Licon

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Licon vocant grece agnum castum supra in agno.


Apparatus:

Licon (-cõ AC) AC ef | Lichon B


Translation:

Latin agnus castus the Greeks call in their language licon. For more see above under agnus castus.


Commentary:

The synonym in question is Greek λύγος /lýgos/, which really means "withy" and "withy twigs" in the plural. Simon's form is derived from the accusative λύγον /lýgon/ depending on vocant. The word has undergone the late Greek sound change υ > ι {/y/ > /i/} resulting in /lígos/, written ligos, the form found e.g. in Dioscorides Longobardus. Simon's form licon is most likely hypercorrect, since in the Western Romania beginning in Northern Italy over to the extreme West intervocalic /k/ was changed into /g/, e.g. Latin lacus > Spanish/Portuguese lago. When scribes from this linguistic background were confronted with words containing intervocalic /g/, they sometimes wrongly assumed that in the written Latin language this must have been a /k/.

Greek λύγος /lýgos/ is mentioned by Dioscorides, 1, 103, ed. Wellmann (1906-14: I.94): ἀγνος ἢ λύγος "/ágnos/ or /lýgos/", thus opening the chapter with the two most common Greek names for Vitex agnus-castus L., the "chaste tree".

Wilf Gunther 14/12/13


See also: Agnus castus

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