Hatalecel
Hatalecel Stephanus est inquit portulaca.
Apparatus:
Hatalecel AC ef | Hatalechel B | Hatelecel j | Hatelocel p
inquit | inquid p
est inquit om. f
portulaca | porculaca j
Translation:
Hatalecel says Stephanus is {Arabic for Latin} portulaca {"purslane"}.
Commentary:
Hatalecel:
Stephanus in his Breviarium writes: andragni portulaca batalethelhameca.
Stephanus’ form must be parsed: bataleth el- hameca
bataleth <*bacaleth, the constructus form ﺑﻘﻠﺔ /baqlat/, here with ‘c’ misread as ‘t’;
el = ﺍﻝ /al/ the Arabic article
hameca = ﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /ḥamqāʔ/; resulting in ﺑﻘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /baqlat al-ḥamqāʔ {lit. “silly cabbage”}, more correctly ﺍﻟﺒﻘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /al-baqlat al-ḥamqāʔ/.
Cf Wehr (1976): {√bql}, ﺍﻟﺑﻘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /al-baqla al-ḥamqāʔ/ "purslane (bot.)" {Simon's form is without the initial article: ﺑﻘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /baqla al-ḥamqāʔ/.
Siggel (1950): ﺍﻟﺑﻘﻠﺔ, /baqla/, ﺑﻘﻠﺔ ﺍﻟﺣﻤﻘﺎﺀ /baqlat al-ḥamqāʔ/ "Portulaca oleracea, Kohl-Portulak" {i.e. "(leaf vegetable) purslane"}.
The renderings of this word in Simon’s witnesses show heavy transmissional corruption:
Hatalecel < *Batalecelhameca with ‘b’ misread as ‘h’ or ’B’ misread as ‘H’, and hameca was lost altogether. This corruption was probably already present in Simon’s copy judging by the fact that all witnesses consulted participate in it.
The word is more correctly transcribed in the entry Bakle hamcha q.v.
WilfGunther (talk) 19:26, 14 May 2016 (BST)
See also Portulaca
