serpoullet, which creeps against the ground

PREVIOUS

NEXT

serpoullet, which creeps against the ground;

Original French:  Serpoullet, qui herpe contre terre:

Modern French:  Serpoullet, qui herpe contre terre:


Among the plants named for their forms. The plants in this group also appear in Charles Estienne’s De Latinis et Graecis nominibus…[1], published in Paris in 1544, two years before the first edition of the Le Tiers Livre[2].


1. Estienne, Charles (1504–1564), De Latinis et Graecis nominibus arborum, fruticum, herbarum, piscium & avium liber : ex Aristotele, Theophrasto, Dioscoride, Galeno, Nicandro, Athenaeo, Oppiano, Aeliano, Plinio, Hermolao Barbaro, et Joanne Ruellio : cum Gallica eorum nominum appellatione. Paris: 1544. Bibliothèque nationale de France

2. Rabelais, François (1494?–1553), Le Tiers Livre des faictz et dictz Heroïques du noble Pantagruel: composez par M. François Rabelais docteur en Medicine, & Calloïer des Isles Hieres. L’auteur susdict supplie les Lecteurs benevoles, soy reserver a rire au soixante & dixhuytiesme livre. Paris: Chrestien Wechel, 1546. Gallica


Notes

Serpillum

Serpillum

Schöffer, Peter (ca. 1425–ca. 1502), [R]ogatu plurimo[rum] inopu[m] num[m]o[rum] egentiu[m] appotecas refuta[n]tiu[m] occasione illa, q[uia] necessaria ibide[m] ad corp[us] egru[m] specta[n]tia su[n]t cara simplicia et composita. Mainz: 1484. Plate 143. Botanicus

serpyllum

serpyllum
Serpyllum Quendel
Taxon: Thymus serpyllum L.
Ancient Greek: erpullon
Modern English: wild thyme

Fuchs, Leonhart (1501–1566), De historia stirpium commentarii insignes…. Basil: In Officina Isingriniana, 1542. Archive.org

serpyllum

Serpyllum a serpendo putant dictum, quod in silvestri evenit, in petris maxime; nam sativum non serpit, sed ad palmum altitudine increscit.

Wild thyme is thought to be so named from its being a creeping plant [Serpyllum from serpere (to creep)]; this characteristic is to be found only in the wild kind, mostly in rocky districts; the cultivated does not creep, but grows up to be a palm in height.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 6: Books 20–23. William Henry Samuel Jones (1876–1963), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951. 20.90. Loeb Classical Library

serpoullet

Serpyllum a serpendo putant dictum, quod in silvestri evenit, in petris maxime; nam sativum non serpit, sed ad palmum altitudine increscit.

Wild thyme is thought to be so named from its being a creeping plant [Serpyllum from serpere (to creep)]; this characteristic is to be found only in the wild kind, mostly in rocky districts; the cultivated does not creep, but grows up to be a palm in height.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 6: Books 20–23. William Henry Samuel Jones (1876–1963), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1951. 20.90. Loeb Classical Library

Serpolet

Pliny xx. 22, § 17.

Rabelais, François (1494?–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

serpoullet

«Serpyllum a serpendo putant dictum,» Pline, XX, 90. C’est le Serpoulet, Thymus serpyllum, L. (Labiée.) (Paul Delaunay)

Rabelais, François (1494?–1553), Oeuvres. Édition critique. Tome Cinquieme: Tiers Livre. Abel Lefranc (1863-1952), editor. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1931. p. 357. Internet Archive

Les aultres de leurs formes

Encore une fois, tout cela se retrouve dans le petit livre de Charles Estienne, De latinis nominibus.

Rabelais, François (1494?–1553), Le Tiers Livre. Edition critique. Michael Andrew Screech (1926-2018), editor. Paris-Genève: Librarie Droz, 1964.

Les aultres de leurs formes

Toutes ces informations sont dans le livre d’Estienne. L’étymologie de «serpoullet» (du lat. serpere) est indiquée par Pline, XX, 22 («herper» : ramper?). Calepin signale celle de myrobolan, «quam Dioscorides Βάλανον μυρεψικήν appellat, hoc est glandem unguentariam»; de là la précision terminale de Rabelais. Voir aussi Manardi, dans ses annotations sur les Simples de Mésué, à l’article «De ben».

Rabelais, François (1494?–1553), Le Tiers Livre. Edition critique. Jean Céard, editor. Librarie Général Français, 1995. p. 456.

PREVIOUS

NEXT

Posted 10 February 2013. Modified 26 April 2020.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.