Arcion (2)

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Complete text of entry:

Arction Plinius: aliqui arcturion vocant, similis est verbasco foliis nisi quod yrsutiora sunt caule longo molli semine cimini, nascitur in petrosis radice tenera alba dulcique, decoquitur in vino ad dentium dolorem.
Dyascorides: arction aut asturion et ista folia similia flommo habet sed rotunda et aspera, radix mollis et alba et dulcis, asta longa et mollis, semen cimini minoris simile et cetera.


Complete translation:

Arction says Pliny some people also call arcturion, it is similar to verbascum in its leaves except that they are more hirsute, with a long soft stem and seeds like ciminum {"cumin"}. It grows in rocky places; its root is tender, white and sweet. It is decocted {Pliny: the root is decocted} in wine for alleviating tooth-ache.
Dyascorides says: the plant Arction some people call asturion. And this plant has leaves similar to flommos but roundish and rough, a soft white root that is sweet, a long and soft stalk, and seed/fruit similar to the smaller ciminum {"cumin"}.


Simon's text sectioned Plinius:

Arction Plinius aliqui arcturion vocant, similis est verbasco foliis nisi quod yrsutiora sunt caule longo molli semine cimini, nascitur in petrosis radice tenera alba dulcique, decoquitur in vino ad dentium dolorem

Apparatus:
Arction AC f | Archion ms. e | Aretion (-ionoͅ = iono p) B p | a Rection j {initial a written by a different hand for correction)
arcturion AC f | areturiõ B | ateruciõ e | arectuorion p | aremoreon j
verbasco AC fjp | verbisco ms. e
{nisi} quod | quia ms. e
yrsutiora ABC p | ysutiori ms. e | yrsuciora fj
molli | moli B f
semine | se f
cimini | cymini j
dentium (dencium f) dolorem AC efjp | do. de. B
etcetera add. B ej

Translation:
Arction says Pliny some people also call arcturion, it is similar to verbascum in its leaves except that they are more hirsute, with a long soft stem and seeds like ciminum {"cumin"}. It grows in rocky places; its root is tender, white and sweet. It is decocted {Pliny: the root is decocted} in wine for alleviating tooth-ache.

Commentary:
This a near-verbatim excerpt from Pliny Natural History, 27, 16, 33, ed. W.H.S. Jones (1938-63: vol. VII, 408).

Arction:
< Greek ἄρκτιον /árktion/ identified with a variety of plants, but LSJ: bearwort”; it is adopted by Pliny as arction. The word is derived from ἄρκτος /árktos/ “bear” because the plant is hairy (André 1985: 23, s.v.; similarly Carnoy 1959: 35, and Strömberg 1940: 118)

arcturion:
Greek ἀρκτοῦρος /arktoûros/, mentioned here as a synonym of ἄρκτιον /árktion/, is also derived from ἄρκτος /árktos/ “bear”. According to Genaust (1996: 73, s.v. arctúrus, it consist of ἄρκτ- /árkt-/ {“bear”} + οὐρά /ourá/ {“tail”} named after the hairy stamens of plants in the genus Celsia. See below.


Simon's text sectioned Dyascorides:

Dyascorides arction aut asturion et ista folia similia flommo habet sed rotunda et aspera, radix mollis et alba et dulcis, asta longa et mollis, semen cimini minoris simile et cetera.

Apparatus:
Mss. efjp treat Dyascorides’ excerpt as an extra entry. In ms. e the acknowledgment Dya. is confusingly added to the end of Pliny’s excerpt as is the case with ms. j, however there dya was added later by a different hand; ms. p adds at the end of Pliny’s excerpt: auĩc. dya. somehow erroneously suggesting that Avicenna is also involved. Ms. f does not acknowledge Dyascorides’ authorship at all.
arcion AC | aretion B {‘c’ misread as ‘e’} | arecion ms. e | Artaon fp | Artuon superscript arcaon j (arction scripsi Wilf Gunther)
aut | a’ f
asturion AC fp | ascurion B | asterion ms. e | astrimon uriun superscript added for correction j
ista | istri superscript ʌ? j
flommo (flõmo ABC) ABC | flomo ms. e | fl’omo fj | fl’õ p
radix | radis f
{radix} mollis | motus? p
{alba} Dya add. j
asta ABC e | hasta fjp
cimini ABC fj | citrami? ms. e
simile om. f et cetera om. ef

Translation:
Dyascorides says: the plant Arction some people call asturion. And this plant has leaves similar to flommos but roundish and rough, a soft white root that is sweet, a long and soft stalk, and seed/fruit similar to the smaller ciminum {"cumin"}.

Commentary:
This excerpt can be found in Dioscorides Longobardus, 4, 101, ed. Stadler (1899: 53), De arction [[1]].
The original Greek text is available in 4, 105, ed. Wellmann (1906-14: II. 260f), ἄρκτιον /árktion/ [[2]].

asturion:
The word arcturion was already corrupted to asturion in Dioscorides Longobardus.

ciminum minus:
this translates Greek κύμινον μικρόν /kýminon mikrόn/, itacist / “small cyminum {'cumin'}". Berendes op.cit. thinks it to be the same as κύμινον ἄγριον /kýminon ágrion/{“wild cyminon”} - in Latin cyminum agreste - of which Dioscorides distinguished two kinds, the first being according to Sprengel and Frass Lagoecia cuminoides L. [[3]] and the second kind acc. to Valerius Cordus as Nigella arvensis L. “wild fennel” [[4]], [[5]], but Fraas opts for Nigella aristata L., nowadays often described as a subspecies of Nigella arvensis subsp. aristata (Stil.) Nyman [[6]].


Pliny’s and Dioscorides’ accounts of the plant are virtually identical and must have been copied from a common originally Greek source. Unusual for Simon he mentions Pliny’s account of the indication of arction':' decoquitur in vino ad dentium dolorem – “It is decocted in wine for alleviating tooth-ache”. This is fully in accord with the Greek Dioscorides, op.cit., and is echoed in Dioscorides Longobardus: Radix et semen ejus coctu in vino et gargaridiata dolore dentium mitigat - "Its root and seed/fruit cooked in wine and gargled soothes tooth-ache".


Botanical identification:

The genera and species considered for the identification of "mulleins" are difficult to distinguish and consequently suffered at times taxonomic turmoil.
As Berendes (1902: 426/427), who does not attempt any identification himself, points out: the older botanists – Sibthorp (who identifies it as Conyza candida L., then the accepted name for Inula candida, see below), Fraas and Sprengel – could not agree on which plant was possibly meant by arction.
More recently André (1985: 23, s.v.) mentions that some have suggested Inula candida L. [[7]], [[8]] but he prefers some Celsia species, like Celsia orientalis L. synonym of Verbascum orientale (L.) All. “Oriental celsia” [[9]], [[10]] and Celsia acaulis Bory, synonym of Verbascum acaule (Bory & Chaub.) Kuntze, “dwarf mullein” [[11]], etc. This latter plant has a rather restricted distribution, i.e. to the high mountains of Greece, and is described as “Quite unlike any other mullein, a stemless, rosette perennial” (O. Polunin, Flowers of Greece and the Balkans (1980: 410, OUP). This does not agree with Pliny’s and Dioscorides’ description of the plant having “a long stalk”.


WilfGunther (talk) 12:01, 7 November 2016 (GMT)


See Flommos, Flommum, Ciminum agreste


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