Defle

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Defle arabice est oleander planta venenosa que grece nereo et nereodendron et rododafni dicitur de quibus infra.

Defle is the Arabic word for Latin oleander, a poisonous plant, which in Greek is called nereo and nereodendron and rododafni. For more about these see under nereo and rhodafni.


Commentary

Wehr: ﺩﻓﻠﻰ diflā “oleander Nerium oleander L.; bot.)

The Greek terms Simon mentions are ultimately taken from Dioscorides Longobardus book IV, chapter LXXVIII De nerion, v.l. De nerion idest lorandro, where it says (p.44): “Nerion aut norodendron aut rodafni dicunt.” “They call it {i.e. oleander} nerion or norodendron or rodafni”. All of the synonyms mentioned in Dioscorides Longobardus have a number of variant readings in the different codices: Nerion - v.l. Nereon; norodendron - vv.ll. veredendron, neredendron, nerodendron; rodafni - vv.ll. rodafnin, rodaphni, rododafni, rodafin.

The elements these Greek synonyms consist of are: νήριον /nḗrion/ “oleander” and δένδρον /déndron/ “tree”. Because its leaves are reminiscent of those of the laurel and its flowers of those of the rose, some oleander names underline this perceived similarity by containing the elements ῥóδον /rhódon/ “rose”; and δάφνη /dáphnē/ “sweet bay, Laurus nobilis”, the latter also with other meanings.

Simon’s ‘nereo’ is obviously derived from Greek νήριον /nḗrion/, the word was adopted into Latin as nerium, nerion; his ‘nereodendron’ must be νηριόδενδρον /nēriódendron/ “oleander-tree”, a synonym that seems to be only mentioned in Dioscorides Longonbardus; Simon’s ‘rododafni’ is ροδοδάφνη /rhododáphnē/, which means literally “rose-laurel, rose-bay”. Concerning the original Greek text, Wellmann, in vol.II, book VI, chapter 81 beginning with νήριον /nḗrion/ mentions (p. 242) the following synonyms: ῥοδóδενδρον /rhodódendron/ and ροδοδάφνη /rhododáphnē/.

In Wellmann’s Pseudo-Dioscorides, loc.cit. chapter 81 beginning with ροδοδάφνη /rhododáphnē/, he mentions (p. 243) a series of different synonyms, but of interest is his statement: Ῥωμαῖοι ῥοράνδρουμ, ὁι δὲ λαυρορόσα “the Romans call it ‘rorandrum’ and others ‘laurorosa’. In ‘rorandrum’ we may see an early witness and precursor of the form ‘oleander’. This particular word developed an unusual number of variants and is generally considered to be a late derivation of ultimately ‘rhododendrum’. While the plant’s leaves are reminiscent of laurel, as reflected in its Greek name: ῥοδοδάφνη /rhododáphnē/ “rose-laurel, rose-bay”, also in Latin in the above-mentioned laurorosa, lit. “laurel-rose” < laurus “laurel”, and also in a common medieval form lorandrum, lor = laurus, there was obviously yet a further influence at work on the word, which must have been olea “olive(-tree)” leading to oleander, oleandrum etc.

DIOSCORIDES LONGOBARDUS: H. Stadler (1899): Dioscorides Longobardus (Cod. Lat. Monacensis 337). (Aus T.M. Aurachers Nachlass herausgegeben und ergaenzt.) In: ROMANISCHE FORSCHUNGEN, hrsg.von Karl Vollmoeller. XI. Band (1899) Liber IIII, pp.1 – 93. Erlangen.