Fumaria
Fumaria secundum Dyascoridem latine herba que grece dicitur capnos de qua supra, hec ut dicit dicitur a quibusdam oxidertes.
Apparatus:
grece om. B
ut dicit dicitur AC e | ut dicit~ B
Translation:
Fumaria {"fumitory"} is according to Dyascorides in Latin the name of a herb, which is called capnos in Greek, about which see the entry Capnos above. This plant is, as Dyascorides says, also called oxidertes by some people.
Commentary:
Fumaria {sc. planta} (lit.) "the smoke plant; i.e. fumitory" is derived from Latin fumus "smoke". The name appears in the Greek Dioscorides, 4, 109, ed. Wellmann (1906-14: II.262) RV as a synonym of καπνός /kapnós/: Ῥωμαῖοι ἄπιουμ, ὁι δὲ φουμάρια /Rhōmaîoi ápioum, hoi dè phoumária/ "The Romans call it apium, and some say fumaria".
In Medieval Latin the plant was also called fumus terr(a)e {"smoke of the earth"}. Both names are loan translations from Greek καπνός /kapnós/ "smoke", which meant the plant fumitory, too.
Simon offers a naming motive for the plant in his entry Capnos q.v., where he says: credo quod hec dicuntur fumarie eo quod curant caliginem oculorum que videtur patienti ut fumus - "I believe that these plants are called fumarie because they cure dim-sightedness of the eyes, which appears to the sufferer as if there was smoke {before their eyes}." Genaust, however, (1996: 257), s.v. Fumária, thinks that the reddish black to almost black colour at the tip of the crown of Fumaria officinalis L. {"fumitory"} makes it look as if it was smoked.
See also: Capnos, Oxideritis
