XXVII, 110. Probablement Sedum telephium, L. (Crassulacée). Columna a voulu y voir Zygophyllum fabago, L.; d’autres disent le Cochlearia. (Paul Delaunay)

telephium

Named for Telephus, son of Hercules, wounded and healed by Achilles at the siege of Troy.

Telephium

Fils d’Hercule, blessé et guéri par Achille au siège de Troie.

Notes

Eupatorium cannabinum

Plate caption: Eupatorium adulterinum
Kunigunt kraut

Eupatorium cannabinum L.
English: hemp agrimony
French: eupatoire
German: Wasserdostkraut

Eupatorium (text)

Eupatorium

Eupatoria

Water-agrimony (Sweet-maudlin). Pliny xxv. 6, § 29. Eupator was king of Syria, son on Antiochus Epiphanes.

Mithridates

Ipsi Mithridati Crateuas adscripsit unam, mithridatiam vocatam (huic folia duo a radice acantho similia, caulis inter utraque sustinens roseum florem).

To Mithridates himself Crateuas ascribed one plant, called mithridatia. It has two leaves, like those of the acanthus, springing from the root, with a stem between them which supports a rose-pink flower.

eupatorium

Eupatoria quoque regiam auctoritatem habet, caulis lignosi, nigricantis, hirsuti, cubitalis et aliquando amplioris, foliis per intervalla quinquefolii aut cannabis per extremitates incisis quinquepertito, nigris et ipsis plumosisque, radice supervacua. semen dysintericis in vino potum auxiliatur unice.

Eupatoria [Eupator was a surname of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus. See § 62 and XXXIII. § 151.] too enjoys the prestige of a royal discoverer. It has a ligneous stem, dark, hairy, and a cubit or sometimes more in height; the leaves, arranged at intervals, are like those of cinquefoil or hemp, and have five indentations along the edge; they too are dark and feathery. The root is useless, but the seed taken in wine is a sovereign remedy in cases of dysentery.

Eupatoria

« Eupatoria quoque regiam auctoritatem habet. » Pline XXV, 29. On a dédié à Mithridate Eupator, roi de Pont : 1° l’Eupatoire d’Avicenne, Eupatorium cannabinum, L. 2° l’Eupatoire de Mésuë, Achillea ageratum, L. 3° l’Aigremoine, Agrimonia eupatoria, L., qui, pour Sprengel, est la véritable Eupatoire de Dioscoride. Cependant, l’Eupatoire décrite par Pline, et vantée par Galien, Paul d’Égine, Avicenne, est l’E. cannabinum. (Paul Delaunay)

eupatorium

a weed named for King Eupator of Pompus.

eupatoire

Mithridate Eupator, roi du Pont, en Asie Miuneuyre (Pline, XXV, xxix)

Notes

names of plants

Fuit quidem et hic quondam ambitus nominibus suis eas adoptandi, ut docebimus fecisse reges. tanta res videbatur herbam invenire, vitam iuvare, nunc fortassis aliquis curam hanc nostram frivolam quoque existimaturis; adeo deliciis sordent etiam quae ad salutem pertinent. auctores tamen quarum inveniuntur in primis celebrari par est effectu earum digesto in genera morborum

It was one of the ambitions of the past to give one’s name [A common phrase in Pliny is nomine adoptare, “to give a name to a thing”] to a plant, as we shall point out was done by kings. It was thought a great honour to discover a plant and be of assistance to human life, although now perhaps some will think that these researches of mine are just idle trifling. So paltry in the eyes of Luxury are even the things that conduce to our health. It is but right, however, to mention in the first place the plants whose discoverers can be found, with their properties classified according to the kinds of disease for which they are a remedy. To reflect indeed on this makes one pity the lot of man; besides chances and changes and the strange happenings that every hour brings, there are thousands of diseases that every mortal has to dread.

Naming of plants

Il est assez singulier que Rabelais soit le premier écrivian qui, à l’occasion de son Pantagruelion (le chanvre) ait donné une dissertation en forme sur l’origine de noms des plants.

les plantes sont nommées en diverses manieres

Rabelais, comme on le verra, classe les plantes en huit catégories d’après leur dénomination: 1° selon le nom de leur inventeur, 2° leur pays d’origine, 3° par antiphrase, 4° par leurs vertus, 5° d’apres leurs particulatitiés, 6° en souvenir des métamorphoses, 7° par simitude, 8° d’apres la morphologie. Cette réparation lui a été suggérée par Pline qui, en son livre XXV, énumère les plantes baptisées du nom des dieux ou des rois, ou de celui de certaines nations, ou trouvées par divers animaux. On trouve d’ailleurs dans Pline (Nobilium herbarum inventores, XXV, ch. 7 et sqq.) la plupart des plantes rangées par Rabelais dans la première catégorie.

les plantes sont nommées en diverses manieres

Toute cette érudition philologique à propos des noms des plantes était très accessible du temps de Rabelais, grâce surtout à un petit livre de Charles Estienne, De latinis et grecis nominibus arborum, fructicum, herbarun, piscium et avium, livre que nous citons d’après l’edition de Paris, 1545. L’intérêt des paragraphes suivants ne réside pas dans l’érudition elle-mêmes, mais dans l’art de l’auteur.

Notes

names of plants

Fuit quidem et hic quondam ambitus nominibus suis eas adoptandi, ut docebimus fecisse reges. tanta res videbatur herbam invenire, vitam iuvare, nunc fortassis aliquis curam hanc nostram frivolam quoque existimaturis; adeo deliciis sordent etiam quae ad salutem pertinent. auctores tamen quarum inveniuntur in primis celebrari par est effectu earum digesto in genera morborum

It was one of the ambitions of the past to give one’s name [A common phrase in Pliny is nomine adoptare, “to give a name to a thing”] to a plant, as we shall point out was done by kings. It was thought a great honour to discover a plant and be of assistance to human life, although now perhaps some will think that these researches of mine are just idle trifling. So paltry in the eyes of Luxury are even the things that conduce to our health. It is but right, however, to mention in the first place the plants whose discoverers can be found, with their properties classified according to the kinds of disease for which they are a remedy. To reflect indeed on this makes one pity the lot of man; besides chances and changes and the strange happenings that every hour brings, there are thousands of diseases that every mortal has to dread.

la denomination

Ce sujet est cher à l’érudition de la Renaissance; ainsi Boaistuau consacrera partiellement le chap. 23 de ses Histoires prodigieuses à la dénomination des plantes. Rabelais a certainement utilisé le livre de Charles Estienne, De Latinis et Graecis nominibus arborum, fructicum, herbarum, piscium et auium (2° éd., 1545); mais ces préoccupations sont inspirées par Pline lui-même, dont le livre XXV de l’Hist. naturelle fourmit une grande partie de la matière.

la denomination d’icelle

Cette énumération de plantes classées, le nom de l’inventeur, du pays d’origine, etc., est inspirée de Pline (Histoire naturelle, XXV) et de Charles Estienne (De latinis et grecis nominibus arborum, fructicum, etc.). Elle évoque par la même occasion de nombreuses légendes, comme celle de Panace, fille d’Esculape, de Télèphe blessé devant Troi et guéri par Achille, etc.

Notes

inestimables vertus

Cf. Polydore Vergile, De Inventoribus rerum, VI, 1: «Mille lini usus sunt» etc. Rappelons que R., comme Pline, confond le chanvre et le lin.

Notes

Circe

Circe gives Odysseus a drugged potion. Black-figure skyphos from Thebes, 5th or 4th c. BCE

Circe

So they stood in the gateway of the fair-tressed goddess, and within they heard Circe singing with sweet voice, as she went to and fro before a great imperishable web, such as is the handiwork of goddesses, finely woven and beautiful, and glorious.

Circe

Now good Aeneas, when the last rites were duly paid and the funeral mound was raised, as soon as the high seas were stilled, sails forth on his way and leaves the haven. Breezes blow on into the night, and the Moon, shining bright, smiles on their voyage; the sea glitters beneath her dancing beams. The next shores they skirt are those of Circe’s realm [Circeii, a promontory of Latium, but once an island, is identified by Virgil with Homer’s island of Aeaea, the home of Circe], where the wealthy daughter of the Sun thrills the untrodden groves with ceaseless song and in her proud palace burns fragrant cedar to illuminate the night, while she drives her shrill shuttle through the fine web. From these shores could be heard the angry growls of lions chafing at their bonds and roaring in midnight hours, the raging of bristly boars and caged bears, and huge wolfish shapes howling. These were they whom, robbing them of their human form with potent herbs, Circe, cruel goddess, had clothed in the features and frames of beasts. But so that the pious of Troy should not suffer so monstrous a fate on entering the harbour and setting foot on the accursed shore, Neptune filled their sails with favouring winds, giving them flight, and bore them past the seething shallows.

esbatement

A sporting, playing, dallying, ieasling, recreation

esbatement

Esbatement, divertissement:

Atant es Gaudifer mouit effraement,
Caldains et Arabis les banieres au vent
Qui oient les grans cops et le martelement;
Certes, dient li Grieu, a nostre entendement
Encour n’avons vue si bel tournoiement;
Or les laissons .I. poi en cest esbaitement.
— Venus dou paon, Richel. 1554

Circe

Homer Od, x 221-3; Virgil Aeneid vii. 10-14.

Circe

Arguto tenues percurrens pectine telas — Virgile, Énéide, VII, 14.

Circe

L’enchanteresse Circé est plus connue par la métamorphose des compagnons d’Ulysse en pourceaux (Odyssée, x, 203 sqq.) que pas ses talents de fileuse, évoqués cependant par Virgile (Énéide, VII, 14).

de l’esbatement nocturne de la noble Circe:

This phrase added in the edition of 1552.

de l’esbatement nocturne de la noble Circé:

Virgile, Énéide, VII, v. 14; addition de 1552 (var. b).

Circe

C’est Virgile, Enéide, VII, 14, qui occupe, la nuite, Circé à cette tâche («Arguto tenuis percurrens pecctine telas»).

ébattement

Divertissement, distraction, amusement

Notes

Scutching hemp

Woman scutching hemp with the melita, Sibu County ca. 1940. Emil Fischer. Folkwear Society Technics.

Scutching

Scutching is a step in the processing of cotton or the dressing of flax or hemp in preparation for spinning. The scutching process separates the impurities from the raw material, such as the seeds from raw cotton or the straw and woody stem from flax fibers. Scutching can be done by hand or by a machine known as a scutcher. Hand scutching of flax is done with a wooden scutching knife and a small iron scraper. The end products of scutching flax are the long flax fibers, short coarser fibers called tow, and waste woody matter called shive.

To scutch flax by hand, the scutching knife is scraped down with a sharp strike against the fibers while they hang vertically. The edge of the knife is scraped along the fibers to pull away pieces of the stalk. This is repeated until all of the stalk has been removed and the flax is smooth and silky. When scutching was done by hand, people could scutch up to 15 pounds (6.8 kg) of flax in one day, depending on the quality of the flax, as coarser flax, harder flax, and poorly retted flax takes longer to scutch. Retting removes the pectins that bind the fibers to the stalk and each other, so under-retted flax is harder to separate from the stalk, and often gets damaged in the scutching process. Over-retting the flax causes the fibers to deteriorate and break. These broken fibres are called codilla, which can be used along with heckled tow to make yarn.

In the scutching process, some of the fiber is also scutched away along with the stalk, a normal part of the process.

Teillage

Le teillage (action de teiller) est une opération mécanique qui permet de séparer les fibres textiles du bois et de l’écorce par broyage et battage. Il s’applique également aux fibres de chanvre et de lin.

Teillage du chanvre
Le teillage est une étape du travail du lin et du chanvre effectuée après le broyage des tiges. Les fibres textiles sont séparées du bois pour obtenir de la filasse de 70 à 80 cm de longueur. À l’époque ce travail était fait à la main durant les veillées. Il faut prendre le brin de lin/chanvre à son extrémité la plus grosse et dégager la rognure de sa filasse de manière à «déchausser» la tige. Puis tirer sur le bout de ruban obtenu et arracher toute la filasse du brin. Le geste est répété jusqu’à accumuler une poignée de filasse qui est nouée pour donner une queue de chanvre. Ce travail est aujourd’hui mécanisé2

L’ouvrier qui teillait portait au xvie siècle le nom de «tellie » dans le nord de la France. On le nomme aujourd’hui «teilleur» ou «tilleur».

syphons

Ce sont, dit l’Alphabet de l’auteur, ces tuyaux ès fontaines qui jettent l’eau, et qui par le moyen et force de l’air, rendent un son et sifflement, d’où ils ont pris leur nom.

in the manner of siphons

[note illegible]

par le bondon

Bouchon de bois fermant la bonde.