Difference between revisions of "Hiera"

Revision as of 16:56, 28 November 2013

Hiera liber de simplici medicina antiquitus berbena.

Apparatus:

Whole entry missing in f

Hiera AC | Hicta ul’ hieia B (‘er’ misread as ‘ct’ and as ‘ei’) | Hibera ms. e {contamination with Hiberia or Hiberis?}

antiquitus AC | antiquus (ãti- e) B e

berbena ABC | barbena ms. e

Translation:

Hiera is the name for berbena {“vervain”} in a book on simples medicines written in antiquity.

Commentary:

Hiera is Greek ἱερά /hierá/ “holy, sacred”, short for ἱερὰ βοτάνη (hierà botánē/ “sacred plant”.

There is also a compound version of this name: ἱεροβοτάνη [/hierobotánē/, see Ierabotani, Ierabotanum.

Simon’s “book on simples medicine from antiquity” is Ps.-Dioscorides, De herbis femininis [[1]], p.629, Cap. LIV, where the short form of the name is used: Hiera. Quam latini verbenam vocant. – “Hiera, which Latin speakers call verbena”. And it goes on to explain the motivation for the name: Ideo a Graecis nomen accepit, quod sacerdotes eam purificationibus adhibere consueverunt – “For this reason it takes its name from the Greeks, because the priests used to employ it in purifications”.

The fuller name ἱερὰ βοτάνη (hierà botánē/ occurs in a chapter of the same name in the Greek Dioscorides, Wellmann vol. II, book IV, p.213, chapter 60, and in the Longobardic translation book IV, p.30, chapter LVI. De gera votane. It is also mentioned in Pliny [Loeb], vol.VII, book XXV, chapter lix, § 105, who emphasises the importance Roman culture affords this plant, which he also calls verbenaca.

Botanical identification:

Most authors agree that it is Verbena officinalis L., “common vervain” [[2]], [[3]].

For further information see Berbena

Wilf Gunther 28/11/13