Aserebum

Aserebum exponit Stephanus quod est stagnum vel plumbum album sed puto quod voluit dicere asreng quod est minium cuius materia est plumbum nam stagnum arabice vocatur rasas ut apud Avicennam et cazdir ut liber de doctrina arabica.

Apparatus:

In ms. f Aserebum shares the initial with the headword of the previous entry Asena {= Asnea}
Aserebũ ABC f | Asserebum p | Asserebum or Asserebinn j | Assabruʒ ms. e
stagnum | stãgnũ p, also further down {nam} stãgnũ}
voluit | volũt C
asreng | asrenos p
arabice vocatur AC | v. a. B ejp| vocat~ aut f
rasas | rosas jp
caʒdir AC f | cazdir B j {'z' illegible in j} | caʒon ms. e | cadir p
arabica | greca uel arabice ms. e

Translation:

Aserebum: Stephanus explains that it is stagnum {"tin or lead"} or plumbum album {lit. "white lead"}, but I think he wanted to say asreng, which is minium {"red lead"} and which consists of plumbum {"lead"}, for stagnum is called in Arabic rasas as found in Avicenna, or cazdir {"tin"} as found in the liber de doctrina arabica.

Commentary:

Stephanus in his Breviarium writes: molindos … stagnũ … aserebũ … plũbũ albũ [[1]].
N.b. molindos is misread for molibdos, Greek μόλυβδος /mólybdos/ {"lead"}. See Molibdi.

For Aserebum:
cf. Siggel (1950: 76): {= Persian} ﺍﺳﺮﺏ /usrub/, {not transcribed: /usrubb/} Blei {i.e. "(metal) lead"}.
Cf. Steingass (1892: 57): a {= common in Arabic and Persian} اسرب usrub, usrubb, "lead".

A vocalisation closer to Stephanus is attested in Karbstein (2002: 51): 20 Blei {i.e. "lead"} ﺍﺳﺮﺏ ﻫﻮ ﺍﻻﻧﻚ ﻭﻫﻮ ﺍﻟﺮﺻﺎﺹ ﻋﺠﻤﻳﺔ ﺑﻠﻮﻣﻪ /asrrab huwa il-annak wa huwa ir-raṣāṣ ʕağamiya bulūmuh/ - "/asrrab/, that is /il-annak/ and that is /ir-raṣāṣ/, in Romance /bulūmuh/".
N.b. ﺍﻧﻚ /annak/, Arabic ﺍﻧﻚ /ānuk/, ﺍﻧﻖ /ānuq/ means "tin or lead" according to Goltz (1972: 234); cf. Wehr (1976: 32): ﺍﻧﻮﻙ /ānuk/ "lead (metal)".
/bulūmuh/ cf. Spanish plomo {"lead"} < Latin plumbum.

For stagnum:
see Stagnum

Plumbum album:
lit. "white lead". For a long time no distinction was made terminologically between "tin" and "lead". Consequently, perhaps with of the exception of ﻗﺼﺪﻳﺮ /qaṣdīr/, most Arabic names for the metals lead or tin were ambiguous and could denote either metal. A distinction is sometimes made by calling lead plumbum nigrum {"black lead"} and tin plumbum album {"white lead"}.

For asreng:
cf. Siggel (1950: 76): ﺍﺳﺮﻧﺞ /isrinğ, asranğ/ Mennige {i.e. "minium, red lead"}. Simon's assumption that aserebum represents asreng is incorrect. See also Asrengi, Assirengi, Sirengi.
For Persian cf. Steingass (1892: 57): اسرنج /isrinğ/ "Cinnabar, vermillion, red lead, sandyx, burnt ceruse (of which they make an ointment for wounds); cymbals".
(1892: 678): سرنج /sirinğ/ "A cymbal; red lead, vermillion".

For minium:
see [[2]].

For rasas
see Rasas. As Simon says, Avicenna in his chapter in the Canon book II uses ﺭﺻﺎﺹ /raṣāṣ/ in the Arabic original, cf. p. 254 [[3]], and the word remains untranslated in the Latin translation [Goehl] Capitulum 590. De rasas; also available in the Lyon edition (1522: 118), De rasas Cap. dxc [[4]].
Cf. Wehr (1976): ﺭﺻﺎﺹ /raṣāṣ/ "lead, bullets". Siggel (1950: 81): ﺭﺻﺎﺹ /raṣāṣ/ Blei {i.e. "(metal) lead"}.

In the Vocabulista glossary ﻗﺼﺪﻳﺮ /qaṣdīr is used as Simon points out ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 162): ﻗﺼﺪﻳﺮ /qaṣdīr/ Stagnum [[5]]; p. 590: STAGNUM, metallum ﻗﺼﺪﻳﺮ /qaṣdīr/ [[6]].

WilfGunther 10:41, 4 July 2015 (BST)

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