Narcha (2)

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Narcha Dy. multi sic centauream maiorem vocant.

Narcha; according to Dioscorides this is what many people call centaurea maior {“centaury”}.

This alludes to the third book of the early Latin translation of Dioscorides’ De materia medica, often called Dioscorides Longobardus, chapter (6) De centauria maiore. which begins p.378: Centauria maior, quem multi narcan aut gentiana dicunt Centauria maior {“centaury”} which many people call narca or gentiana. In the Greek original text, cf. WELLMANN pp. 10/11/12, vol. II, book III, chapter 6: κενταύρειον τò μέγα· /kentaúreion tò méga/ the word is written in Greek as νάρκη /nárkē/, which also occurs in the Herbarius Apulei where it is a synonym of gentiana and where it appears as ‘narcin’, i.e. acc. sg. νάρκην reflecting the late Greek pronunciation /nárkin/. Liddell & Scott gloss the word νάρκη /nárkē/, if it is the same as the name of the plant, as “numbness, deadness, caused by palsy, frost, fright, etc”.


DIOSCORIDES LONGOBARDUS: H. Stadler (1899): Dioscorides Longobardus (Cod. Lat. Monacensis 337). (Aus T.M. Aurachers Nachlass herausgegeben und ergaenzt.) In: ROMANISCHE FORSCHUNGEN, hrsg.von Karl Vollmoeller. X. Band (1899) Liber tertius pp.372-446. Erlangen.


WELLMANN, MAX (ed.) (1st edn. 1906; here: unveränderter Nachdruck, 1999) "Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei De materia medica libri quinque." Editio tertia. Volumen II quo continentur libri III et IV. WEIDMANN. Hildesheim.