Ligurum

From Simon Online
Revision as of 13:46, 11 July 2012 by WilfGunther (Talk | contribs) (Dyoscorides' viwe on ligurum = urina lincis {"lynx urine"}.)

Jump to: navigation, search

Ligurum vocatur a multis urina lincis secundum Dyascoridem et lapis ex ipsa generatus dicitur elecorum capitulo de locio.


Apparatus:

lincis e | lĩcis AC | linciis B

generatur A | generatus B | generatus C e

de locio AC e | delotio B


Translation:

Urina lincis {“lynx urine”}, according to Dyascorides, is called by many people ligurum, and a stone is produced from it, called elecorum , as stated in the chapter: De lotio {“On urine”}.


Commentary:

Simon refers ultimately to Dioscorides Longobardus, book II, chapter ΞΔ' (64) De lotium humanum {sic!} {“On human urine”}, pp.206/207, where in fact the perceived medicinal properties of the urine of a number of animals are described as well. As for lynx’s urine he says: Lincei urinam, quem multi ligurum vocant, mox mejaverit, lapis fiet, quem multi elecorum vocant – “Lynx urine, which many people call ligurum, turns to stone soon after the lynx has let water, and many people also call this stone elecorum.”

It may be of interest to note that in the original Greek, Wellmann, vol. I, book II, chapter 81, pp.164/165, οὖρον ἀνθρώπου τὸ ἴδιον /oũron anthrṓpou tò ídion/ “A man’s own urine”, the view that lynx’s urine turns into stone is called μάταιος /mátaios/ “empty, idle, without ground”, and in the Greek, Dioscorides expresses the opinion that this is in truth the substance called ἤλεκτρον πτερυγοφόρον /ḗlektron pterygophóron/ “feather-attracting amber”, but no such scepticism is seen in the Longobardic translation. It was also in this translation that ἤλεκτρον /ḗlektron/ was corrupted to elecorum.


See Lapis lincis

Next entry