Kartam

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Kartam arabice cartamus crocus ortulanus secundum vero Dyascoridem gnicus et cincus vocatur.


Apparatus:

Kartam B efj | Kartã AC p
cartamus AC fjp | kartamus B e
{ortulanus} .s. add. A
vero om. f
gnicus ABC e | gincus fp | gnitus? or grutus? j
cincus AC | cincu fjp | cinen B | ci͠ni ms. e
Ms. j adds a reference written by a different hand: vide cincu. {i.e. entry Cincum}


Translation:

Kartam is Arabic for Latin cartamus, also called crocus ortulanus {lit. “garden crocus”}, but according to Dyascorides it is called gnicus and cincus.}}


Commentary:

Kartam:
All consulted Arabic dictionaries show either /u ~ u/ or /i ~ i/ vocalisation or both, e.g. Wehr (1976): ﻗﺮﻃﻢ /qirṭim/, /qurṭum/ "safflower (Carthamus tinctorius; bot.)”;
Siggel (1950: 59) s.v. /qurṭum/ = /ʕuṣfur/ ﻋﺼﻔﺮ = ﻗﺮﻃﻢ Carthamus tinctorius Comp.) Färberdistel” {i.e. ‘safflower’}.
This vocalisation is obviously different from that of the Medieval Latin loan taken from this or a similar Arabic word: cart(h)amus. This Latin form or an early Spanish loan derived from it - cártamo - are the basis from which many European languages ultimately drew one of their names for the plant.
The etymologists have generally posited an unattested Arabic variant */qarṭam/ for Medieval Latin cart(h)amus, cf. Lokotsch (1927: 100/101) s.v. “1262 Ar. ḳurṭum”, [[1]], Corominas (1980: I,900) s.v. “CÁRTAMO” and Kiesler (1994: 268) s.v. “222 qurṭum”.

However in Karbstein’s (2002: 242) Arabic-Romance glossary from the early 17th c. Spain the form /qarṭam/ is now attested for the Mozarab community: loc. cit. s.v. “7-9) Saflor, Falscher Safran {i.e. ‘safflower’, (lit.) ‘false saffron’} Carthamus tinctorius L.” - with the following text:
ﻗﺮﻃﻢ ﻭﻬﻮ ﺍﻟﺰﻋﻔﺮﺍﻥ ﻭﻬﻮ ﺍﻟﻋﺼﻔﻮﺭ ﻋﺠﻤﻴﺔ ﺑﻮﺭﺕ /qarṭam wa-huwa al-zaʕfarāni, wa-huwa al-ʕaṣfūr … ʕağamīya …. būrtin/. - "/qarṭam/ that is /al-zaʕfarān/ and it is /al-ʕaṣfūr/ … in Romance {it is called} /būrt/".
In Karbstein’s entry a number of Arabic synonyms are listed: /zaʕfarān/ see Zahafaram, /ʕaṣfūr/ see Hasfur, Asfur.
For the Romance word cf. Catalan safrà bord {IPA [sǝ’fɾa βoɾt]} lit. “bastard saffron”.

crocus ortulanus:
see Crocus

gnicus/ cincus:
See Gnicus, Cincum


Botanical identification:

The Arabic dictionaries and glossaries often identify ﻗﺮﻃﻢ /qarṭam/ as Carthamus tinctorius L. [[2]], cf. de Biberstein Kazimirskiy (1860: II,716) ﻗﺮﻃﻢ /qirṭim/, /qurṭum/ with the first meaning being 1) “Graine du henna (ﺣﻨﺎ {/ḥnnā/)” {i.e.’henna grain’} but “2. Carthame (cartthamus tinctorius) safran sauvage” {i.e. ‘wild saffron’} [[3]] . C. tinctorius is also listed by Siggel (1950: 59) /qurṭum/ “Safflor”, and Wehr (1976) /qirṭim/, /qurṭum/ “safflower” and so it is in Corriente (1997: 423) s.v. *(QRṬM) 1 also with /qirṭim/, /qurṭum/ vocalisations .

In the /tuḥfat al-aḥbāb/ (1934: 152) s.v. “348 Qurṭum Carthame”, Renaud/ Colin identify it as Carthamus lanatus L. “downy safflower” [[4]]., which Corriente op.cit. lists as /qurṭum barrī/ {lit. “wild saffron”}.

In Europe cart(h)amus also came to mean Crocus sativus L., whose flower provides the spice saffron. True saffron was and still is often diluted with dried petals of C. tinctorius, see Cartamum. This explains the synonym crocus ortulanus mentioned by Simon, see Crocus.


WilfGunther (talk) 12:11, 27 November 2016 (GMT)


See also Cartamum


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