cabbage to the vine

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cabbage to the vine;

Original French:  le Chou, a la Vigne:

Modern French:  le Chou, à la Vigne:


Among the examples of pairings whose antipathies are not as vehement as the hatred thieves have of a certain usage of Pantagruelion.


Notes

cabbage

vino adversari ut inimicam vitibus, antecedente in cibis caveri ebrietatem, postea sumpta crapulam discuti.

As cabbage is the enemy of the vine, they say that it opposes wine; that if taken in food beforehand it prevents drunkenness, taken after drinking it dispels its unpleasant effects.

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. 20.34. Loeb Classical Library

cabbage

Olus caulesque,quibus nunc principatus hortorum, apud Graecos in honore fuisse non reperio, sed Cato brassicae miras canit laudes, quas in medicinae loco reddemus.

Cabbages and kales which now have preeminence in gardens, I do not find to have been held in honour among the Greeks; but Cato [R.R. CLVI. f.] sings marvellous praises of the head of cabbage, which we shall repeat when we deal with medicine.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 5: Books 17–19. Harris Rackham (1868–1944), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1950. 19.41. Loeb Classical Library

cabbage

[Cato does sing the praises of cabbage, but he does not mention that it is inimical to the vine.]

Cato, Marcus (234 BC-149 BC), De Re Rustica. 156, p. 151. Penelope

cabbage

Silvestris sive erraticae inmenso plus effectus laudat Cato, adeo ut aridae quoque farinam in olfactorio collectam, vel odore tantum naribus rapto, vitia earum graveolentiamque sanare adfirmet. hanc alii petraeam vocant, inimicissimam vino, quam praecipue vitis fugiat aut, si non possit fugere, moriatur

Cato gives vastly higher praise to the wild, or stray, cabbage, so much so that he asserts that the mere powder of the dried vegetable, collected in a smelling-bottle, or the scent only, snuffed up the nostrils, removes nose-troubles and any offensive odour. Some call this variety rock-cabbage; it is strongly antipathetic to wine, so that the vine tries very hard to avoid it, or, if it cannot do so, dies.

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. 20.36. Loeb Classical Library

cabbage

Brassicae laudes longum est exsequi, cum et Chrysippus medicus privatim volumen ei dicaverit per singula membra hominis digestum, et Dieuches, ante omnes autem Pythagoras, et Cato non parcius celebraverit, cuius sententiam vel eo diligentius persequi par est, ut noscatur qua medicina usus sit annis dc Romanus populus.

It would be a long task to make a list of all the praises of the cabbage, since not only did Chrysippus the physician devote to it a special volume, divided according to its effects on the various parts of the body, but Dieuches also, and Pythagoras above all, and Catob no less lavishly, have celebrated its virtues;

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. 22.33. Loeb Classical Library

le Chou, a la Vigne:

pernicialia et brassicae cum vite odia, ipsum olus quo vitis fugatur adversum cyclamino et origano arescit.

Deadly too is the hatred between the cabbage and the vine; the very vegetable that keeps the vine at a distance itself withers away when planted opposite cyclamen or wild marjoram.

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. 24.01. Loeb Classical Library

cabbage

Morbos hortensia quoque sentiunt sicut reliqua terra sata. namque et ocimum senectute degenerat in serpyllum, et sisymbrium in zmintham, et ex semine brassicae vetere rapa fiunt, atque invicem.

Garden vegetables are also liable to disease, like the rest of the plants on earth. For instance basil degenerates with old age into wild-thyme and sisymbrium into mint, and old cabbage seed produces turnip, and so on.

Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD), The Natural History. Volume 5: Books 17–19. Harris Rackham (1868–1944), translator. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1950. 19.57. Loeb Classical Library

Le chou à la vigne

Voiez Pline, l. 17. chap. 24 & l. 24. chap. 1.

Rabelais, François (1483?–1553), Œuvres de Maitre François Rabelais. Publiées sous le titre de : Faits et dits du géant Gargantua et de son fils Pantagruel, avec la Prognostication pantagrueline, l’épître de Limosin, la Crême philosophale et deux épîtres à deux vieilles de moeurs et d’humeurs différentes. Nouvelle édition, où l’on a ajouté des remarques historiques et critiques. Tome Troisieme. Jacob Le Duchat (1658–1735), editor. Amsterdam: Henri Bordesius, 1711. p. 261. Google Books

Cabbage to the Vine

Pliny xxiv. 1, § 1.

Rabelais, François (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

Le chou à la vigne

«Pernicialia et brassicæ cum vite odia: ipsum olus quo vitis fugatur, adversum cyclamino… arescit», dit Pline, XXIV, I. «Le chou, disent Ch. Estienne et J. Liébault, ne doit estre planté prés la vigne, ny la vigne prés du chou: car il y a si grand inimitié entre ces deux plantes que les deux plantes en un mesme terroir ayant prins quelque croissance se retournent arrière l’un de l’autre et n’en sont tant fructueuses.» (L’agriculture et maison rustique, nouvelle éd., Rouen, Laudet, 1625, in-4°, l. II. p. 155.) Cette assertion est d’ailleurs d’origine légendaire: d’après une tradition transmise par le scoliaste d’Aristophane (Les Chevaliers), Lycurgue, roi de Thrace, ayant fait détruire les vignes, un cep qu’il allait trancher l’ença tout à coup de ses sarments. Devinant la vengeance de Bacchus, le barbare se mit à pleurer; de ses larmes naquit le chou, remède traditionnel, préventif et curatif de l’ivresse. (Paul Delaunay)

Rabelais, François (1483?–1553), Oeuvres. Édition critique. Tome Cinquieme: Tiers Livre. Abel Lefranc (1863-1952), editor. Paris: Librairie Ancienne Honoré Champion, 1931. p. 360. Internet Archive

cabbage to vines

(did not Lycurgus, King of Thrace, destroy the vines, when suddenly a stalk cast its twigs about him, and when from his tears, shed at Bacchus’ vengeance, was born the colewort, a traditional preventive and cure for drunkenness)

Rabelais, François (1483?–1553), Complete works of Rabelais. Jacques LeClercq (1891–1971), translator. New York: Modern Library, 1936.

Nenuphar…

Encore une fois, la plupart de ces exemples se retrouvent dans le De latinis nominibus de Charles Estienne. Le nenufar et la semence de saule sont des antiaphrodisiaques. La ferula servait, dans l’Antiquité, à fustiger les écoliers (cf. Martial, X, 62-10).

Rabelais, François (1483?–1553), Le Tiers Livre. Edition critique. Michael Andrew Screech (1926-2018), editor. Paris-Genève: Librarie Droz, 1964.

vine

vine. Forms: vygne, vigne, vinyhe, vyny. vyne, vyn, viyn, vine, vijne; wine, wyne, vinde, vynde. [adopted from Old French vigne and vine (modern French vigne): -Latin vinea vineyard, vine, etc., formed on vin-um wine.]

The trailing or climbing plant, Vitis vini-fera, bearing the grapes from which ordinary wine is made (= grape-vine); also generally, any plant of the genus Vitis.

13.. King Alisander 5758 (Laud. MS.), In eueryche felde rype is corne; Þe grapes hongen on þe vyne.

1377 William Langland The vision of William concerning Piers Plowman xiv. 30 Þough neuere greyne growed ne grape vppon vyne.

C. 1420 Palladius on husbondrie vi. 57 Now vyne and tre that were ablaqueate, To couer hem it is conuenient.

1535 Miles Coverdale Bible Judges ix. 12 Then sayde the trees vnto the vyne; Come thou and be oure kinge.

1562 William Turner A new herball, the seconde parte ii. 168 b, [It] is lyke vnto a gumme, and waxeth thicke aboute the bodye of the vinde.

1573 Thomas Tusser Fiue hundreth pointes of good husbandrie (1878) 75 Get doong, friend mine, for stock and vine.

1598 Joshuah Sylvester, translator Du Bartas his divine weekes and workes i. iii. 586 There, th’ amorous Vine calls in a thousand sorts (With winding arms) her Spouse that her supports.

1708 John Philips Cyder i. 16 Everlasting Hate The Vine to Ivy bears.

A single plant or tree of this species or genus.

A. 1300 E.E. Psalter civ. 31 He… smate þar vinyhes and figetres in-twa.

1303 Robert Manning of Brunne Handlyng Synne 882 Euery 3ere at þe florysyngge, whan þe vynys shulde spryngge, A tempest… fordede here vynys alle.

1340 Dan Michel’s Ayenbite of Inwyt 43 Þe zenne of ham þet uor wynnynge… destrueþ þe vines oþer cornes.

1340-70 Alexander and Dindimus. 847 Ze telle vs þat 3e tende nauht to tulye þe erþe,… no plaunte winus.

1390 John Gower Confessio amantis II. 168 For he fond… how men scholden sette vines.

1422 James Yonge, translator. The gouernaunce of prynces (in Secreta Secretorum) 244 In al regions the hettes bene encreschid,… the wynes growyth, the cornes wixit rippe.

C. 1440 Promptorium parvulorum sive clericorum 510/2 Vyny, þat bryngythe forþe grete grapys, bumasta.

1590 Edmund Spenser The Færie Queene ii. xii. 54 A Porch with rare deuice, Archt ouer head with an embracing vine.

1604 Edward Grimstone, translator D’Acosta’s Naturall and morall historie of the East and West Indies iv. xxxii. 296 Peru and… Chillé, where there are vignes that yeeld excellent wine.


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Posted 27 January 2013. Modified 13 April 2020.

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