Mogiton

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Mogiton Plinius herba similis bete foliis minutioribus tantum hirsutioribusque paulum super eminentibus; Castor hanc aliter nominat tenui folio velut equinis setis tirso longo et levi in aquosis nascens.


Apparatus:

{Mogiton} a’ {= arabice} add. f
{herba} ē {= est} add. B
bete AC fp | bethe B j | blete ms. e
minutioribus | -cioribus ef | mĩoribus j
tñ AB | tm͂ C ej {tñ and tm͂ = tamen or tantum, Cappelli p. 376} | om. fp | tantum Pliny
hirsutioribusque (-cio-? ms. e) AC ej | irsutioribusqʒ B | hyrsutioribusqʒ (-cio- f) fp
paulum B efp Pliny | paulo j | paululũ AC
super eminentibus B efjp | superuenientibus AC | semper eminens Pliny
nominat | nõinauit ms. e
uelut | uelud ms. e
equinis | equis or equĩs C
setis | cetis? j
tirso | tyrso ef
longo | lũgo B
{longo &} tenui add. p
leui | leni p
et cetera add. B jp


Translation:

Mogiton according to Pliny is a herb similar to beta {“beet”}, but with leaves that are smaller and more hairy rising a little above the water {Pliny "always rising only a little outside the water"}.
Castor used this name for a different plant which had finer leaves resembling horse hair and with a long smooth stem and which was growing in watery places.


Commentary:

Simon’s entry is a near-verbatim quote from Pliny, 16, 33, 50-1, ed. Rackham (1938-63: VII.302), Potamogiton.

Mogiton:
Somehow early on in the transmission the first two syllables of Potamogiton were lost, and since all witnesses participate in this loss it is reasonable to assume that even in Simon’s own copy the corruption had already occurred.
The name potamogeton or potamogiton was first adopted by Pliny from Greek ποταμογείτων /potamogeítōn/, a compound noun consisting of ποταμός /potamós/ “river” + γείτων /geítōn/ "neighbour, borderer”, i.e. “neighbour to a river”.

Pliny excerpted his monograph from the same source as Dioscorides; both authors sharing very similar descriptions, cf. Potamogiton. Presumably Mogiton and Potamogiton were once one single entry but the loss of initial syllables in Mogiton forced a separate placement of the latter in the alphabetically ordered Clavis.

Castor:
Pliny added a paragraph to his excerpt concerning a certain Castor who used the name Potamogiton for a different plant. This must be Antonius Castor, a contemporary of Pliny and his mentor in botany. Cf. Pliny, 25, 5, 9, ed. Rackham (1938-63: VII.142), where he speaks highly of Castor’s knowledge of botany: cui summa auctoritas erat in ea arte nostro aevo – “He was the greatest authority in the art {of botany} in our time”, a man who grew numerous different plant specimens in his large garden. He was said to have lived to more than 100 years of age without ever having been ill. He is often quoted in Pliny’s Naturalis historia; cf. e.g. Simon’s Piperitis. See [[1]].


Botanical identification:

For the botanical identification see the entry Potamogiton.
For the different plant described in the paragraph added by Pliny cf. André (1985: 206), s.v. potamogītōn, who suggests Hippuris vulgaris L. "d’après Caton" {Caton is a misprint for Castor}) “mare’s tail” [[2]].


WilfGunther (talk) 10:50, 13 January 2016 (GMT)


See also Potamogiton


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