the tub of Venus

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the tub of Venus,

Original French:  la cuue de Venus,

Modern French:  la cuve de Venus,


Among the plants that are named for a higher resemblance.


Notes

Dipsacus

Dipsacus fullonum L.
Dipsacus fullonum L.
Fuller’s Teasel, teasel, wild teasel

Fuchs, Leonhart (1501 – 1566), New Kreüterbuch. 1543. Plantillustrations.org

Venus’ Tub

Venus’ Tub, or Venus’ Basin (Dipsacus sylvestris), because the ‘connate’ leaves form a basin.

Rabelais, François (ca. 1483–1553), The Five Books and Minor Writings. Volume 1: Books I-III. William Francis Smith (1842–1919), translator. London: Alexader P. Watt, 1893. Internet Archive

la cuve de Venus

«Labrum venereum vocant in flumine nascentem», dit Pline, XXV, 108. Cette plante n’est point aquatique; c’est le διψαχὸζ de Dioscoride, autrement dit pour Fée le chardon à foulon, Dipsacus fullonum, L. Sainéan (H.N.R., 123) préfere y voir le D. sylvestris, Mill. Dans ces deux espèces, les feuilles, opposées et connées, forment à leur base une sorte de cuvette où s’amasse l’eau des pluies. (Cabaret des oiseaux, Lavoir de Vénus.) (Paul Delaunay)

Rabelais, François (ca. 1483–1553), Oeuvres. Édition critique. Tome Cinquieme: Tiers Livre. Abel Lefranc (1863-1952), editor. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1931. p. 356. Internet Archive

cuve de Venus

Labrum Venerium vocant in flumine nascentem. est ei vermiculus qui circa dentes fricatur aut cavis dentium cera includitur. cavendum ne avulsa herba terram tangat.

A plant that grows in rivers they call the bath of Venus. In it is a worm which is rubbed round the teeth or plugged with wax into the hollow of a tooth. Care must be taken that the plant does not touch the ground after being pulled up.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 7: Books 24–27. William Henry Samuel Jones (1876–1963), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1956. 25.108. Loeb Classical Library

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Posted 10 February 2013. Modified 12 July 2018.

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