Notes

Euforbium

Euforbium (text)

Euphorbia

tithymalus cyparissias
Euphorbia cyparissias L.
Cypres spurge

Euphorbia

Spurge. Pliny xxv. 7, § 38.

euphorbia

« Invenit et partum nostrorum ætate rex Juba, quam appellavit euphorbiam, medici sui nomine ». Pline, XXV, 38. C’est Euphorbia (Diacanthium) officinarum, L. (Paul Delaunay)

euphorbia

Invenit et patrum nostrorum aetate rex Iuba quam appellavit euphorbeam medici sui nomine. frater is fuit Musae a quo divum Augustum conservatum indicavimus. iidem fratres instituere a balineis frigida multa corpora adstringere. antea non erat mos nisi calida tantum lavari, sicut apud Homerum etiam invenimus. sed Iubae volumen quoque extat de ea herba et clarum praeconium. invenit eam in monte Atlante, specie thyrsi, foliis acanthinis. vis tanta est ut e longinquo sucus excipiatur incisa conto; subitur excipulis ventriculo haedino. umor lactis videtur defluens siccatus cum coiit, turis effigiem habet. qui colligunt clarius vident. contra serpentes medetur, quacumque parte percussa vertice inciso et medicamento addito ibi. Gaetuli qui legunt taedio lacte adulterant, sed discernitur igni, id enim quod sincerum non est fastidiendum odorem habet. multum infra hunc sucum est qui in Gallia fit ex herba chamelaea granum cocci ferente. fractus hammoniaco similis est, etiam levi gustu os accensum diu detinens et magis ex intervallo, donec fauces quoque siccet.

In the age too of our fathers King Juba [Juba is probably the son of the Juba who committed suicide after Thapsus. He was brought to Rome by Caesar and carefully educated] discovered a plant to which he gave the name euphorbea, calling it after his own physician Euphorbus. This man was the brother of the Musa we have mentioned as the saviour of the life of the late Emperor Augustus. It was these brothers who first adopted the plan of bracing the body by copious douches of cold water after the bath. Before this the custom was to bathe in hot water only, as we find that it is also in Homer. But the treatise also of Juba on this plant is still extant, and it makes a splendid testimonial. He discovered it on Mount Atlas: it has the appearance of a thyrsus and the leaves of the acanthus. Its potency is so great that the juice, obtained by incision with a pole, is gathered from a distance; it is caught in receivers made of kids’ stomachs placed underneath. Fluid and like milk as it drops down, when it has dried and congealed it has all the features of frankincense. The collectors find their vision improved. It is employed as treatment for snake-bite. In whatever part of the body the bite may be, an incision is made in the top of the skull and the medicament inserted there. The Gaetulians who gather the juice adulterate it out of weary disgust by adding milk, but fire is a test of genuineness, for that which is adulterated emits a nauseating smell. Far inferior to the Atlas juice is that which in Gaul comes from the ground-olive, which bears a red berry like kermes. Broken it resembles hammoniacum, and even a slight taste leaves for a long time a burning sensation in the mouth; after a while this increases until it dries up even the throat.

euphorbia

euphorbia (which furnish castor oil and croton oil) named for Euphorbus, Greek physician to King Juba of Numidia, in the days of the Cæsars.

Juba

Roi de Numidie (Pline, xxv, xxxviii).

Euphorbus the physician

Euphorbus was the Greek physician of Juba II (50 BC – AD 23), king of Numidia. He wrote that a succulent plant, similar to the Euphorbia, was a powerful laxative. In 12 BC, Juba named this plant after his physician Euphorbus in response to Augustus dedicating a statue to Antonius Musa, Augustus’s own personal physician and Euphorbus’ brother.

euphorbium

Euphorbium. Also euf-, eufforbium. [adopted from Latin euphorbeum = euphorbea.]

=Euphorbia. Obsolete

A gum resin obtained from certain succulent species of Euphorbia. It is an extremely acrid substance, formerly used as an emetic and purgative. The powder causes violent sneezing.

Euphorbia

Euphorbia. Also euforbia. [adopted from Latin euphorbea, formed on Euphorbus, the name of a physician to Juba king of Mauritania.]

The Latin and botanical name of the Spurge genus (N.O. Euphorbiaceæ), comprising many species, which vary from a herbaceous plant in temperate regions, to a tree-like growth in warm climates. They are marked by two almost constant characteristics, the secretion of a viscid milky juice, and the peculiar inflorescence of having a number of stamens round a stalked and three-celled ovary.

juba

juba [Latin juba mane, foliage of trees]

Notes

Ebanus

Ebanus (text)

Toutes les arbres lanificques des Seres,

116. divisae arboribus patriae. sola India nigrum
fert hebenum, solis est turea virga Sabaeis.
quid tibi odorato referam sudantia ligno
balsamaque et bacas semper frondentis acanthi?
quid nemora Aethiopum molli canentia lana,
velleraque ut foliis depectant tenuia Seres?

trees have their allotted climes. India alone bears black ebony; to the Sabaeans alone belongs the frankincense bough. Why should I tell you of the balsams that drip from the fragrant wood, or of the pods of the ever blooming acanthus? Why tell of the Ethiopian groves, all white with downy wool [molli lana, i.e. cotton], or how the Seres comb from leaves their fine fleeces [In Virgil’s time the Romans, knowing nothing of the silkworm, supposed that the silk they imported from the East grew on the leaves of trees] ?

ebony

Ezekiel 27 King James Version (KJV)
27 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty.
5 They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee.
6 Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim.
7 Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee.
8 The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots.
9 The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise.
10 They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness.
11 The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect.
12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.
13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
14 They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules.
15 The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony.
16 Syria was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of the wares of thy making: they occupied in thy fairs with emeralds, purple, and broidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and agate.
17 Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants: they traded in thy market wheat of Minnith, and Pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm.
18 Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool.
19 Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market.
20 Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots.
21 Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.
23 Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
24 These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
25 The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas.
26 Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
27 Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.
28 The suburbs shall shake at the sound of the cry of thy pilots.
29 And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships, they shall stand upon the land;
30 And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:
31 And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart and bitter wailing.
32 And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in the midst of the sea?
33 When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise.
34 In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.
35 All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their countenance.
36 The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt be any more.

Ebony

Lanigeras Serum in mentione gentis eius narravimus, item Indiae arborum magnitudinem. unam e peculiaribus Indiae Vergilius celebravit hebenum, nusquam alibi nasci professus. Herodotus eam Aethiopiae intellegi maluit, in tributi vicem regibus Persidis e materia eius centenas phalangas tertio quoque anno pensitasse Aethiopas cum auro et ebore prodendo. non omittendum id quoque, vicenos dentes elephantorum grandes, quoniam ita significavit, Aethiopas ea de causa pendere solitos. tanta ebori auctoritas erat urbis nostrae cccx anno: tunc enim auctor ille historiam eam condidit Thuriis in Italia, quo magis mirum est quod eidem credimus, qui Padum amnem vidisset neminem ad id tempus Asiae Graeciaeque visum. cognita Aethiopiae forma, ut diximus, nuper allata Neroni principi raram arborem Meroen usque a Syene fine imperii per DCCCCLXXXXVI p. nullamque nisi palmarum generis esse docuit. ideo fortassis in tributi auctoritate tertia res fuerit hebenus.
IX. Romae eam Magnus Pompeius triumpho Mithridatico ostendit. accendi Fabianus negat, uri tamen odore iucundo. duo genera eius: rarum id quod melius, arboreum, tereti et enodi materie nigri splendoris ac vel sine arte protinus iucundi, alterum fruticosum cytisi modo et tota India dispersum.

We have already described the wool-bearing trees of the Chinese in making mention of that race, and we have spoken of the large size of the trees in India. One of those peculiar to India, the ebony, is spoken of in glowing terms by Virgil, [Georgics II. 116 f.] who states that it does not grow in any other country. Herodotus, [Herodotus says 200 logs, III. 97. The term ‘ebony’ was and still is applied to many different hard woods imported into European countries] however, prefers it to be ascribed to Ethiopia, stating that the Ethiopians used to pay as tribute to the Kings of Persia every three years a hundred logs of ebony, together with gold and ivory. Nor also should we omit the fact, since that author indicates it, that the Ethiopians used to pay twenty large elephant tusks on the same account. So high was the esteem in which ivory was held in the 310th year [446 BC; but Thurii, where Herodotus settled to escape from political disorders at Halicarnassus, his native city, was not colonized by Greek settlers till 443 b.c. Hdt. III. 115] of our city, the date at which that author composed his history at Thurii in Italy; which makes all the more surprising the statement which we accept on his authority, that nobody of Asia or Greece had hitherto been seen who had ever seen the river Po. The exploration of the geography of Ethiopia, which as we have said had lately been reported to the Emperor Nero, showed that over a space of 1,996 miles from Syene on the frontier of the empire to Meroe trees are rare, and there are none except of the palm species. That is possibly the reason why ebony was the third most important item in the tribute paid.
IX. Ebony was exhibited at Rome by Pompey the Great on the occasion of his triumph over Mithridates. According to Fabius ebony does not give out a flame, yet burns with an agreeable scent. It is of two kinds: the better one, which grows as a tree, is rare—it is of a smooth substance and free from knots, and of a shiny black colour that is pleasing to the eye even in the natural state without the aid of art; whereas the other grows as a shrub like the cytisus, and is spread over the whole of India.

ebene

Bois fourni par diverses Ébénacées, surtour Diospyros ebenum, L., plaqueminier. (Paul Delaunay)

ebony

ebony. Forms: hebenyf, hebeny, ebonie, ebany, ebeny, ibony, ebony. [Of somewhat obscure formation: ME. hebenyf is app. adaptation of Latin hebeninus (? misread as hebeniuus), adaptation of Greek ebeninoj made of ebony, formed on hebenus ebony.]

A hard black wood, obtained from various species of the N.O. Ebenaceæ, especially that mentioned under ebon, and Diospyros Melanoxylon, a native of Coromandel.

Notes

Druid

Druid. Also Druide, Druyd. [adopted from French druide (1512 in Hatzfeld and Darmesteter, Dictionnaire général de la langue française), adaptation of Latin *druida, ? druis, found only in pleural, druidæ, druides, in Greek druidai; adopted from Old Celtic dental-stem druid-, whence Old Irish drui, magician, sorcerer, Welsh dryw (also derwydd, perhaps not the same word). As to the ulterior etymology, see Holder, Alt.-Celt. Sprachschatz]

One of an order of men among the ancient Celts of Gaul and Britain, who, according to Cæsar were priests or religious ministers and teachers, but who figure in native Irish and Welsh legend as magicians, sorcerers, soothsayers, and the like. (The English use follows the Latin sources, whence it was derived, rather than native Celtic usage.) In early use always in plural.

Electra

Mélange d’or et d’argent.

electre

Le mot electrum (ἤλεχτρον des Anciens) désignait: 1° l’ambre jaune ou succin (Pline, XXXVII, 2); 2° un alliage de 4/5 d’or et 1/5 d’argent. (Pline XXXIII, 23). On donna depuis à ce dernier le nom de bas or, or blanc, or d’Allemagne (Du Pinet.) «Cum quinta argenti portio additur ad aurum, eam misturam electrum facticium possumus nominare» (Agricola, De nat. foss., l. VIII). Voir aussi sur l’Electrum ou asèm, alliage naturel d’or et d’argent, Barthelot, Introd. à l’étude de la chimie des anciens de tu moten âge, Paris Steinheil, 1889. (Paul Delaunay)

amber

amber. Forms: ambra, aumber, -ur, ambyr, ambre, awmer, amber. [adopted from French ambre, cognate with Provençal ambre, adopted from Arabic ayin.anbar, `ambergris,’ to which the name originally belonged; afterwards extended, through some confusion of the substances, to the fossil resin `amber.’ In French the two are distinguished as grey, and yellow amber, ambre gris (`ambre proprement dit’), and ambre jaune (succin); in modern English as amber-gris and amber.]

A product of the whale. Originally = ambergris. (In 17th century greece of amber, gris ambre, gray amber.) Obsolete

white amber (medieval Latin ambra alba): Spermaceti. [Confused with preceding, as the `sperm’ of a whale.] Obsolete
[Cf. 1598-1611 Florio, Ambra, amber, also amber greece, also the sperme of a Whale called Spermaceti. 1611 Randle Cotgrave, A dictionarie of the French and English tongues, Ambre blanc, white Amber.]

The resin.

A yellowish translucent fossil resin, found chiefly along the southern shores of the Baltic. It is used for ornaments; burns with an agreeable odour; often entombs the bodies of insects, etc.; and when rubbed becomes notably electric (so called from its Greek name hlektron). (See also lamber.)

ivory

ivory. Forms: iuor, yuor(e, -ere, iueer, iuoere, euor, yvoyre, yuer, euour, iv-, yvor(e, iuyr, iwr, yvoire, evour(e, evor(e, euir, euoir; ebure. [adopted from Old French yvoire (13th century), Norman French ivurie (12th century), iviere, yvyere (15th century), modern French ivoire: -Latin eboreus adj., from ebur, ebor– ivory: compare Coptic ebu ivory, Sanskrit ibhas elephant. The form ebure in Lyndesay is refashioned after the Latin.]

The hard, white, elastic, and fine-grained substance (being dentine of exceptional hardness) composing the main part of the tusks of the elephant, mammoth (fossil ivory), hippopotamus, walrus, and narwhal; it forms a very valuable article of commerce, being extensively employed as a material for many articles of use or ornament.

porphyry

porphyry. Forms: porfurie, -’urye, -forie, -phurye, -phiri(e, -firie. purfire, -fere, -fure; -phure, porphier, -phuer, -phir, -phyre, -phere, puphire, porphyr. porpherie, -phury, -phyrie, prophyry, purphorie, porphiry, porphyry. [The ultimate source of the word in all its forms is Greek porfuroj purple, porfura the purple-whelk, and its dye; but the stone was called in Greek porfurithj, Latin porphyrites, whence porphyrite. The Romantic names of the stone point however to late Latin forms *porphyrius, *porphyrus, purple (stone), or *porphyrium, *porphyrum: compare Romaic porfuron.]

The word used to render Latin porphyrites, Greek porfurithj, the name given to a beautiful and very hard rock anciently quarried in Egypt, composed of crystals of white or red plagioclase felspar embedded in a fine red ground-mass consisting of hornblende, plagioclase, apatite, thulite, and withamite, the last two being bright red in colour. By modern poets often used vaguely, in the sense of a beautiful and valuable purple stone taking a high polish, including red granite and marble. The site of the ancient quarries, after being long lost, was discovered by Burton and Wilkinson at Gebel Dokhan, near the Red Sea.

Notes

Delphinium

Dioscor. iii. 84.

delphinium

Δελφίνιον (Dioscoride, III, 84) de δελφιζ, dauphin, allusion à la forme du sépal supérieur. Delphinium Ajacis, L., du Midi, or D. consolida, L., vulg. pied d’alouette?

delphinium

delphinium

delphinium

delphinium. [Latin Delphinium, adopted from Greek delfinion larkspur (Dioscorides), diminutive of delfin dolphin (so named from the form of the nectary).]

A genus of plants, N.O. Ranunculaceæ, with handsome flowers of irregular form, comprising the common larkspur and many other species. The name is in ordinary horticultural use for the cultivated species and varieties.

Notes

Eryngium campestre L.

Eryngium campestre L.
Eryngium
Mansstrew

Eryngion

Pliny xxii. 7, § 8.

Eryngion

Clara in primis aculeatarum erynge est sive eryngion contra serpentes et venena omnia nascens. adversus ictus morsusque radix eius bibitur drachmae pondere in vino aut, si plerumque tales iniurias comitetur et febris, ex aqua. inlinitur plagis, peculiariter efficax contra chersydros ac ranas. vero omnibus contra toxica et aconita efficaciorem Heraclides medicus in iure anseris decoctam arbitratur. Apollodorus adversus toxica cum rana decoquit, ceteri in aqua. ipsa dura, fruticosa, spinosis foliis, caule geniculato, cubitali et maiore aliquando, alia albicans, alia nigra, radice odorata; et sativa quidem est, sed sponte nascitur in asperis et saxosis et in litoribus maris durior nigriorque, folio apii.

Especially famous among spinous plants is the erynge, or eryngion, that grows to counteract snake bites and all poisons. For stings and bites its root in doses of one drachma is taken in wine, or in water if (as usually happens) such injuries are also accompanied by fever. It is applied to the wounds, being a specific for those caused by amphibious snakes and frogs. Heraclides the physician is of opinion that boiled in goose broth it is more efficacious than any other remedy for aconite and other poisoning. Apollodorus would boil it with a frog for poisoning, the other authorities say in water only. The plant itself is hardy [Or “hard,” “tough.” The adjective durus has both meanings, and so much ambiguity is caused in a botanical context], bushy, with prickly leaves and jointed stem, a cubit high or occasionally taller, partly palish in colour, partly dark, and with a fragrant root. While it is a cultivated plant it also grows wild on rough, stony ground and on the sea shore, when it is more hardy and darker, with a leaf like that of celery.

eryngion

Eryngium, ἠρυγγιον, de ἤρυγγοζ, barbe de bouc ou de chèvre, allusion à l’aspect barbelé de la jeune pousse. — «Erynge… sive eryngion, contra serpentes et venena omnia nascent», dit Pline, XXII, 8, qui en décrit trois espèces: le blanc, notre E. campestre, L.; le noir, E. cyaneum, Sibth.; le maritime, E. maritimum, L.

eryngium

thus eryngium (or by Hellenic derivation, goat’s bear) which includes sea-holly…

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?

Eryngion

De ἤφνγγυζ, «barbe de bouc» (Pline, XXII, viii).

par les admirables qualitez

Puisés aux mêmes sources, tour ces détails sont clairs. Comme dans la liste précédente, Rabelais termine par des exemples qu’il n’explicite pas. Hieraca, plur. de hieracion, vient de Pline, XX, 7: cette plante passe pour bénéfique aux yeux de l’épervier (dit hierax en grec). L’érynge (eryngion) passe pour exciter à l’amour (Pline, XXII, 8; Manardi, Epistolae medicinales, XII, 4): s’est -on appliqué à y retrouver eros?

eryngium

eryngium. [modern Latin, formed on Latin eryngion, adopted from Greek hruggion.]

A hardy herbaceous perennial plant of the genus so called, belonging to the family Umbelliferæ, and bearing blue or white flowers.

eryngo [Immediate source uncertain: perhaps a corrupt adoption of Ital. or Spanish eringio, adaptation of Latin eryngion, adopted from Greek hruggion, diminutive of hruggoj the name of this plant, also a goat’s beard.]

The candied root of the Sea Holly (Eryngium maritimum), formerly used as a sweetmeat, and regarded as an aphrodisiac. Obsolete b In later use, the plant itself, or any other of the same genus. (In this sense the Latin eryngium was used by earlier writers.)

Notes

Carpasium

Pamphylium mare ignobilis insulas habet, Cilicium ex quinque maximis Cyprum ad ortum occasumque Ciliciae ac Syriae obiectam, quondam novem regnorum sedem. huius circuitum Timosthenes ccccxxvii d p. prodidit, Isidorusccclxxv longitudinem inter duo promunturia, Clidas et Acamanta, quod est ab occasu, Artemidorus clxii d, Timosthenes c͞c͞. vocatam antea Acamantida Philonides, Cerastim Xenagoras et Aspeliam et Amathusiam et Macariam, Astynomus Crypton et Colinian. oppida in ea xv, Neapaphos, Palaepaphos, Curias, Citium, Corinaeum, Salamis, Amathus, Lapethos, Soloe, Tamasos, Epidaurum, Chytri, Arsinoe, Carpasium, Golgoe; fuere et Cinyria, Mareum, Idalium.

The Cilician Sea has five of considerable size, among them Cyprus, which lies east and west off the coasts of Cilicia and Syria; it was formerly the seat of nine kingdoms. Its circumference is given by Timosthenes as measuring 427½ miles and by Isidore as 375 miles. Its length between the two capes of Clidae and Acamas, the latter at its west end, is given by Artemidorus as 162½ and by Timosthenes as 200 miles. According to Philonides it was previously called Acamantis, according to Xenagoras Cerastis and Aspelia and Amathusia and Macaria, and according to Astynomus Cryptos and Colinias. It contains 15 towns, New and Old Paphos, Curias, Citium, Corinaeum, Salamis, Amathus, Lapethos, Soloe, Tamasos, Epidaurus, Chytri, Arsinoe, Carpasium and Golgoe; and formerly there were also Cinyria, Mareum and Idalium.

Carpasian flax

Both the city [Athens] and the whole of the land are alike sacred to Athena; for even those who in their parishes have an established worship of other gods nevertheless hold Athena in honour. But the most holy symbol, that was so considered by all many years before the unification of the parishes, is the image of Athena which is on what is now called the Acropolis, but in early days the Polis (City). A legend concerning it says that it fell from heaven; whether this is true or not I shall not discuss. A golden lamp for the goddess was made by Callimachus [fl. 400 BC ?]. Having filled the lamp with oil, they wait until the same day next year, and the oil is sufficient for the lamp during the interval, although it is alight both day and night. The wick in it is of Carpasian flax [probably asbestos], the only kind of flax which is fire-proof, and a bronze palm above the lamp reaches to the roof and draws off the smoke. The Callimachus who made the lamp, although not of the first rank of artists, was yet of unparalleled cleverness, so that he was the first to drill holes through stones, and gave himself the title of Refiner of Art, or perhaps others gave the title and he adopted it as his.

Carpasie

Ville de Chypre

Foison en Carpasie

Voiez les Attiques de Pausanias.

Carpasia

See Pausanias’ Attics [?]

Carpasie

Voyez les Attiques de Pausanias. (L.) — Carpasium dans Pline, Carpasia dans Étienne le géographe, est une ville de l’île de Chypre, et une île de la Cilicie. Ce nom vient du latin carbasus, lin fort fin, voile de fin lin, carbasa, voile de navire. Aussi l’île de Carpasie offroit, du temps des Grecs et des Romains, un lieu de refraîchissement et un port ouvert à toutes les nations, qui venoient s’y ravitailler, et s’y fournir sur-tout de voiles et de cordages. Voyez La Martinière, au mot Carpasie ou Carbasie. « La plus vénérable de toutes les statues de Minerve, dit Pausanias, liv. I, chap. XXVI, est celle qui fut consacrée dans le quartier de la citadelle d’Athène. La renommée a publie que cette statue étoit tombée du ciel. On emplit d’huile, au commencement de chaque année, la lampe d’or qui brûle devant la déesse, sans qu’il soit besoin d’y toucher davantage, quoiqu’elle soit allumée jour et nuit : cela vient de ce que la mèche de cette lampe set faite de lin de Carpasie, le seul que le feu ne consume point. »

Carpasia

Carpasium (cf. v. 41) is a town in Cyprus (Pliny N.H. v. 31, § 35). [greek] , of which an unconsumable wick of a lamp was made, is mentioned in Pausanias, i. 26, § 7.

Carpasie

Carpasium, ville de Chypre. (Pline, V, 31.)

asbeston

Du grec ἄσδεστον, incombustible. Il n’y a aucune autre analogie que celle des possibilités textiles entre le chanvre et l’asbeste que Rabelais nomme pantagruelion asbestin. Confusion déjà commise par Pline, qui considère l’asbeste comme un var. incombustible du lin: «Inventum jam est etiam [linum] quod ignibus non absumeretur… Nascitur in desertis adustique sole Indiæ ubi non cadunt imbres… vocatur autem a Græcis asbestinum». Pline, XIX, 4. L’asbeste, ou amiante, est un var. filamenteuse (par altération) de l’amphibole trémolite, (silicate de chaux et de magnésie). Les filaments soyeux sont assez longs pour en permettre le tissage; les Anciens en faisaient des mèches perpétuelle pour leurs lampes, et des linceuls incombustibles pour recueillir la cendre des morts.

abeston

Rabelais suit toujours Pline, qui fait de l’asbeste une variété du lin. L’utilité du lin asbestin dans les crémations est mentionée par Pline (XIX, 4: « Inventus jam est etia [Linum] quod ignibus non absumeretur; regum inde funebres tunicae corporis favellam ab reliquo separant cineri. Nascitur in desertis adutisque Indiae locis. […] Vocatur autem a Graecis [greek], ex argumento naturae suae ». Le passage de Pline était bien connu; cf. P Vergile, De Inventoribus rerum, II, x. L’adjectif carpasien est le carbaseus (ou, carbasinus) des Latins ( = « ce qui est fait de lin ou de chanvre ».)

Carpasia

Selon Pline, XIX, 1, «ceste sorte de lin croist és deserts des Indes». D’où Rabelais a-t-il tiré les informations qu’il donne ici? «Carpasie» désigne, ou une ville de Chypre, ou plutôt une île située entre la Crète et Rhodes et plus connue sous le nom de Carpathos (Scarpanto). Cette mention veut sans doute indiquer l’origine de l’adjectif utilisé plus bas, «Carpasien», transcription du grec καρπάσιοζ ou καρπάσινοζ (= fait d’une sorte de gaze); Cœlius Rhodiginus, Antiquae Lectiones, XIV, 18, écrit, de même «linum carpasinum».

Notes

Cormier

Cormier: The Service tree, Sorb-apple tree.

Corm

corm, corme. Obsolete [adopted from French corme, Latin cornum the cornel-cherry (see cornel); but in Old French the names cormier and corme were applied to the service-tree and its fruit, also called sorbe; see Littré.]

The fruit of the service-tree, the sorb; also the tree, Pyrus domestica (Sorbus Latin, Cormus Spach).

The cornel tree.

corm. In botany [adaptation of modern Latin cormus (Willdenow c. 1800), adopted from Greek kormoj, the trunk of a tree with the boughs lopped off, formed on keirein to cut, poll, lop.]

A short fleshy rhizome, or bulb-like subterraneous stem of a monocotyledonous plant, producing from its upper surface leaves and buds, and from its lower, roots; also called solid bulb.(By Asa Gray applied also to the rhizomes of dicotyledonous plants such as cyclamen; but this is not generally followed.)

Notes

lodestone

Plutarch, Platonic Questions, book. vii., chapter 7 [No mention of garlic] “And neither amber nor the loadstone draws anything to it which is near, nor does anything spontaneously approach them. But this stone emits strong exhalations, by which the surrounding air being impelled forceth that which is before it; and this being drawn round in the circle, and returning into the vacuated place, forcibly draws the iron in the same movement. In amber there is a flammeous and spirituous nature, and this by rubbing on the surface is emitted by recluse passages, and does the same that the loadstone does. It also draws the lightest and driest of adjacent bodies, by reason of their tenuity and weakness; for it is not so strong nor so endued with weight and strength as to force much air and to act with violence and to have power over great bodies, as the magnet has. But what is the reason the air never draws a stone, nor wood, but iron only, to the loadstone? This is a common question both by those who think the coition of these bodies is made by the attraction of the loadstone, and by such as think it done by the incitement of the iron. Iron is neither so rare as wood, nor altogether so solid as gold or a stone; but has certain pores and asperities, which as far as inequality is concerned are proportionable to the air; and the air being received in certain positions, and having (as it were) certain stays to hang to, does not slip off; but when it is carried up to the stone and is forced against it, it draws the iron by force along with it to the stone. Such then may be the reason of this.”

Garlic to the Loadstone

Table-Talk II, Question 7

1. Once, when small fish of all sorts were served to us, Chaeremonianus of Tralles pointed out one with a sharp, elongated head and said that the echeneïs resembled it; he had seen (he said) the echeneis while sailing off Sicily and had been amazed at its power, for during the course of the voyage it had been responsible for no little loss of speed and delay until the look-out had caught it sticking to the outer face of the vessel’s hull. At this, some laughed at Chaeremonianus for accepting a mythical and unbelievable fabrication; others chatted about the “antipathies” [1]; and one could hear much else and also the following about things antipathetic: the sight of a ram stops a mad elephant; if you point an oak twig at a viper and touch it, the viper is brought to a standstill; a wild bull is quieted and made gentle if bound to a fig-tree [2]; amber moves and attracts all light things, except basil and whatever is wet with oil; the loadstone does not attract iron rubbed with garlic. Indeed these things are subject to a clear test, but it is hard (they said) to determine the cause, if not altogether impossible.

1. Bolus of Mendes, the former of Democritus exposed by Callimachus, wrote a Sympathies and Antipathies (in nature); see Diels, Frag. d. Vorsokratiker, Demokritos 300. 1–5; cf. infra, iv. 2, 664 c.

lodestone

Book 1, Ch 1. But that the story of the loadstone might not appear too bare and too brief, to this singular and sole known quality there were added certain figments and falsehoods, which in the earliest times, no less than nowadays, used to be put forth by raw smatterers and copyists to be swallowed of men. As for instance, that if a loadstone be anointed with garlick, or if a diamond be near, it does not attract iron[5]. Tales of this sort occur in Pliny, and in Ptolemy’s Quadripartitum [Tetrabiblos]; and the errors have been sedulously propagated, and have gained ground (like ill weeds that grow apace) coming down even to our own day, through the writings of a host of men, who, to fill put their volumes to a proper bulk, write and copy out pages upon pages on this, that, and the other subject, of which they knew almost nothing for certain of their own experience.

[Note 5: Baptista Porta says (p. 211 of the English version of 1658): “It is a common Opinion amongst Sea-men, That Onyons and Garlick are at odds with the Loadstone: and Steers-men, and such as tend the Mariners Card are forbid to eat Onyons or Garlick, lest they make the Index of the Poles drunk. But when I tried all these things, found them to be false: for not onely breathing and belching upon the Loadstone after eating of Garlick, did not stop its vertues: but when it was all anoynted over with the juice of Garlick, it did perform its office as well as if it had never been touched with it: and I could observe almost not the least difference, lest I should make void the endeavours of the Ancients. And again, When I enquired of Marines, whether it were so, that they were forbid to eat Onyons and Garlick for that reason; they said, they were old Wives fables, and things ridiculous; and that Sea-men would sooner lose their lives, then abstain from eating Onyons and Garlick.”

The fables respecting the antipathy of garlick and of the diamond to the operation of the magnet, although already discredited by Ruellius and by Porta, died hard. In spite of the exposure and denunciations of Gilbert, these tales were oft repeated during the succeeding century. In the appendix to Sir Hugh Plat’s Jewel House of Art and Nature, in the edition of 1653, by D. B. Gent, it is stated there (p. 218): “The Loadstone which … hath an admirable vertue not onely to draw Iron to it self, but also to make any Iron upon which it is rubbed to draw iron also, it is written notwithstanding, that being rubbed with the juyce of Garlick, it loseth that vertue, and cannot then draw iron, as likewise if a Diamond be layed close unto it.”]

Gilbert, Book 1, Ch 14, p 32. Plutarch and Claudius Ptolemy[88], and all the copyists since their time, think that a loadstone smeared with garlick does not allure iron. Hence some suspect that garlick is of avail against any deleterious power of the magnet: thus in philosophy many false and idle conjectures arise from fables and falsehoods.

[Note 88: The garlick myth has already been referred to in the note to p. 1. The originals are Plutarch, Quæstiones Platonicæ, lib. vii., cap. 7, § 1; C. Ptolemæus, Opus Quadripartitum, bk. i., cap. 3. The English translation of the latter, by Whalley (London, 1701), p. 10, runs: “For if the Loadstone be Rubbed with Garlick, the Iron will not be drawn by it.”]

aymant

Aymant; as, Aimant; an Adamant, or Loadstone

aymant

Aymant, s.m. acier très dur: A trop peindre fault l’aymant. (Greban, Mist. de la passe., 1584)

Garlic to the Loadstone

Plut. Q. Conv ii. 7, 1, 641 c. iv 62, v. 37.

le ail à l’aymant

Légende antique: «La pierre d’aimant n’attire point le fer quant il est frottee d’ail», dit Plutarque en ces Symposiaques (l. II, quest. 7). Cf. ce que Rabelais dit plus loin (l. V, ch. 37) du Scordeon. Une écrivain médiéval, Philippe de Méaières, raconte encore que des nautionniers méridionaux ayant un jour frotté leur boussole, ou calamite, ils perdirent leur direction: car cette «souillure empêche l’aiguille de regarder l’étoile belle, clair et nette» (l’étoile polaire ou tramontane). (Paul Delaunay)

lodestone

Ch. 3 p. 27 “Similarly we must believe the physician, when he says that this sore will spread or cause putrefaction, and the miner, for instance, that the lodestone attracts iron; just as each of these, if left to itself through ignorance of the opposing forces, will inevitably develop as its original nature compels, but neither will the sore cause spreading or putrefaction if it receives preventive treatment, nor will the lodestone attract the iron if it is rubbed with garlic; [n 21] and these very deterrent measures also have their resisting power naturally and by fate; so also in the other cases, if further happenings to men are not known, or if they are known and the remedies are not applied, they will by all means follow the course of primary nature; but if they are recognized ahead of time and remedies are provided, again quite in accord with nature and fate, they either do not occur at all or are rendered less severe.” [Note 21 A current belief; compare Thorndike, History of Magic and Experimental Science, I, p 213, for an instance of its occurrence in Plutarch.]

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).

le ail, à l’aymant

Frotté d’ail, l’aimant n’attire plus le fer selon Plutarque, Symposium, II, vii.

Adamant

Adamant and similar words are used to refer to any especially hard substance, whether composed of diamond, some other gemstone, or some type of metal. Both adamant and diamond derive from the Greek word αδαμαστος (adamastos), meaning “untameable”. Adamantite and adamantium (a metallic name derived from the Neo-Latin ending -ium) are also common variants.
Adamantine has, throughout ancient history, referred to anything that was made of a very hard material. Virgil describes Tartarus as having a screeching gate protected by columns of solid adamantine (Aeneid book VI). Later, by the Middle Ages, the term came to refer to diamond, as it was the hardest material then known, and remains the hardest non-synthetic material known.
It was in the Middle Ages, too, that adamantine hardness and the lodestone’s magnetic properties became confused and combined, leading to an alternate definition in which “adamant” means magnet, falsely derived from the Latin adamare, which means to love or be attached to.[1] Another connection was the belief that adamant (the diamond definition) could block the effects of a magnet. This was addressed in chapter III of Pseudodoxia Epidemica, for instance.
Since the word diamond is now used for the hardest gemstone, the increasingly archaic term “adamant” has a mostly poetic or figurative use. In that capacity, the name is frequently used in popular media and fiction to refer to a very hard substance

Notes

Cuscute

Cuscuta

Milium solis

Cuscuta (text)

cuscute

Plate caption: Cassutha
Flachss seiden
Taxon: Cuscuta epilinum Weihe
Modern English: flax dodder

cuscute

Miliaria appellatur herba quae necat milium. haec trita et cornu cum vino infusa podagras iumentorum dicitur sanare.

Miliaria is a plant so called because it kills millet. Pounded and poured with wine into a horna it is said to cure gouty pains in beasts of burden.

cuscute

Autre soin n’est requis aux Lins de là jusques à le cueillete, que de les descharger d’une meschante herbe appelle goutte de Lin ou pialet, en Latin Caflutha, qui s’entortille en leurs tiges, les suffoquant & gardant de s’accroistre.

Commentaire Historique au Chapitre LI

Par le détail très circonstancié que donne ici l’autheur, des effets et propriétés merveilleuses du pantagruélion, il ne laisse aucun doute sur ce que nous avons dit que cette herbe étoit le chanvre. La mention de la cuscute et les expressions suivantes, relatives au pantagruélion, suffiroirent seules pour le prouver.

cuscute

Plante parasite, qui s’attache au lin et au chanvre, et les étouffe.

cuscute

Cuscuta, vulgairement teignasse, cheveux de Vénus, genre de Cuscutacées, qui vit en parasite sur diverses plante. «Miliaria appellatur herba quæ necat milium», Pline, XXII, 78. C’est, pour Sainéan, Cuscuta europæa, L. Mais la cuscute du lin, qu’O. de Serres nomme pailer ou goutte de lin (Théâtre d’Agaric., l. VII), est la Cuscuta densiflora, S.W. (Paul Delaunay)

cuscute

Parasite végétal du lin.

cuscute

cuscus. Also cuskus. [The same word as couscous, the dish so called being originally made of this grain. In French couscou, in 18th century cuzcuz, cousse-couche, couche-couche.]

The grain of the African millet, Holcus spicatus Linn., Penicillaria spicata Willd., a cereal indigenous to Africa, where it has constituted from the earliest times an important article of food.