Kanabit
Kanabit arabice species caulis.
Apparatus:
species AC efjp | caulis species B
{caulis} & st' caules caputei add. j
{caulis} .i. gãbuxiũ add. B
Translation:
Kanabit is Arabic for a kind of caulis {"cabbage"}.
Commentary and Botanical identification:
Kanabit:
Wehr (1976): ﻗﻨﺒﻴﻃ /qunnabīṭ/ "cauliflower". Siggel (1950: 60): ﻗﻨﺒﻴﺖ/qunnabit/, ﻗﻨﺒﻴﻃ /qunnabīṭ/ Blumenkohl {i.e. "cauliflower"}
A vocalisation much closer to Simon's Kanabit is found in Vocabulista, ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 146): ﻗﻨﺒﻴﻃ /qannabīṭ/ Caulis [[1]]; (1871: 286) CAULIS ﻗﻨﺒﻴﻃ /qannabīṭ/ [[2]].
Corriente (1997: 54) s.v. *(QNBṬ) quotes the Vocabulista form: qannabīṭ, which he glosses: coliflor {i.e."cauliflower"}, and he sees this word as ultimately derived from Greek κραμβίδιον /krambídion/, the diminutive of κράμβη /krámbē/ "cabbage".
gãbuxiũ:
Witness B is adding a vernacular but Latinised word to help with the translation: gãbuxiũ, i.e. gambuxium. This represents most likely the word found in Lombard and adjacent North Italian languages: gabüs, gambüs, as mentioned by Battisti (1968: III.1758), s.v gambùgio, with further examples in id. vol. I, p. 744, s.v cappùccio..., p. 748 capùccio... {cf. caules caputei added in witness j}, where Battisti also mentions Piemontese cabüs and Emilian gabùs, glossed: cavolo capuccio "white cabbage", Brassica oleracea L. var. capitata var. alba [[3]]. All these variant word forms are ultimately reflexes of Latin caput {"head"} influenced by the similar sounding cap(p)utium, capitium {"hood"}, which is however derived from cappa {"cap, hood"}.
Wehr's and Siggel's identification as "cauliflower" - Brassica oleracea var. botrytis L. [[4]] - is still valid since cauliflower and white cabbage are varieties of the same species Brassica oleracea L. [[5]], and it is difficult to determine which varieties were used or had already been developed in Simon's time.
WilfGunther 06/12/2013
See also: Canabit, Caulis, Brasica
