Onotrisis

Onotrisis apud kiranidam exponitur asini cauda et asini malva et est althea.

Apparatus:

Onotrisis AC ef | Onotirsis p | Onot'sis j Onotiesis B
kiranidam (-dã AB p) ABC fp | kyrãnidã e | om. j
asini cauda ABC fp | asinica͠da j | cauda aʒini ms. e
asini malua AC fjp | asini cauda malua B | malua aʒini ms. e
{malva} et om. f
althea AC fj | althia ms. e | altea B p

Translation:

Onotrisis - in the Kyranides text - is said to be called asini cauda {lit. "donkey's tail"} and asini malva {lit. "donkey's mallow"}, which is the same as althea.

Commentary:

Simon's entry is alluding to the Kyranides, (ELEMENTUM XV, O.), p. 58 [[1]]: Mysteria physico-medica:
Ὀνοθύρσις {/Onothýrsis/} herba est...
Onothyris vel onothyrsis, herba est quidam Ὀνομαλάχην {/Onomalákhēn/} .i. asini malvam, haec est rosa, de qua plectunt coronas: folia habet similia malvae domesticae. Haec à Graecis dicitur ἀλθαῖα {/althaea/} .i. malvaviscus - "Onothyris or onothyrsis: this is a herb which some people call Ὀνομαλάχην /Onomalákhēn/, i.e. asini malva {'donkey's mallow'}; this is a rosa {"rose"} from which garlands are woven; it has leaves similar to the garden malva {"mallow"}. The Greeks call this plant ἀλθαῖα {/althaîa/, which is in Latin malvaviscus".

Onotrisis:
Ὀνοθύρσις {/Onothýrsis/}, cf. Trapp: ὀνόθυρσις /onóthyrsis/ [[2]], itacist /onothírsis/ or /onóthirsis/, in Simon's version *onot(h)irsis > onotrisis, is a compound noun consisting of ὀνο- /ono-/ the compound form of ὄνος /ónos/ {"donkey, ass"} + a derivative of θύρσος /thýrsos/ "wand used in Dionysian rituals; branch, shoot; rod, wand", resulting in a meaning: "donkey's wand". The naming motive is unclear. The word in this form is only attested in the Kyranides. However it seems likely that there is a connection with the plant name: ὀνοθοῦρις /onothoûris/ (Wellmann), ὀνόθουρις /onóthouris/ LSJ or ὀνοθουρίς /onothourís/ (Galen). Naturally ὀνοθύρσις /onothýrsis/ could simply be the result of an early misreading. See also Commentary to Onotosum in entry Onagron.

N.b. ὀνομαλάχη /onomalákhē/, as mentioned in the Kyranides text, is a compound of ὀνο- /ono-/ + μαλάχη /malákhē/ {"mallow"}. Again this name is only attested here, cf. Trapp [[3]]. The literal Latin translation is asini malva, which Simon mentions.
Furthermore the Kyranides text says that the leaves are similar to malva domestica, identified by André (1985) p. 152 s.v. malua as Malva silvestris L. [[4]], its foliage: [[5]].

asini cauda:
Simon adds a further Latin synonym not found in the Kyranides text: asini cauda, which corresponds to Greek ὀνοῦρις /onoûris/ (Wellmann) or ὄνουρις /ónouris/ (LSJ, Sprengel/Kühn), a compound of ὄν- /ón-/ {"donkey"} + ὀυρά /ourá/ {"tail}", i.e. "donkey's tail", in Latin: asini cauda. In different codices one of either ὀνοῦρις /onoûris/ or ὀνοθοῦρις /onothoûris/ is used. Again the naming motive is opaque.

Botanical identification:

The text describes ὀνοθύρσις /onothýrsis/as having leaves like ἀλθαῖα /althaîa/ .i. malvaviscus; althaea is usually identified with Althaea officinalis L., the "common marshmallow" [[6]]. If ὀνοθύρσις /onothýrsis/ is related to the ὀνοθοῦρις /onothoûris/ group of names, which are often identified as Epilobium angustifolium L. syn. Chamerion angustifolium L. Holub "rosebay willowherb" [[7]] the leaves of the two plants should be comparable – cf. rosebay willowherb: [[8]] and common marshmallow [[9]], which is certainly not the case, just as the malva domestica mentioned in the Kyranides text, identified by André (1985) p. 152 s.v. malua as Malva silvestris L., [[10]] has dissimilar foliage [[11]].

However in the botanical literature ὀνοθοῦρις /onothoûris/ is sometimes identified with Nerium oleander L, "oleander" [[12]], whose leaves [[13]] are in fact very similar to rosebay willowherb.

The identification with oleander would also give some support to the statement that it is a "rose" and garlands are made of it, see e.g. Oleander.
Therefore it is likely that in this passage of the Kyranides ὀνοθύρσις /onothýrsis/ describes N. oleander.

WilfGunther (talk) 11:38, 26 September 2015 (BST)

See also: Onagron, Malvaviscus, Althea

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