enduicte d’alum

Les Anciens confondaient plus ou moins les sels naturels. S’agit-il ici d’alun, ou de quelque autre produit? On peut ignifuger des étoffes et des décors avec une solutuion de six parties de borax et cinq d’acide borique dans cent parties d’eau. (Paul Delaunay)

alum

alum: Latin alumen, the same substance: compare aluta tawed skin.]

A whitish transparent mineral salt, very astringent, used in dyeing, tawing skins, and medicine, also for sizing paper, and making materials fire-proof; Burnt alum: Alum deprived of its water of crystallization so as to become a white powder; rock or Roman alum, that prepared from the alum-stone in Italy.

Applied to various native minerals, which are chemically alums proper, as native alum or kalinite; also to others (pseudo-alums), which are compounds of aluminium sulphate with the sulphate of some other base; or with the protoxides of iron, manganese, etc., as feather or plume alum (ferroso-aluminic sulphate). The name feather alum has been applied also to magnesia alum and alunogen.

Notes

Volpes

Fox

The woodcut doesn’t depict fox tails, but the tails of dogs harrying them in their dens.

Alopecuros

An example of the plants which have a spike is the plant which some call ‘dog’s eye’ (rib-grass), which comprises several forms; we have also ‘foxbrush,’ stelephuros (plantain), which some call ‘lamb’s tongue’ and some ‘quail-plant’; and somewhat similar to this is thryallis. These are simple plants and uniform in character, having a spike which is not pointed nor bearded; while in ‘fox-brush’ it is soft and somewhat downy, in that it actually resembles the brush of a fox, whence also it has obtained its name. Similar to this is stelephuros (plantain), except that it does not, like that plant, flower here and there, but all up the spike like wheat.

Alopecuros

Aliud rursus spicatarum genus, ex quo est achynops, alopecuros, stelephuros,—quam quidam ortygem vocant, alii plantaginem, de qua plura dicemus inter medicas—, thryallis. ex his alopecuros spicam habet mollem et lanuginem densam non dissimilem vulpium caudis, unde et nomen. proxuma ei est et stelephuros, nisi quod illa particulatim floret. cichorion et similia circa terram folia habent germinantia ab radice post vergilias.

Eared plants are yet another kind, to which belong achynops, alopecuros, stelephuros—by some called ortyx, by others plantago, about which I shall speak more fully in the section on medicinal plants—and thryallis. Of these alopecurus has a soft ear and thick down, not unlike the tail of a fox [Alopecurus = fox-tail]; hence too its name. Stelephuros is very like it, except that it blossoms bit by bit. Chicory and the plants like it have leaves near the ground, budding from the root after the Pleiades.

alopecuros

D’ἀλώπηξ, renard, et οὐρά, queue.

Alopecuros

Pliny xxi. 17, § 61.

alopecuros

Αλωπεχουροζ (Théophraste, H.P., VII, 10) — de αλωπηξ, renard, ουρα, queu; allusion à la forme de l’épi. « Spicam habet mollem et lanuginem densam, non dissimilem vulpium caudis ». Pline, XXI, 61. Il s’agit évidemment d’une graminée : Saccharum cylindricum, Lmk? si on l’interprète comme Dalechamps, ou Polypogon monspelliense, Desf.? pour Fée. Pena et Lobel appellent Αλωπεχονροζ Theophrasti et Cauda vulpis Monspellliensium notre Lagurus ovatis, L. — Le nom d’Alopecurus désigne aujourd’hui un autre g. de Graminées, le Vulpin.

alopecuros

thus alopecuros or foxtail grass…

pas similitude

Toutes ces plantes, dans De latinis nominibus, sauf pour le delphinium.

Alopecuros

De ἀλωπήξ, «renard», et οὐφά, «queue» (Pline, XXI, lxi).

alopecia

alopecia. [Latin alopecia, adopted from Greek alwpeki a fox-mange, also baldness in man, formed on alwphc a fox.]

A medical term for baldness.

Notes

Alyssum

Sumach, a remedy against madness in dogs (Pliny xxiv. 11 § 57).

alyssum

Distat ab eo qui alysson vocatur foliis tantum et ramis minoribus; nomen accepit quod a cane morsos rabiem sentire non patitur ex aceto potus adalligatusque; mirum est quod additur, saniem conspecto omnino frutice eo siccari.

The plant called alysson differs from the last [erythrodanum, called by some ereuthodanum, and rubia by the Romans] only in having smaller leaves and branches. It has received its name because it prevents persons bitten by a dog from going mad if they take it in vinegar and wear it as an amulet. The authorities add the wonderful marvel that the mere sight of this shrub dries up sanies. [Sanies is said by Celsus (V. 26, 20) to be thinner than blood, varying both in thickness and colour, while pus is the thickest and whitest of the three, more sticky than either sanies or blood. Pliny is thinking of the discharge from a dog-bite.]

alyssum

De α privatif et λύσσα, rage, plante qui préserve de la rage : « nomen accepit quod a cane morsos rabiem sentire non patitur, potus ex aceto, adalligatusque. » Pline, XXIV, 57. L’alysson de Pline — différent de celui de Dioscoride, lequel est autre que celui de Théophraste — partaît se rattacher à quelque Rubiacée : Rubia lucida, L., pour Sainéan (H. N. R., p. 117). Au XVIe siècle, Pena et Lobel appelaient Alyssum Italorum notre Alyssum maritimum, Lmk. L’Alyssum mentionné par Lémery comme antirabique serait, pour Mérat et de Lens, A. montanum, L. (Paul Delaunay)

alyssum

This alyssum, by philology and application a cure for hydrophobia…

nommés pas leurs vertus et operations

Sauf pour le lichen, tous les détails sont dans De latinis nominibus («Alysson … dicitur (ut ait Galenus) quod mirifice morsus a cane rabido curet. [gk] enim rabiem significat. Ephemerium… quo die sumptum fuerit (ut nominis ipsa ratio ostendit) intermit. Bechion autem appellatum est, quod [gk], id es tusses … juvet. Nasturtium, cresson alenois … dicitur a torquendis naribus. Hyoscame, faba suis, vulgo hannebane, … dicitur … quot pastu ejus convellantur sues ». R. a mal lu ses notes, faisant de hanebanes une plante différente de l’hyoscame.

Alyssum

De α- privatif et λύσσα, « rage », plante qui préserve de la rage (Pline, XXV,lvii).

alyssum

alyssum. [modern Latin for alysson (Pliny), adopted from Greek ausson name of a plant, perhaps neuter of alussoj `curing (canine) madness,’ formed on a’ priv. + lu´ssa madness.]

A genus of Cruciferous plants, a yellow-flowered species of which (A. saxatile) popularly known as Gold-dust, is a favourite spring flower in English gardens. The early herbalists used the name very vaguely.

Notes

L’alum de plume

Voiez Pline, l. 35, chap 15.

alum de plume

Voy. Pline, l. XXXV, c. XV.

Feather-alum

Pliny xxxv. 15, § 52 (186).

l’alum de plume,

Nec minor est aut adeo dissimilis aluminis opera, quod intellegitur salsugo terrae. plura et eius genera. in Cypro candidum et nigrius, exigua coloris differentia, cum sit usus magna, quoniam inficiendis claro colore lanis candidum liquidumque utilissimum est contraque fuscis aut obscuris nigrum. et aurum nigro purgatur. fit autem omne ex aqua limoque, hoc est terrae exudantis natura. conrivatum hieme aestivis solibus maturatur. quod fuit ex eo praecox, candidius fit. gignitur autem in Hispania, Aegypto, Armenia, Macedonia, Ponto, Africa, insulis Sardinia, Melo, Lipara, Strongyle, laudatissimum in Aegypto, proximum in Melo. huius quoque duae species, liquidum spissumque. liquidi probatio ut sit limpidum lacteumque, sine offensis fricandi, cum quodam igniculo coloris. hoc phorimon vocant. an sit adulteratum, deprehenditur suco Punici mali; sincerum enim mixtura ea non nigrescit. alterum genus est pallidi et scabri et quod inficiatur et galla, ideoque hoc vocant paraphoron. liquidi aluminis vis adstringere, indurare, rodere. melle1 admixto sanat oris ulcera, papulas pruritusque. haec curatio fit in balneis n mellis partibus, tertia aluminis. virus alarum sudorisque sedat. sumitur pilulis contra lienis vitia pellendumque per urinam sanguinem. emendat et scabiem nitro ac melanthio admixtis.
Concreti aluminis unum genus σχιστὸν appellant Graeci, in capillamenta quaedam canescentia dehiscens, unde quidam trichitim potius appellavere. hoc fit e lapide, ex quo et aes—chalcitim vocant—, ut sudor quidam eius lapidis in spumam coagulatus. hoc genus aluminis minus siccat minusque sistit umorem inutilem corporum, et auribus magnopere prodest infusum, vel inlitum et oris ulceribus dentibusque et si saliva cum eo contineatur. et oculorum medicamentis inseritur apte verendisque utriusque sexus. coquitur in catinis, donec liquari desinat. inertioris est altermu generis, quod strongylen vocant. duae et eius species, fungosum atque omni umore dilui facile, quod in totum damnatur. melius pumicosum et foraminum fistulis spongeae simile rotundumque natura, candido propius, cum quadam pinguitudine, sine harenis, friabile, nec inficiens nigritia. hoc coquitur per se carbonibus puris, donec cinis fiat. Optimum ex omnibus quod Melinum vocant ab insula, ut diximus. nulli vis maior neque adstringendi neque denigrandi neque indurandi, nullum spissius. oculorum scabritias extenuat, combustum utilius epiphoris inhibendis, sic et ad pruritus corporis. sanguinem quoque sistit intus potum, foris inlitum. evulsis pilis ex aceto inlinitur renascentesque mollit in languinem. summa omnium generum vis in adstringendo, unde nomen Graecis. ob id oculorum vitiis aptissima sunt, sanguinis fluctiones inhibent. cum adipe putrescentia ulcerum compescit—sic et infantium ulcera et hydropicorum eruptiones siccat—et aurium vitia cum suco Punici mali et unguium scabritias cicatricumque duritias et pterygia ac perniones, phagedaenas ulcerum ex aceto aut cum galla pari pondere cremata, lepras cum suco olerum, cum salis vero n partibus vitia, quae serpunt, lendes et alia capillorum animalia aquae permixtum. sic et ambustis prodest et furfuribus corporum cum sero picis. infunditur et dysintericis uvamque in ore comprimit ac tonsillas. ad omnia, quae in ceteris generibus diximus, efficacius intellegatur ex Melo advectum. Ad reliquos usus vitae in coriis lanisque perficiendis quanti sit momenti, significatum est.

Not less important or very different is the use made of alum [several astringent substances were included in the word alumen, especially, it seems, aluminium sulphates, sulpbate of iron, and common potash-alum; also kalinite, and perhaps also certain halotrichites (K. C. Bailey, The Elder Pliny’s Chapters on Chemical Subjects, II, p. 233).], by which is meant a salt exudation from the earth. There are several varieties of it. In Cyprus there is a white alum and another sort of a darker colour, though the difference of colour is only slight; nevertheless the use made of them is very different, as the white and liquid kind is most useful for dying woollens a bright colour whereas the black kind is best for dark or sombre hues. Black alum is also used in cleaning gold. All alum is produced from water and slime, that is, a substance exuded by the earth; this collects naturally in a hollow in winter and its maturity by crystallisation is completed by the sunshine of summer; the part of it that separates earliest is whiter in colour. It occurs in Spain, Egypt, Armenia, Macedonia, Pontus, Africa, and the islands Sardinia, Melos, Liparic and Stromboli; the most highly valued is in Egypt and the next best in Melos. The alum of Melos also is of two kinds, fluid and dense. The test of the fluid kind is that it should be of a limpid, milky consistency, free from grit when rubbed between the fingers, and giving a slight glow of colour; this kind is called in Greek ‘phorimon’ in the sense of ‘abundant.’ Its adulteration can be detected by means of the juice of a pomegranate, as this mixed with it does not turn it black if it is pure. The other kind is the pale rough alum which may be stained with oak-gall also, and consequently this is called ‘paraphoron,’ ‘perverted’ or adulterated alum. Liquid alum has an astringent, hardening and corrosive property. Mixed with honey it cures ulcers in the mouth, pimples and eruptions; this treatment is carried out in baths containing two parts of honey to one of alum. It reduces odour from the armpits and perspiration. It is taken in pills against disorders of the spleen and discharge of blood in the urine. Mixed with soda and chamomile it is also a remedy for scabies.

One kind [Including potash-alum, halotrichite, etc.] of solid alum which is called in Greek schiston, ‘splittable,’ splits into a sort of filament of a whitish colour, owing to which some people have preferred to give it in Greek the name of trichitis, ‘hairy alum.’ This is produced from the same ore as copper, known as copperstone, a sort of sweat from that mineral, coagulated into foam. This kind of alum has less drying effect and serves less to arrest the detrimental humours of the body, but it is extremely beneficial as an ear-wash, or as a liniment also for ulcers of the mouth and for the teeth, and if it is retained in the mouth with saliva; or it forms a suitable ingredient in medicines for the eyes and for the genital organs of either sex. It is roasted in crucibles until it has quite lost its liquidity. There is another alum of a less active kind, called in Greek strongyle, ‘round alum.’ Of this also there are two varieties, the fungous which dissolves easily in any liquid and which is rejected as entirely worthless, and a better kind which is porous and pierced with small holes like a sponge and of a round formation, nearer white in colour, possessing a certain quality of unctuousness, free from grit, friable, and not apt to cause a black stain. This is roasted by itself on clean hot coals till it is reduced to ash. The besta of all kinds is that called Melos alum, after the island of that name, as we said; no other kind has a. greater power of acting as an astringent, giving a black stain and hardening, and none other has a closer consistency. It removes granulations of the eyes, and is still more efficacious in arresting defluxions when calcined, and in that state also it is applied to itchings on the body. Taken as a draft or applied externally it also arrests haemorrhage. It is applied in vinegar to parts from which the hair has been removed and changes into soft down the hair that grows in its place. The chief property of all kinds of alum is their astringent effect, which gives it its nameb in Greek. This makes them extremely suitable for eye troubles, and effective in arresting haemorrhage. Mixed with lard it checks the spread of putrid ulcers—so applied it also dries ulcers in infants and eruptions in cases of dropsy—and, mixed with pomegranate juice, it checks ear troubles and malformations of the nails and hardening of scars, and flesh growing over the nails, and chilblains. Calcined with vinegar or gallnuts to an equal weight it heals gangrenous ulcers, and, if mixed with cabbage juice, pruritus, or if with twice the quantity of salt, serpiginous eruptions, and if thoroughly mixed with water, it kills eggs of lice and other insects that infest the hair. Used in the same way it is also good for burns, and mixed with watery fluid from vegetable pitch for scurf on the body. It is also used as an injection for dysentery, and taken in the mouth it reduces swellings of the uvula and tonsils. It must be understood that for all the purposes which we have mentioned in the case of the other kinds the alum imported from Melos is more efficacious. It has been indicated how important it is for the other requirements of life in giving a finish to hides and woollens.

alum de plume

Alumen trichites de Dioscoride, alumen schistos de Pline (XXXV, 52), halotrichum, alumen plumeum, alun de plume, ou sulfate d’alumine naturel fibreux, «en filamens réunis par fasceaux» (Haüy) comme les barbes d’une plume. On le trouvait notamment dans les grottes de l’île de Milo, où Tournefort (Voy. au Levant, I, p. 141) et plus tard Olivier l’ont observé. Pour d’autres commentateurs, le trichites serait l’aminate, et le schistos la fleur d’alun de roche. En tout cas, et même au temps de Tournefort (loc. cit., p. 164), on confondait encore souvent l’amiante avec l’alun de plume. (Paul Delaunay)

alum de plume

feather-alum (sulphate of aluminum in clustered fibres)

alum de plume

Ce qu’on appelle vulgairement en français de ce nom est l’amiante, selon Calepin.

alum de plume

Alun de plume, ou sulfate d’alumine natural, souvent confondu avec l’amiante. Panurge (Pantagruel, chap xvi, p. 235) «avoit un aultre poche plein de alun de plume, dont il gettoit dedals le doz des femmes…»

alum

alum: Latin alumen, the same substance: compare aluta tawed skin.]

A whitish transparent mineral salt, very astringent, used in dyeing, tawing skins, and medicine, also for sizing paper, and making materials fire-proof; Burnt alum: Alum deprived of its water of crystallization so as to become a white powder; rock or Roman alum, that prepared from the alum-stone in Italy.

Applied to various native minerals, which are chemically alums proper, as native alum or kalinite; also to others (pseudo-alums), which are compounds of aluminium sulphate with the sulphate of some other base; or with the protoxides of iron, manganese, etc., as feather or plume alum (ferroso-aluminic sulphate). The name feather alum has been applied also to magnesia alum and alunogen.

Notes

animant

Tout autre être animé, tout autre animal.

Notes

Zephyros

Zephyros, the winged god of the west wind, holding his lover Hyakinthos
Painter: Signed by Douris
Date: ca. 490 – 480 BC

The winds

Veteres quattuor omnino servavere per totidem mundi partes (ideo nec Homerus plures nominat) hebeti, ut mox iudicatum est, ratione; secuta aetas octo addidit nimis subtili atque concisa. proximis inter utramque media placuit ad brevem ex numerosa additis quattuor. sunt ergo bini in quattuor caeli partibus: ab oriente aequinoctiali Subsolanus, ab oriente brumali Volturnus (illum Apelioten, hunc Graeci Eurum appellant); a meridie Auster et ab occasu brumali Africus (Notum et Liba nominant); ab occasu aequinoctiali Favonius, ab occasu solstitiali Corus (Zephyrum et Argesten vocant); a septentrionibus Septentrio, interque eum et exortum solstitialem Aquilo (Aparctias et Boreas).

The ancients noticed four winds in all, corresponding to the four quarters of the world (this is the reason why even Homer mentions no more)—a dull-witted system, as it was soon afterwards considered; the following age added eight—this system on the other hand was too subtle and meticulous. Their successors adopted a compromise, adding to the short list four winds from the long one. There are consequently two winds in each of the four quarters of the heaven: Subsolanus blowing from the equinoctial sunrise (E). and Vulturnus from the winter sunrise (S.E.)—the former designated by the Greeks Apeliotes, the latter Eurus; Auster from the sun at midday (S.) and Africus from the winter sunset (S.W.)—named in Greek Notus and Libs; Favonius from the equinoctial sunset (W.), Corus from the sunset at the solstice (N.W.)—these the Greeks call Zephyr and Argestes; Septentrio from the North and Aquilo between him and sunrise at the solstice (N.E.)—called in Greek Aparctias and Boreas.

Boreas, Auster, Eurus, Zephire

Boreas et Auster désignent le nord et le sud; Eurus et Zéphyre, l’est et l’ouest.

Boreas, Auster, Eurus, Zephire

Vents provenant des quatre points cardinaux.

Zephyros

Zephyros (or Zephyrus) was the god of the west wind, one of the four directional Anemoi (Wind-Gods). He was also the god of spring, husband of Khloris (Greenery), and father of Karpos (Fruit).
Zephyros’ most famous myth told the story of his rivalry with the god Apollon for the love of Hyakinthos. One day he spied the pair playing a game of quoits in a meadow, and in a jealous rage, struck the disc with a gust of wind, causing it to veer off course and strike the boy in the head, killing him instantly. Apollon in his grief, then transformed the dying boy into a larkspur flower.
Zephyros was portrayed in classical art as a handsome, winged youth. In Greek vase painting, the unlabelled figures of a winged god embracing a youth are sometimes identified as Zephyros and Hyakinthos, although other commentators interpret them as Eros (Love) with a generic youth. In Greco-Roman mosaic the god usually appears in the guise of spring personified carrying a basket of unripe fruit.

zéphyr, zéphire

Vent d’ouest; par ext., vent doux et agréable. Doux, frais, léger, tiède zéphyr; au moindre zéphyr; parfum, souffle du zéphyr.

Quand la tempête fut calmée, nous voulûmes remonter à l’occident, mais le constant zéphyr (…) repoussa long-temps nos voiles (Chateaubr., Martyrs, t. 1, 1810, p. 212)

zephyr

zephyr. Forms: zefferus, zeferus, zephirus, zeforus, zepherus, zephyrus; zephir(e, -yre, zephyr. [adopted from or adaptation of Latin zephyrus, adopted from Greek zefuroj: compare French zéphire.]

The west wind, esp. as personified, or the god of the west wind.

A soft mild gentle wind or breeze.

Notos or Auster

Notos (or Notus) was the god of the South Wind, one of the four Anemoi (Wind-Gods). He was the wet, storm-bringing wind of late summer and early autumn. Notos dwelt in Aithiopia, the southernmost realm in the geography of myth.

[Poseidon] massed the clouds, clutched his trident and churned the ocean up; he roused all the blasts of all the Winds and swathed earth and sea alike in clouds; down from the sky rushed the dark. Euros (East Wind) and Notos (South Wind) clashed together, the stormy Zephyros (West Wind) and the sky-born billow-driving Boreas (North Wind).
Homer, Odyssey 5. 291 ff (trans. Shewring) (Greek epic C8th B.C.)

And Eos (Dawn) bare to Astraios (the Starry) the strong-hearted Anemoi (Winds), brightening Zephyrus (West Wind), and Boreas (North Wind), headlong in his course, and Notos (South Wind)–a goddess mating in love with a god.
Hesiod, Theogony 378 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.)

Horse-keepers frequently testify to mares being impregnated by the Wind, and to their galloping against Notos (the South Wind) or Borras (the North). And the same poet [Homer] knew this when he said “Of them was Boreas enamoured as they pastured.” Aristotle too, borrowing (as I think) from him, said that they rush away in frenzy straight in the face of the aforesaid Autai (Winds).
Aelian, On Animals 4. 6 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.)

Lucifer (the Morning Star) [Eosphoros] revealed the shining day, night fled, Eurus (the East Wind) fell, the rain-clouds rose, steady Auster (South Wind) [Notos] blew.
Ovid, Metamorphoses 8. 1 ff

“The vines offered hope Auster [Notos the South Wind] blackens the sky and sudden rain ravishes their leaves.”
Ovid, Fasti 5. 323 ff (trans.Boyle) (Roman poetry C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.)

Notes

Ulmeau

Nom berrichon de l’ormeau, Ulmus campestris, Smith. (Ulmacée.)

ulmeau

Ormeau; on employait l’écorce de l’orme pour cicatriser les plaies.

Elm

Inter has atque frugiferas materie vitiumque amicitia accipitur ulmus. Graeci duo genera eius novere: montanam quae sit amplior, campestrem quae fruticosa. Italia Atinias vocat excelsissimas (et ex is siccaneas praefert quae non sint riguae), alterum genus Gallicas, tertium nostrates, densiore folio et ab eodem pediculo numerosiore, quartum silvestre. Atiniae non ferunt samaram—ita vocatur ulmi semen—omnesque radicum plantis proveniunt, reliquae et semine.

Among these and the fruit-bearing trees a place is given to the elm, because of its timber and the friendship between it and the vine [The elm ranges with the timber trees because it supplies timber and with the fruit-trees because vines are grown on it as a trellis]. The Greeks are acquainted with two kinds of elm: the mountain elm which makes the larger growth, and the elm of the plains which grows like a shrub. Italy gives the name of Atinian elm to a very lofty kind (and among these values highest the dry variety, which will not grow in damp places); a second kind it calls the Gallic elm, a third, which has thicker foliage and more leaves growing from the same stalk, the Italian elm, and a fourth, the wild elm. The Atinian elm does not bear samara—that is the name for elm seed—and all the elms are grown from shoots of the roots, but the other kinds also from seed.

elm

elm. Forms: elm, elme, elm. Also ulm, ulme. [Old English elm = Old High German elm: -West Germanic *elmo-z; the same word with difference of ablaut appears as Old Norse álmr (Swedish alm, Danish alm, ælm) etymologically = Latin ulmus.]

The name of well-known trees belonging to the genus Ulmus.

Elm in mythology and literature

In Greek mythology the nymph Ptelea (Πτελέα, Elm) was one of the eight Hamadryads, nymphs of the forest and daughters of Oxylos and Hamadryas. In his Hymn to Artemis the poet Callimachus (3rd century BC) tells how, at the age of three, the infant goddess Artemis practised her newly acquired silver bow and arrows, made for her by Hephaestus and the Cyclopes, by shooting first at an elm, then at an oak, before turning her aim on a wild animal.

The first reference in literature to elms occurs in the Iliad. When Eetion, father of Andromache, is killed by Achilles during the Trojan War, the Mountain Nymphs plant elms on his tomb («περὶ δὲ πτελέoι εφύτεψαν νύμφαι ὀρεστιάδες, κoῦραι Διὸς αἰγιόχoιo»).[Hom. Il. 6.424] Also in the Iliad, when the River Scamander, indignant at the sight of so many corpses in his water, overflows and threatens to drown Achilles, the latter grasps a branch of a great elm in an attempt to save himself («ὁ δὲ πτελέην ἕλε χερσὶν εὐφυέα μεγάλην».[Hom. Il. 21.114]
The Nymphs also planted elms on the tomb in the Thracian Chersonese of “great-hearted Protesilaus’’ («μεγάθυμου Πρωτεσιλάου»), the first Greek to fall in the Trojan War. These elms grew to be the tallest in the known world; but when their topmost branches saw far off the ruins of Troy, they immediately withered, so great still was the bitterness of the hero buried below, who had been loved by Laodamia and slain by Hector.[55][56][57] The story is the subject of a poem by Antiphilus of Byzantium (1st century AD) in the Palatine Anthology.

55 Philostratus, ̔Ηρωικός, 3,1 perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0597%3Aolpage%3D672

56 Quintus Smyrnaeus, Τα μεθ’ `Ομηρον, 7.458–462
57 Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 16.88

Notes

axe-weed

But no kind can change altogether into another, except one-seeded wheat and rice-wheat, as we said in our previous discussions, and darnel which comes from degenerate wheat and barley: at least, if this is not the true account, darnel loves chiefly to appear among wheat, as does the Pontic melampyros and the seed of purse-tassels, even as other seeds appear in other crops; thus aigilops seems to grow for choice among barley, and among lentils the rough hard kind of arakos, while among tares occurs the axe-weed,¹ which resembles an axe-head in appearance.

Note 1. Plin. 18. 155; 27. 121; Diosc. 3. 130; Hesych. s.v. βέλλεκυς.

lolium, darnel

Est herba quae cicer enecat et ervum circum-ligando se, vocatur orobanche; tritico simili modo aera, hordeo festuca quae vocatur aegilops, lenti herba securiclata quam Graeci a similitudine pelecinum vocant; et hae conplexu necant.

There is a weed that kills off chick-pea and bitter vetch by binding itself round them, called orobanche; and in a similar way wheat is attacked by darnel, barley by a long-stalked plant called aegilops and lentils by an axe-leaved plant which the Greeks call axe-grass from its resemblance; these also kill the plants by twining round them.

Yvraye

Yvraye: The vicious graine called Ray, or Darnell. Yvraye sauvage. Red Darnell, wall Barlie, way Bennet.

Tares to Wheat

Pliny xviii. 17, § 44 (155)

l’yvraye au froment

«Lolium ex tritico et hordeo corruptis nascitur» (Théophr., H.P., VIII, 8). «Lolium inter frugum morbos potius quam inter terræ pestes memoraverim», dit Pline, XVIII, 44. Lolium temulentum, L., Graminée. Les graines referment une saponine toxique, la témuline; mêlées aux céréales comestibles, elles peuvent entraîner des intoxications (témentulisme). (Paul Delaunay)

orobanche, aegilops, securidaca, antranium, l’yvraye

Les cinq exemples suivants sont tous empruntés au même chapitre de Pline (XVIII, 44) (LD).

Notes

Avena

Avena (text)

axe-weed

But no kind can change altogether into another, except one-seeded wheat and rice-wheat, as we said in our previous discussions, and darnel which comes from degenerate wheat and barley: at least, if this is not the true account, darnel loves chiefly to appear among wheat, as does the Pontic melampyros and the seed of purse-tassels, even as other seeds appear in other crops; thus aigilops seems to grow for choice among barley, and among lentils the rough hard kind of arakos, while among tares occurs the axe-weed,¹ which resembles an axe-head in appearance.

Note 1. Plin. 18. 155; 27. 121; Diosc. 3. 130; Hesych. s.v. βέλλεκυς.

aegilops

Veneficiis rostrum lupi resistere inveteratum aiunt ob idque villarum portis praefigunt. hoc idem praestare et pellis e cervice solida manica existimatur, quippe tanta vis est animalis praeter ea quae retulimus ut vestigia eius calcata equis adferant torporem.

Sorceries are said to be counteracted by a wolf’s preserved muzzle, and for this reason they hang one up on the gates of country houses. The same effect is supposed to be given by the whole fur from a wolf’s neck, the legs included, for so great is the power of the animal that, besides what I have already stated, his footprints when trodden on by horses make them torpid.

aegilops

Aegilopas sanat herba eodem nomine quae in hordeo nascitur, tritici folio, semine contrito cum farina permixta inpositaque vel suco. exprimitur hic e caule foliisque praegnantibus dempta spica et in trimestri farina digeritur in pastillos.

Aegilops [Aegilops the disease is a lacrimal fistula] is cured by the plant of the same name, which grows among barley and has a leaf like that of wheat; either the seed may be reduced to powder, mixed with flour and applied, or the juice may be used. This is extracted from the stem and juicy leaves after taking away the ears, and then it is worked into lozenges with the flour of three-month wheat.

aegilops

e glandiferis sola quae vocatur aegilops fert pannos arentes, muscoso villo canos, non in cortice modo verum et e ramis dependentes cubitali magnitudine, odoratos, uti diximus inter unguenta.

Of the acorn-bearing tree the one called the aegilops alone carries strips of dry cloth [Some kind of lichen is referred to on the Turkey oak] covered with white mossy tufts; this substance not only grows on the bark but hangs down from the branches in streamers eighteen inches long, and it has a strong scent, as we said when dealing with perfumes.

orobanche

Est herba quae cicer enecat et ervum circum-ligando se, vocatur orobanche; tritico simili modo aera, hordeo festuca quae vocatur aegilops, lenti herba securiclata quam Graeci a similitudine pelecinum vocant; et hae conplexu necant.

There is a weed that kills off chick-pea and bitter vetch by binding itself round them, called orobanche [‘Vetch-strangler.’ Not the modern botanists’ orobanche or broom-rape but plants such as dodder and bindweed]; and in a similar way wheat is attacked by darnel, barley by a long-stalked plant called aegilops and lentils by an axe-leaved plantb which the Greeks call axe-grass from its resemblance; these also kill the plants by twining round them.

æglyops

La coquiole, qui fait mourir l’orge.

egylops

La coquiole.

Aegilops (Darnel) to Barley

Pliny xviii. 17, § 44 (155)

aegilops a l’orge

«Hordem [enecat] festuca quæ vocatur ægilops,» dit Pline, XVIII, 44. Il s’agit ici pour Fée, de l’Ægylops ovata, L., qui naît au milieu de l’orge («in hordeo nascitur,» Pline, XXV, 93), la refoule et l’etouffe. Dalechamps et le P. Hardouin ont voulu y reconnaître notre Avena sterilis, L. Hugues de Solier, dans ses Scholies sur Aétius, rapporte également l’Ægylops au Sivado freo des Provençaux (A. sterilis, L.) Enfin pour Ch. Estienne ce serait la folle avoine ou Havron des paysans: autrement dit notre Avena fatua, L. (Paul Delaunay)

orobanche, aegilops, securidaca, antranium, l’yvraye

Les cinq exemples suivants sont tous empruntés au même chapitre de Pline (XVIII, 44) (LD).

ægilops

ægilops [Latin ægilops, adopted from Greek aigilwy, formed on aic, aigoj, a goat, aigiloj, a herb eaten by goats + wy eye, face.]

An ulcer or fistula in the inner angle of the eye.

The wild-oat or other grass found as a corn-weed. Obsolete

Notes

Capillus Veneris

Capillus Veneris (text)

Adiantum

Adiantum
Frawenhar

Taxon: Adiantum capillus-veneris L.
Ancient Greek:adianton
English: Venus’s-hair fern, Southern maidenhair
French: Capillaire cheveux-de-Vénus, Cheveux de Vénus, Capillaire, Chevelure de Vénus, Capillaire de …
German: Frauenhaar, Jungfernhaar, Venushaar

Par bien long temps

Voiez Pline, l. 22. chap 21.

adiantum

Aliud adianto miraculum: aestate viret, bruma non marcescit, aquas respuit, perfusum mersumve sicco simile est—tanta dissociatio deprehenditur—unde et nomen a Graecis alioqui frutici topiario. quidam callitrichon vocant, alii polutrichon, utrumque ab effectu. tinguit enim capillum et ad hoc decoquitur in vino cum semine apii adiecto oleo copiose, ut crispum densumque faciat; et defluere autem prohibet. duo eius genera: candidius et nigrum breviusque. id quod maius est, polytrichon, aliqui trichomanes vocant. utrique ramuli nigro colore nitent, foliis felicis, ex quibus inferiora aspera ac fusca sunt, omnia autem contrariis pediculis densa ex adverso inter se, radix nulla. umbrosas petras parietumque aspergines ac fontium maxime cum aquas non sentiat. calculos e corpore mire pellit frangitque, utique nigrum, qua de causa potius quam quod in saxis nasceretur a nostris saxifragum appellatum crediderim. bibitur e vino quantum terni decerpsere digiti. urinam cient, serpentium et araneorum venenis resistunt, in vino decocti alvum sistunt. capitis dolores corona ex his sedat. contra scolopendrae morsus inlinuntur, crebro auferendi ne perurant, hoc et in alopeciis. strumas discutiunt furfuresque in facie et capitis manantia ulcera. decoctum ex his prodest suspiriosis et iocineri et lieni et felle subfusis et hydropicis. stranguriae inlinuntur et renibus cum absinthio. secundas cient et menstrua. sanguinem sistunt ex aceto aut rubi suco poti. infantes quoque exulcerati perunguntur ex iis cum rosaceo et vino prius. folium in urina pueri inpubis, tritum quidem cum aphronitro et inlitum ventri mulierum ne rugosus fiat praestare dicitur. perdices et gallinaceos pugnaciores fieri putant in cibum eorum additis, pecorique esse utilissimos.

Maidenhair too is remarkable, but in otherMaidenhair. ways. It is green in summer without fading in winter; it rejects water; sprinkled or dipped it is just like a dry plant—so great is the antipathy manifested—whence too comes the name given by the Greeks [bἀδίαντον, “water proof”] to what in other respects is a shrub for ornamental gardens. Some call it lovely hair [καλλίτριχον] or thick hair [πολύτριχον], both names being derived from its properties. For it dyes the hair, for which purpose a decoction is made in wine with celery seed added and plenty of oil, in order to make it grow curly and thick; moreover it prevents hair from falling out. There are two kinds: one is whiter than the other, which is dark and shorter. The larger kind, thick hair, is called by some trichomanes [Mad on hair, i.e. with wild hair (?)]. Both have sprigs of a shiny black, with leaves like those of fern, of which the lower are rough and tawny, but all grow from opposite footstalks, close set and facing each other; there is no root. It is mostly found on shaded rocks, walls wet with spray, especially the grottoes of fountains, and on boulders streaming with water—strange places for a plant that is unaffected by water! It is remarkably good for expelling stones from the bladder, breaking them up, the dark kind does so at any rate. This, I am inclined to believe, is the reason why it is called saxifrage (stone-breaker) [Stones in the bladder are calculi not saxa] rather than because it grows on stones. It is taken in wine, the dose being what can be plucked with three fingers. Diuretic, the maidenhairs [The change to the masculine plural is odd. Perhaps Pliny took callitrichon and polytrichon as masculines. The other alternative is to understand ramuli (see § 63), which Mayhoff thinks has fallen out here] counteract the venom of snakes and spiders; a decoction in wine checks looseness of the bowels; a chaplet made out of them relieves headache. An application of them is good for scolopendra stings, though it must be taken off repeatedly for fear of burns. The same treatment applies to fox-mange also. They disperse scrofulous sores, scurf on the face and running sores on the head. A decoction of them is beneficial for asthma, liver, spleen, violent biliousness and dropsy. With wormwood an application of them is used in strangury and to help the kidneys. They promote the afterbirth and menstruation. Taken in vinegar or blackberry juice they check haemorrhage. Sore places too on babies are treated by an ointment of maidenhair with rose oil, wine being applied first. The leaves steeped in the urine of a boy not yet adolescent, if they be pounded with saltpetre and applied to the abdomen of women, prevent the formation of wrinkles. It is thought that partridges and cockerels become better fighters if maidenhair be added to their food, and it is very good for cattle.

Adiantum

De α privatif et διαινο[?], humecto, madefacio.

Adiantum

Pliny xxii. 21, §30.

adiantum

Adiantum, de α privatif et διαίνω, je mouille, plante qui, trempée dans l’eau, ne s’en imbibe point. «Aquas respuit, perfusum mersumve sicco simile est», dit Pline, XXII, 30. L’Adiantum de Pline, c’est la doradille, Asplenium trichomanes L. Mais ce que Pena et Lobel appelaient Adiantum avec Théophraste, Nicandre et Dioscoride, est A. capillus Veneris, L. On observe à la surface de beaucoup de plantes un revêtement cireux, et même, sur les feuilles de certaines fougères, un saupoudrage de véritable matière rasse, qui les imperméabilise. (Paul Delaunay)

par les admirables qualitez

Cf. encore, De latinis nominibus pour tous ces détails. Le seule exemple qui ne s’explique pas de soi-même est hieracia; «Hieracum nomen ex eo venit quod [l’epevier] succo hujus herbae oculorum obscuritatem discutiant». Eryngion (« barbe à bouc ») serait un contrepoison. Que-fait-il dans cette liste?

Adiantum

De α- privatif et διαίνω, «mouiller», doradille; (Pline, XXII, xxx).

Adiantum

Adiantum. [Latin, adaptation of Greek a’di´anton maiden-hair, `unwetted’, formed on a’ not + diai´n-ein to wet; so called from the way in which the surfaces of the fronds resist wetting.]

A genus of ferns, having more or less wedge-shape pinnules on slender black shining stems, and marginal sori, covered by distinct indusia, of which one species (A. Capillus Veneris), commonly called True Maiden-hair, is a rare native of Britain.