Notes

Linum

Linum usitatissimum

Linum usitatissimum L.
English: flax

Linum usitatissimum

Linum usitatissimum L.
English: flax

Linum usitatissimum

Linum usitatissimum L.
Flax, Linen

Flax

I. An account of the constellations, seasons and weather has now been given that is easy even for non-experts to understand does not leave any room for doubt; and for those who really understand the matter the countryside contributes to our knowledge of the heavens no less than astronomy contributes to agriculture. Many writers have made horticulturea the next subject; we however do not think the time has come to pass straight to those topics, and we are surprised that some persons seeking from these subjects the satisfaction of knowledge, or a reputation for learning, have passed over so many matters without making any mention of all the plants that grow of their own accord or from cultivation, especially in view of the fact that even greater importance attaches to very many of these, in point of price and of practical utility, than to the cereals. And to begin with admitted utilities and with commodities distributed not only throughout all lands but also over the seas: flax is a plant that is grown from seed and that cannot be included either among cereals or among garden plants; but in what department of life shall we not meet with it, or what is more marvellous than the fact that there is a plant which brings Egypt so close to Italy that of two governors of Egypt Galerius reached Alexandria from the Straits of Messina in seven days and Balbillus in six, and that in the summer 15 years later the praetorian senator Valerius Marianus made Alexandria from Pozzuoli in nine days with a very gentle breeze? or that there is a plant that brings Cadiz within seven days’ sail from the Straits of Gibraltar to Ostia, and Hither Spain within four days, and the Province of Narbonne within three, and Africa within two? The last record was made by Gaius Flavius, deputy of the proconsul Vibius Crispus, even with a very gentle wind blowing. How audacious is life and how full of wickedness, for a plant to be grown for the purpose of catching the winds and the storms, and for us not to be satisfied with being borne on by the waves alone, nay that by this time we are not even satisfied with sails that are larger than ships, but, although single trees are scarcely enough for the size of the yard-arms that carry the sails, nevertheless other sails are added above the yards and others besides are spread at the bows and others at the sterns, and so many methods are employed of challenging death, and finally that out of so small a seed springs a means of carrying the whole world to and fro, a plant with so slender a stalk and rising to such a small height from the ground, and that this, not after being woven into a tissue by means of its natural strength but when broken and crushed and reduced by force to the softness of wool, afterwards by this ill-treatment attains to the highest pitch of daring! No execration is adequate for an inventor in navigation (whom we mentioned above in the proper place [Daedalus. See VII. 206]), who was not content that mankind should die upon land unless he also perished where no burial awaits him. Why, in the preceding Book we were giving a warning to beware of storms of rain and wind for the sake of the crops and of our food: and behold man’s hand is engaged in growing and likewise his wits in weaving an object which when at sea is only eager for the winds to blow! And besides, to let us know how the Spirits of Retribution have favoured us, there is no plant that is grown more easily; and to show us that it is sown against the will of Nature, it scorches the land and causes the soil actually to deteriorate in quality.

II. Flax is chiefly grown in sandy soils, and with a single ploughing. No other plant grows more quickly: it is sown in spring and plucked in summer, and owing to this also it does damage to the land. Nevertheless, one might forgive Egypt for growing it to enable her to import the merchandise of Arabia and India. Really? And are the Gallic provinces also assessed on such revenue as this? And is it not enough that they have the mountains separating them from the sea, and that on the side of the ocean they are bounded by an actual vacuum [I.e. the Atlantic ocean is mere emptiness, τὸ κενόν of the philosophers] as the term is? The Cadurci, Caleti, Ruteni, Bituriges, and the Morini who are believed to be the remotest of mankind, in fact the whole of the Gallic provinces, weave sailcloth, and indeed by this time so do even our enemies across the Rhine, and linen is the showiest dress-material known to their womankind. This reminds us of the fact recorded by Varro that it is a clan-custom in the family of the Serrani for the women not to wear linen dresses. In Germany the women carry on this manufacture in caves dug underground [The humidity was supposed to be favourable to the manufacture of the tissue]; and similarly also in the Alia district of Italy between the Po and the Ticino, where the linen wins the prize as the third best in Europe, that of Saetabis being first, as the second prize is won by the linens of Retovium near the Alia district and Faenza on the Aemilian Road. The Faenza linens are preferred for whiteness to those of Alia, which are always unbleached, but those of Retovium are supremely fine in texture and substance and are as white as the Faventia, but have no nap, which quality counts in their favour with some people but puts off others. This flax makes a tough thread having a quality almost more uniform than that of a spider’s web, and giving a twang when you choose to test it with your teeth; consequently it is twice the price of the other kinds.

And after these it is Hither Spain that has a linen of special lustre, due to the outstanding quality of a stream that washes the city of Tarragon, in the waters of which it is dressed; also its fineness is marvellous, Tarragon being the place where cambrics were first invented. From the same province of Spain Zoëla flax has recently been imported into Italy, a flax specially useful for hunting-nets; Zoëla is a city of Gallaecia near the Atlantic coast. The flax of Cumae in Campania also has a reputation of its own for nets for fishing and fowling, and it is also used as a material for making hunting-nets: in fact we use flax to lay no less insidious snares for the whole of the animal kingdom than for ourselves! But the Cumae nets will cut the bristles of a boar and even turn the edge of a steel knife; and we have seen before now netting of such fine texture that it could be passed through a man’s ring, with running tackle and all, a single person carrying an amount of net sufficient to encircle a wood! Nor is this the most remarkable thing about it, but the fact that each string of these nettings consists of 150 threads, as recently made for Fulvius Lupus who died in the office of governor of Egypt. This may surprise people who do not know that in a breastplate that belonged to a former king of Egypt named Amasis, preserved in the temple of Minerva at Lindus on the island of Rhodes, each thread consisted of 365 separate threads, a fact which Mucianus, who held the consulship three times quite lately, stated that he had proved to be true by investigation, adding that only small remnants of the breastplate now survive owing to the damage done by persons examining this quality. Italy also values the Pelignian flax as well, but only in its employment by fullers—no flax is more brilliantly white or more closely resembles wool; and similarly the flax grown at Cahors has a special reputation for mattresses: this use of it is an invention of the provinces of Gaul, as likewise is flock. As for Italy, the custom even now survives in the word used for bedding. Egyptian flax is not at all strong, but it sells at a very good price. There are four kinds in that country, Tanitic, Pelusiac, Butic and Tentyritic, named from the districts where they grow. The upper part of Egypt, lying in the direction of Arabia, grows a bush which some people call cotton, but more often it is called by a Greek work meaning ‘wood’: hence the name xylina given to linens made of it. It is a small shrub, and from it hangs a fruit resembling a bearded nut, with an inner silky fibre from the down of which thread is spun. No kinds of thread are more brilliantly white or make a smoother fabric than this. Garments made of it are very popular with the priests of Egypt. A fourth kind is called othoninum; it is made from a sort of reed growing in marshes, but only from its tuft. Asia makes a thread out of broom, of which specially durable fishing-nets are made, the plant being soaked in water for ten days; the Ethiopians and Indians make thread from apples, and the Arabians from gourds that grow on trees, as we said.

III. With us the ripeness of flax is ascertained by two indications, the swelling of the seed or its assuming a yellowish colour. It is then plucked up and tied together in little bundles each about the size of a handful, hung up in the sun to dry for one day with the roots turned upward, and then for five more days with the heads of the bundles turned inward towards each other so that the seed may fall into the middle. Linseed makes a potent medicine; it is also popular in a rustic porridge with an extremely sweet taste, made in Italy north of the Po, but now for a long time only used for sacrifices. When the wheat-harvest is over the actual stalks of the flax are plunged in water that has been left to get warm in the sun, and a weight is put on them to press them down, as flax floats very readily. The outer coat becoming looser is a sign that they are completely soaked, and they are again dried in the sun, turned head downwards as before, and afterwards when thoroughly dry they are pounded on a stone with a tow-hammer. The part that was nearest the skin is called oakum—it is flax of an inferior quality, and mostly more fit for lampwicks; nevertheless this too is combed with iron spikes until all the outer skin is scraped off. The pith has several grades of whiteness and softness, and the discarded skin is useful for heating ovens and furnaces. There is an art of combing out and separating flax: it is a fair amount for fifteen . . [The text seems defective, a plural noun having been lost] to be carded out from fifty pounds’ weight of bundles; and spinning flax is a respectable occupation even for men. Then it is polished in the thread a second time, after being soaked in water and repeatedly beaten out against a stone, and it is woven into a fabric and then again beaten with clubs, as it is always better for rough treatment.

IV. Also a linen has now been invented that is incombustible. It is called ‘live’ linen, and I have seen napkins made of it glowing on the hearth at banquets and burnt more brilliantly clean by the fire than they could be by being washed in water. This linen is used for making shrouds for royalty which keep the ashes of the corpse separate from the rest of the pyre. The plant [It is really the mineral asbestos] grows in the deserts and sun-scorched regions of India where no rain falls, the haunts of deadly snakes, and it is habituated to living in burning heat; it is rarely found, and is difficult to weave into cloth because of its shortness; its colour is normally red but turns white by the action of fire. When any of it is found, it rivals the prices of exceptionally fine pearls. The Greek name for it is asbestinon [‘Inextinguishable’], derived from its peculiar property. Anaxilaus states that if this linen is wrapped round a tree it can be felled without the blows being heard, as it deadens their sound. Consequently this kind of linen holds the highest rank in the whole of the world. The next place belongs to a fabric made of fine flax grown in the neighbourhood of Elis in Achaia, and chiefly used for women’s finery; I find that it formerly changed hands at the price of gold, four denarii for one twenty-fourth of an ounce. The nap of linen cloths, principally that obtained from the sails of sea-going ships, is much used as a medicine, and its ash has the efficacy of metal dross. Among the poppies also there is a kind from which an outstanding material for bleaching linen is extracted.

V. An attempt has been made to dye even linen so as to adapt it for our mad extravagance in clothes. This was first done in the fleets of Alexander the Great when he was voyaging on the river Indus, his generals and captains having held a sort of competition even in the various colours of the ensigns of their ships; and the river banks gazed in astonishment as the breeze filled out the bunting with its shifting hues. Cleopatra had a purple sail when she came with Mark Antony to Actium, and with the same sail she fled. A purple sail was subsequently the distinguishing mark of the emperor’s ship.

VI. Linen cloths were used in the theatres as awnings, a plan first invented by Quintus Catulus when dedicating the Capitol. Next Lentulus Spinther is recorded to have been the first to stretch awnings of cambric in the theatre, at the games of Apollo. Soon afterwards Caesar when dictator stretched awnings [49–44 b.c.] over the whole of the Roman Forum, as well as the Sacred Way from his mansion, and the slope right up to the Capitol, a display recorded to have been thought more wonderful even than the show of gladiators which he gave. Next even when there was no display of games Marcellus the son of Augustus’s sister Octavia, during his period of office as aedile, in the eleventh consulship of his uncle, from the first of [23 b.c.] August onward fixed awnings of sailcloth over the forum, so that those engaged in lawsuits might resort there under healthier conditions: what a change this was from the stern manners of Cato the ex-censor, who had expressed the view that even the forum ought to be paved with sharp pointed stones [In order to discourage loitering there]! Recently awnings actually of sky blue and spangled with stars have been stretched with ropes even in the emperor Nero’s amphitheatres. Red awnings are used in the inner courts of houses and keep the sun off the moss growing there; but for other purposes white has remained persistently in favour. Moreover as early as the Trojan war linen already held a place of honour—for why should it not be present even in battles as it is in shipwrecks? Homer [Il. II. 529, 830] testifies that warriors, though only a few, fought in linen corslets. This material was also used for rigging ships, according to the same author as interpreted by the more learned scholars, who say that the word sparta used by Homer means ‘sown’.

linen

linen [Old English línen, linnen formed on *lIînom flax.]

Made of flax. †linen wings = sails.

Cloth woven from flax. The explanation `cloth woven from flax or hemp’, given by Johnson and copied in most subsequent Dicts., appears to be a mere blunder, founded on occasional loose uses.

fossil linen

fossil linen: a kind of asbestos. Obsolete

flax

flax. sb. Forms: flæx, fleax, flex, vlexe, flexe, flaxe, flacks, flax.

[Latin plectere, Greek plekein. Some think however that the root is flah- (:-Old Aryan *plak-) as in flay v., the etymological notion being connected with the process of `stripping’, by which the fibre is prepared.]

The plant Linum usitatissimum bearing blue flowers which are succeeded by pods containing the seeds commonly known as linseed. It is cultivated for its textile fibre and for its seeds.

Notes

Levisticum

Ligusticum

Levisticum silvestre

Ligustrum [?]

Ligustrum vulgare L.
English: common privet

ligusticum

Ligusticum silvestre est in Liguriae suae montibus, seritur ubique; suavius sativum sed sine viribus. panacem aliqui vocant; Crateuas apud Graecos cunilam bubulam eo nomine appellat, ceteri vero conyzam, id est cunilaginem, thymbram vero quae sit cunila.

Lovage grows wild in the mountains of its native Liguria, but is cultivated everywhere; the cultivated kind is sweeter but lacks strength. Some people call it panax, but the Greek writer Crateuas gives that name to cow-cunila, though all others call that conyza [Elecampane, or fleabane], which is really cunilago, while real cunila they call thymbra.

lovage

In the original Liueſche which Cotgrave interprets Lovage of Lombardy. Cambridge Dictionary says the same of Ligusticum, and reason good.

ligusticum, c’est livesche

Plante médicinale.

Ligusticum

Plante médicinale. Livesche vient de ligusticum, par le changement du g en v, et par contraction, et ligusticum de Liguria.

Ligusticum

Pliny xix. 5, § 50.

ligusticum

Ligusticum, Livèche, de Liguria, parc qu’elle se trouve communément sur la côte génoise. « Ligisticum silvestre est in Liguriae suæ montivus », dit Pline, XIX, 50. Genre d’Ombelliféres comprenant div. est. de Corse, des Alpes, des Pyrénées. S’agit-il ici de Ligusticum levisticum, L. ? (Paul Delaunay)

Ligusticum

Pline, XIX, i.

ligustrum

ligustrum. [Latin ligustrum privet, adopted by Linnæus (Hortus Cliffortianus (1737)) and earlier botanists as the name of a genus.]

privet.

Notes

Lynx

Linx (lynx)
Fol. 23vb2: column miniature

Lyncibus

oince

5.660 lynca Ceres fecit

5.642 Then the goddess of fertility yoked her two dragons to her car, curbing their mouths with the bit, and rode away through the air midway between heaven and earth, until she came at last to Pallas’ city. Here she gave her fleet car to Triptolemus, and bade him scatter the seeds of grain she gave, part in the untilled earth and part in fields that had long lain fallow. And now high over Europe and the land of Asia the youth held his course and came to Scythia, where Lyncus ruled as king. He entered the royal palace. The king asked him how he came and why, what was his name and country: he said: “My country is far-famed Athens; Triptolemus, my name. I came neither by ship over the sea, nor on foot by land; the air opened a path for me. I bring the gifts of Ceres, which, if you sprinkle them over your wide fields, will give a fruitful harvest and food not wild.” The barbaric king heard with envy. And, that he himself might be the giver of so great a boon, he received his guest with hospitality, and when he was heavy with sleep, he attacked him with the sword. Him, in the very act of piercing the stranger’s breast, Ceres transformed into a lynx; and back through the air she bade the Athenian drive her sacred team.’

Loup-cervier

Loup-cervier: A kind of white Wolfe, or beast ingendred betweene a Hind and a Wolfe, whose skinne is much esteemed by great men; yet some (not beleeving that those beasts will, or can mingle) imagine it rather to bee the spotted Linx, or Ounce; or a kind thereof.

Oince

Oince: A Hawkes Pounce; (and thence) a hooke; and (as in Rab.) a hand, or fist; also, the beast called an Ounce, or Linx.

Lyncus

Pour lynx, par le retranchement de l’l initiale, comme si c’étoit l’article le contracté avec le nom. Nous avons déja trouvé cette leçon plus haut.

ounce, loupcervier

Leuzerns, Luzarnes, Lucern. A fur mentioned in the wardrobe accounts of Henry VIII. Cotgrave has, “A luzarne: loupcervier,” and under the latter word says, “a kind of white wolfe, or beast ingendred between a hind and a wolf, whose skin is much esteemed by great men; yet some (not believing that those beasts will or can mingle) imagine it rather to bee the spotted linx or ounce, or a kind thereof.” Luzarne is probably a corruption of loupcervier. The fur might be that of the lynx or ounce, but wolf’s fur is mentioned in wills and inventories of the sixteenth century, and that of a white wolf, perhaps, was considered a rarity. In a parliamentary scheme, dated 1549, it was proposed that “no man under the degree of an earl be allowed to wear luzarnes.” (Halliwell, in voce “Lucern.”) “Item, for making of a shamew of blacke printed satin, embroidered with damaske golde, and furred with luzardis of our stores, the bodies and sleeves lyned with buckram of our g^t wardrobe.” (Wardrobe Acccount, 28 June, 8th Henry VIII, 1516.)

Ounce or Stag-Wolf

Ovid, Met, v. 642-661.

oince

Voir Ovide, Métamorphoses, V., v. 642-661

oince ou loupcervier

Lynx ou loup-cervier, nom donné aux diverses espèces de Lyncs (Lynchus). Mais le nom de loup-cervier a été également appliqué, par confusion, à la panthère (Felis pardus, L.), au guépard (Cynailurus jubatus, Erxl.) et à l’irbis (Felis unica, Schreb.) « Loups-cerviers et onces qu’on nomme autrement Linces» dit Pierre Belon, Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses mémorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Égypte, Arabie et autres pays estranges, l. I, ch. 76.

Ceres

Ovide, Métam, V, 642-601 (EC).

transformé en Oince, ou Loupcervier

Ovide, Métamorphoses, VI v.642-661.

loup cervier

loup cervier [French loup cervier, adaptation of Latin lupus cervarius (Pliny) the lynx (lupus wolf, cervarius that hunts stags, formed on cervus stag).] The Canada lynx (Lynx Canadensis), a species of wild cat with a short tail.

ounce

ounce. Forms: unce, once, owns, onse, ounce.

[adaptation of Old French once (13th century in Littré), lonce (Voyages de Marc Pol, Godefroy Compl.). Old French l’once (according to Hatzfeld and Darmesteter, Dictionnaire général de la langue française) represents an earlier lonce (the l being confounded with the definite article) : -popular Latin type *luncia, for Latin lyncea, deriv. of lync-em lynx.]

A name originally given to the common lynx, afterwards extended to other species, and still sometimes applied in America to the Canada lynx and other species. From 16th c. applied to various other small or moderate-sized feline beasts, vaguely identified.

In current zoological use: A feline beast (Felis uncia), inhabiting the lofty mountain ranges of Central and Southern Asia; it resembles the leopard in markings, but is smaller and of lighter ground colour, and has longer and thicker fur; also called mountain-panther and snow-leopard.

Applied to the Cheetah or Hunting Leopard: this being at first confounded with the Ounce of Buffon. Obsolete

1694 in Churchill’s Voy. (1704) IV. 162 Besides Hawks and Dogs, they make use of a sort of Creatures they call Onses, about the bigness of a Fox, very swift, their Skins speckled like Tigers, and so Tame, that they carry them behind them on Horse-back.
1706 Phillips, Ounce, is also a kind of tame Beast in Persia, mistaken for a lynx.
1801 Southey Thalaba ix. xviii, And couchant on the saddle-bow, With tranquil eyes and talons sheathed, The ounce expects his liberty.
1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i. 609 As hooded ounces cling to the driven hind.

Attributive and combinations: ounce-stone, a rendering of Pliny’s lyncurium, a reputed precious stone, now understood to have been amber. Obsolete.

Notes

Laurus nobilis L.

Lorbeerbaum
Laurus
(Laurus nobilis L.)

Laurus

lauriers

Le G. Laurus a des fleurs hermaphrodites, et qui ne sont unisexuées que par avortement. (Paul Delaunay)

laurel

laurel. Forms: lorer(e, lorrer, laurer(e, lawrer(e, laurear, -ier, lawrare, lawryr, lowrier, laureal, laurialle, -yel, lawriall, -ielle, (loryel, larel, -ielle), lorel(l, lau-, lawrell, lawreall, lawrel, ( lowrell), laurel.

[adaptation of French laurier for lorier, formed onOld French lor:-Latin laur-us.]

The Bay-tree or Bay-laurel, Laurus nobilis

Notes

On Timber

14. The larch is known only to the provincials on the banks of the river Po and the shores of the Adriatic Sea. Owing to the fierce bitterness of its sap, it is not injured by dry rot or the worm. Further, it does not admit flame from fire, nor can it burn of itself; only along with other timber it may burn stone in the kiln for making lime. Nor even then does it admit flame or produce charcoal, but is slowly consumed over a long interval. For there is the least admixture of fire and air, while the moist and the earthy principles are closely compressed. It has no open pores by which the fire can penetrate, and repels its force and prevents injury being quickly done to itself by fire. Because of its weight it is not sustained by water; but when it is carried, it is placed on board ship, or on pine rafts.

15. We have reason to inquire how this timber was discovered. After the late emperor Caesar had brought his forces into the neighbourhood of the Alps, and had commanded the municipalities to furnish supplies, he found there a fortified stronghold which was called Larignum. But the occupants trusted to the natural strength of the place and refused obedience. The emperor therefore commanded his forces to be brought up. Now before the gate of the stronghold there stood a tower of this wood with alternate cross-beams bound together like a funeral pyre, so that it could drive back an approaching enemy by stakes and stones from the top. But when it was perceived that they had no other weapons but stakes, and because of their weight they could not throw them far from the wall, the order was given to approach, and to throw bundles of twigs and burning torches against the fort. And the troops quickly heaped them up.

16. The flame seizing the twigs around the wood, rose skyward and made them think that the whole mass had collapsed. But when the fire had burnt itself out and subsided. and the tower appeared again intact, Caesar was surprised and ordered the town to be surrounded by a rampart outside the range of their weapons. And so the townspeople were compelled by fear to surrender. The inquiry was made where the timber came from which was unscathed by the fire. Then they showed him the trees, of which there is an abundant supply in these parts. The fort was called Larignum following the name of the larch wood. Now this is brought down the Po to Ravenna; there are also supplies at the Colony of Fanum, at Pisaurum and Ancona and the municipia in that region. And if there were a provision for bringing this timber to Rome, there would be great advantages in building; and if such wood were used, not perhaps generally, but in the eaves round the building blocks, these buildings would be freed from the danger of fires spreading. For this timber can neither catch fire nor turn to charcoal, nor burn of itself.

17. Now these trees have leaves like those of the pine, the timber is tall, and for joinery work not less handy than deal. It has a liquid resin coloured like Attic honey. This is a cure for phthisical persons.

Larix vero, qui non est notus nisi is municipalibus qui sunt circa ripam fluminis Padi et litora maris Hadriani, non solum ab suco vehementi amaritate ab carie aut tinea non nocetur, sed etiam flammam ex igni non recipit, nec ipse per se potest ardere, nisi uti saxum in fornace ad calcem coquendam aliis lignis uratur; nec tamen tunc flammam recipit nec carbonem remittit, sed longo spatio tarde comburitur. Quod est minima ignis et aeris e principiis temperatura, umore autem et terreno est spisse solidata, non habet spatia foraminum, qua possit ignis penetrare, reicitque eius vim nec patitur ab eo sibi cito noceri, propterque pondus ab aqua non sustinetur, sed cum portatur, aut in navibus aut supra abiegnas rates conlocatur.

Ea autem materies quemadmodum sit inventa, est causa cognoscere. Divus Caesar cum exercitum habuisset circa Alpes imperavissetque municipiis praestare commeatus, ibique esset castellum munitum, quod vocaretur Larignum, tunc, qui in eo fuerunt, naturali munitione confisi noluerunt imperio parere. Itaque imperator copias iussit admoveri. erat autem ante eius castelli portam turris ex hac materia alternis trabibus transversis uti pyra inter se composita alte, uti posset de summo sudibus et lapidibus accedentes repellere. Tunc vero cum animadversum est alia eos tela praeter sudes non habere neque posse longius a muro propter pondus iaculari, imperatum est fasciculos ex virgis alligatos et faces ardentes ad eam munitionem accedentes mittere. Itaque celeriter milites congesserunt. Posteaquam flamma circa illam materiam virgas comprehendisset, ad caelum sublata efficit opinionem, uti videretur iam tota moles concidisse. Cum autem ea per se extincta esset et re quieta turris intacta apparuisset, admirans Caesar iussit extra telorum missionem eos circumvallari. Itaque timore coacti oppidani cum se dedidissent, quaesitum, unde essent ea ligna quae ab igni non laederentur. Tunc ei demonstraverunt eas arbores, quarum in his locis maximae sunt copiae. Et ideo id castellum Larignum, item materies larigna est appellata. Haec autem per Padum Ravennam deportatur. In colonia Fanestri, Pisauri, Anconae reliquisque, quae sunt in ea regione, municipiis praebetur. Cuius materies si esset facultas adportationibus ad urbem, maximae haberentur in aedificiis utilitates, et si non in omne, certe tabulae in subgrundiis circum insulas si essent ex ea conlocatae, ab traiectionibus incendiorum aedificia periculo liberarentur, quod ea neque flammam nec carbonem possunt recipere nec facere per se. Sunt autem eae arbores foliis similibus pini; materies earum prolixa, tractabilis ad intestinum opus non minus quam sappinea, habetque resinam liquidam mellis Attici colore, quae etiam medetur phthisicis.

tromper

To cousen, deceive, beguile, delude, circumvent, cheat, overreach.

Jule César &c.

Ceci est pris de Vitruve, l. 2 chap 9 d’où l’avoit tiré, avant Rabelais, Cælius Rhodiginus, l. 10 chap. 10 de ses Anciennes leçons, cité par Du Chêne l. 1 chap. 46 de ses Antiquitiez des Villes de France. Philander, dan ses Remarques sur cet endroit de Vitruve, pag. 52 de l’édition of Venise 1557 dit qu’étant à Venise il voulut voir si en effet le malése, suppose que ce soit le larix de Vitruve, ne se consumeroit pas au feu, mais que le prétendu larix ne laissa pas de brûler, quoi que poururtant ce bois semblât dédaigner la flamme & la vouloir écarter. Sur quoi M. Le Clerc, qui a de vrai larix incombustible, prétend à l’art. 2 du T. XII de sa Bibliothéque choisie, que donc la melése de Philander n’etoit pas de vrai larix. Je le crois aussi, mais du moins est-il sûr, par ce qui précéde dans Rabelais, que nôtre Auteur prenoit lui même la melése pour le larix ou bois incombustible de Vitruve. Du rest, le vrai larix n’est pas inconnu au Curieux de Rome, & tel d’entre eux en a envoié de nos jours en Hollande, où on le garde.

Jule Cæsar

Cici est pris de Vitruve, Liv. II chap. 9. Philander dans ses Remarques sur cet endroit de Vitruve, dit qu’étant à Venise, il voulut voir si en effet la Melese, suposé que ce soit le Larix de Vitruve, ne se consumeroit pas au feu: mais qye le prétenduy Larix ne naissa pas de brûler, quoique pourtant la flamme eût peine à l’entamer, & s’en fût d’abord écartée. Sur quoi M. le Clerc, qui avoit du vrai Larix incombustible, prétend à l’art. 2. T. XII. de sa Bibl. choisie, que la Melese de Philander n’étoit donc pas le vrai Larix. Du reste le vrai Larix n’est pas inconnu aux Curieux de Rome, & l’on trouve même dans quelques Cabinets de Hollande. M. le Duchat.

Iule Cesar

Voy,. Vitruve, l. X, ch IX.

Jule Cæsar

Cette anecdote est rapportée par Vitruve, II, 9. Rabelais pouvait la lire encore dans Cœlius Rhodiginus, Antiq. lect., X. 10. Brantome la reproduira, Dames gal., IV. (Plattard)

lequel trompa Iule Caesar venent es Gaules.

Anecdote très connu (voir Vitruve, Architecture, II, ix; Caelius Rhodinginus, Antiquae lectiones, X, x); voir Tiers livre, éd. Lefranc, n. 38, p. 375.

Jule Cæsar venent es Gaules

Cette histoire, due à Vitruve, II, IX, est brièvement rappelée par Cœlius Rhodiginus, Antiquae Lectiones, X, 10, chapitre déjà largement utilisé. L’incombustibilité du mélèze (larix) fut «constatée, dit-il, au grand étonnement de César à Larignum, citadelle située sur les rives du Pô et qui doit son mon à l’abondance de cet arbre, quand une tour fortifiée résista sans dommage aux flammes».

Gaul

Gaul [formed on Gaul (the name of the country), adopted from French Gaule, an adoption (phonologically obscure) of Latin Gallia, formed on Gall-us a Gaul.]

An inhabitant of ancient Gaul; also, in a more restricted sense, an individual of the `Gallic’ people or race, as distinguished from other peoples inhabiting Gaul. Used poet. and humorously for a Frenchman (compare the similar use of Gaul for `France’, Gallic for `French’).

Caelius Rhodiginus

Caelius Rhodiginus (born Lodovico Ricchieri; 1469, Rovigo–1525, Rovigo) was a Venetian writer, and professor in Greek and Latin.

His original name was Ludovico or Lodovico Celio Ricchieri. He took the name Rhodiginus from his birthplace, Rovigo. He studied at Ferrara and Padua. He was a professor in Greek and Latin at Rovigo from 1491-9, and again from 1503-4. He was sacked by the council of Rovigo on 26 May 1504 because of his high-handedness in dealing with the city. He subsequently taught in many places including Bologna, Vicenza, Padua, and Ferrara. In 1515, he became the chair of Greek at Milan; he returned to Rovigo in 1523, and died two years later. His pupil Julius Caesar Scaliger described him as the Varro of his age.

His principal work was the Antiquarum Lectionum in sixteen books published in 1516 in Venice at the Aldine Press. It was a collection of notes on the classics and general topics. Rhodiginus continued to collect materials towards producing a new edition, and the book was posthumously expanded to thirty books and published under the editorship of his nephew Camillo Ricchieri and G. M. Goretti in 1542 at Basle.[2] He also wrote commentaries on Virgil, Ovid, and Horace.

Peter G. Bietenholz, Thomas B. Deutscher, (2003), Contemporaries of Erasmus: a biographical register of the Register of the Renaissance and Reformation, Volume 3, page 155. University of Toronto Press

Notes

Detail of Lappia from the Carta Marina

Lapland

Laplanders with their method of travelling 1700-1800s.
Samene ogder es måter å reise på. Kobberstikk fra 1700-1800-tallet.
Copper engraving by Warren.

Lappia

Peut-être la Laponie.

Taprobana ha vue Lappia

C’est-a-dire, l’île de Ceylan a vue la Laponie, par le secour des cordages et des voiles de vaisseaux.

Lappia

La Laponie.

Lapland

Lapland. [adopted from Swedish Lappland]

The region which forms the most northerly portion of the Scandinavian peninsula. Formerly, the fabled home of witches and magicians, who had power to send winds and tempests.

Lapp

Lapp. [adopted from Swedish Lapp, possibly in origin a term of contempt: compare Middle High German lappe simpleton. In medieval Latin the name was Lap(p)o, whence French Lapon.]

One of a nomadic people (called by themselves Sabme), inhabiting the north of Scandinavia.

Notes

Gossampines de Tyle

In the island of Tylos [cf. 5.4.6; Plin. 12.38 and 39; modern name Bahrein], which is situated in the Arabian gulf [Persian Gulf], they say that on the east side there is such a number of trees when the tide goes out that they make a regular fence. All these are in size as large as a fig-tree, the flower is exceedingly fragrant, and the fruit, which is not edible, is like in appearance to the lupin. They say that the island also produces the ‘wool-bearing’ tree (cotton-plant) in abundance. This has a leaf like that of the vine, but small, and bears no fruit; but the vessel in which the ‘wool’ is contained is as large as a spring apple, and closed, but when it is ripe, it unfolds and puts forth the ‘wool,’ of which they weave their fabrics, some of which are cheap and some very expensive.

This tree is also found, as was said [4.5.8], in India as well as in Arabia. They say that there are other trees [Tamarind] with a flower like the gilliflower, but scentless and in size four times as large as that flower. And that there is another tree with many leaves like the rose, and that this closes at night, but opens at sunrise, and by noon is completely unfolded; and at evening again it closes by degrees and remains shut at night, and the natives say that it goes to sleep. Also that there are date-palms on the island and vines and other fruit-trees, including evergreen figs. Also that there is water from heaven, but that they do not use it for the fruits, but that there are many springs on the island, from which they water everything, and that this is more beneficial to the corn and the trees. Wherefore, even when it rains, they let this water over the fields, as though they were washing away the rain water. Such are the trees as so far observed which grow in the outer sea.

Tylos

In the island of Tylos [Plin. 16. 221; cf. 4. 7. 7] off the Arabian coast they say that there is a kind of wood [teak] of which they build their ships, and that in sea-water this is almost proof against decay; for it lasts more than 200 years if it is kept under water, while, if it is kept out of water, it decays sooner, though not for some time. They also tell of another strange thing, though it has nothing to do with the question of decay: they say that there is a certain tree [calamander-wood], of which they cut their staves, and that these are very handsome, having a variegated appearance like the tiger’s skin; and that this wood is exceedingly heavy, yet when one throws it down on hard ground it breaks in pieces like pottery.

Gossampines de Tyle

Tyros insula in eodem sinu est, repleta silvis qua spectat orientem quaque et ipsa aestu maris perfunditur. magnitudo singulis arboribus fici, flos suavitate inenarrabili, pomum lupino simile, propter asperitatem intactum omnibus animalibus. eiusdem insulae1 excelsiore suggestu lanigerae arbores alio modo quam Serum; his folia infecunda quae, ni minora essent, vitium poterant videri. ferunt mali cotonei amplitudine cucurbitas quae maturitate ruptae ostendunt lanuginis pilas ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt.
XXII. arborem vocant gossypinum, fertiliore etiam Tyro minore, quae distat x p. Iuba circa fruticem lanugines esse tradit, linteaque ea Indicis praestantiora, Arabiae autem arborem ex qua vestes faciant cynas vocari, folio palmae simili. sic Indos suae arbores vestiunt. in Tyris autem et alia arbor floret albae violae specie, sed magnitudine quadruplici, sine odore, quod miremur in eo tractu.

In the same gulf is the island of Tyros [Now Bahrein, cf. VI. 148], which is covered with forests in the part facing east, where it also is flooded by the sea at high tide. Each of the trees is the size of a fig-tree; they have a flower with an indescribably sweet scent and the fruit resembles a lupine, and is so prickly that no animal can touch it. On a more elevated plateau in the same island there are trees that bear wool, but in a different manner to those [Serica, silk] of the Chinese, as the leaves of these trees have no growth on them, and might be thought to be vine-leaves were it not that they are smaller; but they bear gourds of the size of a quince, which when they ripen burst open and disclose balls of down from which an expensive linen for clothing is made.
XXII. Their name for this tree is the gossypinus; it also grows in greater abundance on the smaller island of Tyros, which is ten miles distant from the other. Juba says that this shrub has a woolly down growing round it, the fabric made from which is superior to the linen of India. He also says that there is an Arabian tree called the cynas from which cloth is made, which has foliage resembling a palm-leaf. Similarly the natives of India are provided with clothes by their own trees. But in the Tyros islands there is also another tree [Tamarind] with a blossom like a white violet but four times as large; it has no scent, which may well surprise us in that region of the world.

Attire so many people

eiusdem insulae excelsiore suggestu lanigerae arbores alio modo quam Serum; his folia infecunda quae, ni minora essent, vitium poterant videri. ferunt mali cotonei amplitudine cucurbitas quae maturitate ruptae ostendunt lanuginis pilas ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt.

XXII. arborem vocant gossypinum, fertiliore etiam Tyro minore, quae distat x͞ p. Iuba circa fruticem lanugines esse tradit, linteaque ea Indicis praestantiora, Arabiae autem arborem ex qua vestes faciant cynas vocari, folio palmae simili. sic Indos suae arbores vestiunt.

XXI. In the same gulf is the island of Tyros [now Bahrein, cf. VI. 148]… On a more elevated plateau in the same island there are tree [cotton-trees] that bear wool, but in a different manner to those [serica, silk] of the Chinese, as the leaves of these trees have no growth on them, and might be thought to be vine-leaves were it not that they are smaller; but they bear gourds of the size of a quince, which when they ripen burst open and disclose balls of down from which an expensive linen for clothing is made.

XXII. Their name for this tree is the gossypinus; it also grows in greater abundance on the smaller island of Tyros, which is ten miles distant from the other. Juba says that this shrub has a woolly down growing round it, the fabric made from which is superior to the linen of India. He also says that there is an Arabian tree called the cynas [prhaps Bombas ceiba] from which cloth is made, which has foliage resembling a palm-leaf.

Gossampines de Tyle

Voiez Pline, l. 12 chap. 10 & 11.

Goſſampines de Tyle

Isle du Golfe Persique, où l’arbre qui porte le coton, croît en abondance.

Tyle

[Addendum to Le Duchat] — Les cotonniers de Tylos, île du golfe Persique ou de la mer des Indes, selon Pline, qui dit qu’elle produit des arbres qui portent de la laine, c’est-à-dire du coton : Ejusdem insulœ excelsiore suggestu lanigerœ arbores alio modo quam Serum … Arbores vocant Gossampinos … Sic Indos suœ arbores vestiunt.

gossampines

Colonniers.

Tylos

Tylos, île d’Arabie, dont parle Théophraste (H.P., l. IV, ch 9). — «Tylos insula in eodem sinu [Persico] est… ejusdem insulæ excelsiore suggestu lanigeræ arbores alio modo quam Serum… Ferunt cotonei mali amplitudine cucurbitas, quæ maturitate ruptæ ostendunt laanuginis pilas ex quibus vestes pretioso linteo faciunt. Arbores vocant gossympinos.» (Pline, XII, 21.) Lémery a cru retrouver dans le Gossampinus Plinii, le Fromager (Bombax ceyba, L.). Mais la brièveté des fibres du duvet de son fruit (Kapok) l’a rendu (sauf depuis ces derniers temps) impropre à tout usage textile. Mieux vaunt y voir un cotonnier soit Gossypium arboreum, L., avec Fée, soit plutôt, avec de Candolle, G. herbaceum, L. (Paul Delaunay)

arbres lanificques, gossampines, cynes, les vignes de Malthe

Il s’agit de la soie et du coton (Pline, XII, 21 et 22). Les gossampines (gossypion) sont assimilées au lin par Pline, XIX, 2. Le coton de Malthe était très réputé dans l’Antiquité, d’où la « Linigera Melite » de Scyllius, cité par Textor, Officina, lxxvi v. Cf Polydore Vergile, De Inventoribus rerum, III,vi ; Servius, Comment. in Georg., II, 121 (voir plus bas, LII, 146, note).

Tyle

Île d’Arabie (Pline, XII, xxi, qui assimile les gossampines au lin).

gossamer

gossamer. Forms: gosesomer(e, gossom(m)er, gossomyre, gossummer, gossamour, gosimore, gossamire, -ore, gossem-, -im-, -ymear(e, -e(e)re, gothsemay, -imere, gossamere, gossimer, (gosshemere, garsummer), gossamer. [ME. gos(e)somer(e, app. formed on goose sb. + summer sb. Cf. the synonymous English dial. summer-goose (Craven), summer-colt, German mädchensommer (lit. `girls’ summer’), altweibersommer (`old women’s summer’); also German sommerfäden, Dutch zomerdraden, Swedish sommartraåd, all literally `summer thread’. The reason for the appellation is somewhat obscure. It is usually assumed that goose in this compound refers to the `downy’ appearance of gossamer. But it is to be noted that German mädchen-, altweibersommer mean not only `gossamer’, but also a summer-like period in late autumn, a St. Martin’s summer; that the obsolete Scotch go-summer had the latter meaning; and that it is in the warm periods of autumn that gossamer is chiefly observed. These considerations suggest the possibility that the word may primarily have denoted a `St. Martin’s summer’ (the time when geese were supposed to be in season: compare German Gänsemonat `geese-month’, November), and have been hence transferred to the characteristic phenomenon of the period. On this view summer-goose (which by etymologizing perversion appears also as summer-gauze) would be a transposition.]

A fine filmy substance, consisting of cobwebs, spun by small spiders, which is seen floating in the air in calm weather, esp. in autumn, or spread over a grassy surface: occasionally, a thread or web of gossamer.

Transferred sense and figurative. Applied to something light and flimsy as gossamer.

gossampine

gossampine. Obsolete. Also corruptly gossanpine, gassampine, grassapine. [adopted from French gossampin the shrub Bombax pentandrum, which yields a substance similar to cotton, adaptation of Latin gossympinus (also gossypion). Cf. also Italian gossipina (Florio) cloth made of this cotton.]

The shrub Bombax pentandrum. The cotton-like fibre produced from it. A kind of cloth made of this fibre.

Notes

Isiac water ceremony

White-robed priests of Isis perform a water ritual as chanting devotees line the steps of the goddess’s temple in this wall painting from Herculaneum.

Isiacques

Les Prêtres d’Isis.

Isiacs

Plutarch, Is. et Osir. Cf. i. Prol n. 5.

isiacques

Prêtres d’Isis. Ils étaient, en réalité, d’après Plutarque, De Iside et Osiride, revêtus de lin. (Paul Delaunay)

Isiacques

Liniger (portant lin) était le surnom d’Isis et de ses prêtres, les Isiaci. Cf. Ovide, Métam. I. 747 « Nunc dea linigera colitur celeberriam turba ». Cf. Pline, XIX, 2.

prêtes d’Isis

Nunc dea linigera colitur celeberrima turba.

Now, with fullest service, she [Io] is worshipped as a goddess by the linen-robed throng.

Isiacques

Prêtes d’Isis, revêtus de lin

Isiacques and Pastaphores

Les prêtes d’Isis étaient vêtus de lin; Juvénal, Satires, VI, 532, les appelle «grex liniger»; voir aussi Ovide, Métamorphoses, I, 767. Les pastophores portaient dans les châsses les images des dieux : ils représent les prêtes, revêtus de l’aube.

Isiac

Isiac [adaptation of Latin isiac-us, adopted from Greek isiakoj, formed on Isis: see below.]

Of or relating to Isis, the principal goddess of ancient Egyptian mythology. A priest or worshipper of Isis.

Notes

Nenufar

Nymphea

Papaver

Nymphaea

Plate caption: Nymphaea candida Weiss Seeblumen
Taxon: Nymphaea alba L.
Ancient Greek: numfaia
Modern English: white water lily

nymphea Heraclia

Nymphaea nata traditur nympha zelotypia erga Herculem mortua—quare heracleon vocant aliqui, alii rhopalon a radice clavae simili—ideoque eos qui biberint eam xii diebus coitu genituraque privari. laudatissima in Orchomenia et Marathone. Boeoti mallon vocant et semen edunt. nascitur in aquosis, foliis magnis in summa aqua et aliis ex radice, flore lilio simili et, cum defloruit, capite papaveris, levi caule. secatur autumno radix nigra, in sole siccatur. adversatur lieni. est et alia nymphaea in Thessalia, amne Penio, radice alba, capite luteo, rosae magnitudine.

According to tradition nymphaea was born of a nymph who died of jealousy about Hercules—for this reason some call it heracleon, others rhopalon because its root is like a club—and therefore those who have taken it in drink for twelve days are incapable of intercourse and procreation. The most valued kind grows in the district of Orchomenos and at Marathon. The Boeotians call it mallon, and eat the seed. It grows in watery places, with large leaves on the top of the water and others growing out of the root; the flowers are like the lily, and when the blossom is finished a head forms like that of the poppy; the stem is smooth.d In autumn is cut the root, which is dark, and is dried in the sun. It reduces the spleen. There is another kind of nymphaea growing in the River Penius [the Penius is a river of Colchis: the Thessalian river is the Peneus. Probably the mistake is Pliny’s, but one MS. (d) reads Peneo] in Thessaly. It has a white root, and a yellow head of the size of a rose.

nenuphar

Venerem in totum adimit, ut diximus, nymphaea Heraclia, eadem semel pota in XL dies, insomnia quoque veneris a ieiuno pota et in cibo sumpta. inlita quoque radix genitalibus inhibet non solum venerem sed et affluentiam geniturae. ob id corpus alere vocemque dicitur. adpetentiam veneris facit radix e xiphio superior data potui1 in vino, item quam cremnon agrion appellant, ormenos agrios cum polenta contritus.

Nymphaea heraclia, as I have said, takes away altogether sexual desire; a single draught of it does so for forty days; sexual dreams too are prevented if it is taken in drink on an empty stomach and eaten with food. Applied to the genitals the root also checks not only desire but also excessive accumulation of semen. For this reason it is said to make flesh and to improve the voice. Sexual desire is excited by the upper part of xiphium root given in wine as a draught; also by the plant called cremnos agrios and by ormenos agrios crushed with pearl barley.

nymphea Heraclia

Plantes réfrigératives ordonnées aux moines pour amortir les feux de concupiscence.

nymphæ heraclia

Nymphea heraclia, allusion mythologique: «Nymphæa nata traditur nympha zelotypia erga Herulem mortua,» Pline, XXV, 37. Pline décrit deux espèces de ce dernier: celui dont la fleur est semblable au lis, notre Nymphea alba, L., et celui à fleur jaune qui est probablement notre Nufar luteum, Sm. En disant nénufar et nymphæa, Rableais entend-il marquer qu’il fait la diffférence des deux espèces? Pline mentionne déjà (XXV, 37) les vertus antiaphrodisiaques de la racine de nénufar: «Eos qui biberint eam duodecim diebus coitu geniturâque privari». (Paul Delaunay)

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).

Nymphœa Heraclia

Vraisemblablement, deux variétés de nénuphars; leurs vertus antiaphrodisiaques sont une occasion d’attaquer la paillardise des moines; cf. aussi la la semence de saule recommandée aux nonnains.

heracleum

heracleum. [modern Latin (C. Linnæus Systema Naturæ 1735), formed on Greek Herakleia, the plant named after Heracles.]

A plant of a genus of large herbs of this name, belonging to the family Umbelliferæ and native to northern temperate regions; cow-parsnip or hogweed.

nymphea

nymphæa. Also nymphea. [Latin, adaptation of Greek numfaia, fem. of numfaioj sacred to the nymphs. So French nymphæa, nymphéa.]

The common white or yellow water-lily; a genus of aquatic plants including these and other species.

Notes

helxine

Helxine Tag und nacht
Taxon: Parietaria officinalis L.
Ancient Greek: elxine
English: pellitory-of-the-wall
French: parietaire officinale
German: Glaskraut

helxine

Helxinen aliqui perdicium vocant, quoniam perdices ea praecipue vescantur, alii sideritem, nonnulli parthenium. folia habet mixtae similitudinis plantagini et marruvio, cauliculos densos, leviter rubentes, semina in capitibus lappaceis adhaerescentia vestibus, unde et helxinen dictam volunt. sed nos qualis vera esset helxine diximus priore libro. haec autem inficit lanas, sanat ignes sacros et tumores collectionesque omnes et adusta, panos; sucus eius cum psimithio et guttura incipientia turgescere, item veterem tussim cyatho hausto et omnia in umido, sicut tonsillas, et aures cum rosaceo. inponitur et podagris cum caprino sebo ceraque Cypria.

Helxine, called by some perdicium [Polygonum maritimum] (partridge plant) because partridges are particularly fond of eating it, by others sideritis, and by a few people parthenium, has leaves that resemble partly those of the plantain and partly those of horehound, stalks small, close together and reddish in colour, and, in bur-shaped heads, seeds that cling to the clothes. Hence is derived, some hold, the name helxine [I.e., from the Greek ἕλκω]. The characteristics, however, of the genuine helxine I have described in the preceding book, but this helxine dyes wool, cures erysipelas, every kind of tumour or boil, burns and superficial abscesses. Its juice with white-lead cures also incipient swelling of the throat, and a draught of a cyathus cures chronic cough and all complaints in moist parts, like the tonsils; with rose oil it is good for the ears. It is also applied, with goat suet and Cyprian wax, to gouty limbs

helxine

Carduus et folia et caules spinosae lanuginis habet, item acorna, leucacanthos, chalceos, cnecos, potyacanthos, onopyxos, helxine, scolymos. chamaeleon in foliis non habet aculeos. est et illa differentia quod quaedam in his multicaulia ramosaque sunt, ut carduus, uno autem caule nec ramosum cnecos. quaedam cacumine tantum spinosa sunt, ut erynge. quaedam aestate florent, ut tetralix et helxine. scolymos quoque sero floret et diu. acorna1 colore tantum rufo distinguitur et pinguiore suco. idem erat atractylis quoque, nisi candidior esset et nisi sanguineum sucum funderet, qua de causa phonos vocatur a quibusdam, odore etiam gravis, sero maturescente semine nec ante autumnum, quamquam id de omnibus spinosis dici potest. verum omnia haec et semine et radice nasci possunt. scolymus carduorum generis ab his distat quod radix eius vescendo est decocta. mirum quod sine intervallo tota aestate aliud floret in eo genere, aliud concipit, aliud parturit. aculei arescente folio desinunt pungere. helxine rara visu est neque in omnibus terris, a radice foliosa, ex qua media veluti malum extuberat contectum sua fronde. huius summus lacrimam continet iucundi saporis acanthicen masticen appellatam.

The thistle has both leaf and stem covered by a prickly down, and so have acorna, leucacanthos, chalceos, cnecos, polyacanthos, onopyxos, helxine, scolymos. The chamaeleon has no prickles on its leaves. There is however this difference also, that some of these plants have many stems and branches, the thistle for instance, while the cnecos has one stem and no branches. Some are prickly only at the head, the erynge for instance; some, like tetralix and helxine, blossom in summer. Scolymos too blossoms late and long. The acorna is distinguished (from cnecos) only by its reddish colour and richer juice. Atractylis too would be just the same, were it not whiter and did it not shed a bloodlike juice that has caused some to call it phonos; it also has a bad smell, and its seed ripens late—in fact not before autumn, though this can be said of all prickly plants. All of these however can be reproduced either from seed or from the root. Scolymus, one of the thistle group, differs from these in that its root is edible when boiled. It is a strange thing that in this group, without intermission throughout the whole summer, part blossoms, part buds, and part produces seed. As the leaves dry the prickles cease to sting. Helxine is not often seen, and not in all countries; it shoots out leaves from its root, out of the middle of which swells up as it were an apple, covered with foliage of its own. The top of its head contains a gum of pleasant flavour, called thorn mastich.

Helxine

Pliny xxii. 17, § 19.

helxine

Helxine, de ἕχω, j’attire, allusion à la rudesse des graines qui s’attachent aux passants. Pline décrit sous le nom d’Helxine (XXI, 56), notre Acarna gummifera, Willd., à feuilles épineuses, — et ailleurs (XXII, 19), sous le même nom, une autre plante: «Semina in capitibus lappaceis adhærentia vestibus, unde et helxinem dictam volunt.» Ce cerait notre Pariétaire, Parietaria officinalis, L. Urticacée qui, dit O. de Serres, «croist sur les murailles sans nul soin… on l’appelle aussi… helxine parce qu’elle a rude semence, s’attachant aux habits.» (Théâtre d’Agriculture, Rouen, 1663, p. 569). Le Seigneur de Pradel a copié Pline sans contrôle: les achaines de la pariétaire sont lisses, luisante; seules les feuilles , rude et velues, pourraient s’agripper à qui les frôle.
L’έλξίνη de Galien (De simpl. med., fac. VI) et Dioscoride (IV, 39) répond soit à Polygonum dumetorum, L., soit a Convolvulus arvensis, L., soit selon Sibthorpe, à Antirrhinum ægyptiacum, L.

helxine

thus helxine (pellitory) from the Greek :to cling,” because its seeds stick to anyone going near it…

Les aultres de leurs formes

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

Helxine

De ἒλχω, «tirer» (Pline, XXI, lvi).

helxine

helxine. [modern Latin (E. Requien 1825, in Annales des Sciences Naturelles V. 384), formed on Greek elcinh pellitory, a related plant.]

Soleirolia soleirolii, a creeping, perennial herb of the family Urticaceæ, native to Corsica and Sardinia, formerly called by the generic name Helxine.