Barocha
Barocha sic vocat Macer mellissam que grece mellissophilos dicitur.
Apparatus:
Barocha AC | Barocho ej | Barocha or Barocho p | Baroco B | Baroch f
mellissam AC f | melissam B ejp
mellissophilos (meliso- B jp) ABC jp | mellisophalos f | melisophiles ms. e
Translation:
Barocha, this is what Macer calls the melissa {"(Lemon) balm"}, which in Greek is called melissophilos.
Commentary:
Simon is quoting Macer Floridus, ed. Choulant (1832: 96), L (50). BARROCUS.
1641 Herbam, quam Graeci dixerunt Melissophyllon
1642 Barrocum nostri dicunt vulgariter; …
- "The herb the Greeks called melissophyllon // Our people call it barrocum in folk-language".
Choulant mentions these variants for barrocus taken from the different mss. he collated: Barocum, boracum, barrachum, baratum, baracum, boragum, boragam, bottagam. Diefenbach (1857: 69), 1st col., quotes further variants: Barochum, Barrocum, Baratrum, Barotus, boratus, boracus, cross-referencing it with archangelica and melisphilla; and he gives i.a. bensu-ge {better: bens-uge} {i.e. "bee’s eye"} as one of its translations.
Botanical identification:
Melissa is a medieval Latin shortened version of these Greek synonyms μελίφυλλον /melíphyllon/, μελισσόφυλλον /melissóphyllon/, μελισσοβότανον /melissobótanon/, all generally identified with Melissa officinalis L., "(Lemon) balm" [[1]], a native of Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The compound elements in these words are μέλι /méli/ "honey", /mélissa/ μέλισσα "bee", /phýllon/ φύλλον "leaf" and /botánē/ βοτάνη i.a. "plant".
WilfGunther (talk) 10:14, 15 February 2016 (GMT)
See also: Mellissofilos, Bederengeum
