Ospiris

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Ospiris Plinius ramulos fert nigros tenues lentos: et in hiis folia nigra ceu lini, semen in ramulis nigrum in initio deinde colore mutato rubescens et cetera.


Apparatus:

ramulos | ramuols B {printing error} | ramulis j
lentos | lent?? f
his AC | hiis B efjp
ceu AC fp | seu B ej
semen | semĩs f
ramulis B efjp Pliny | ramis AC
{nigrum} in om. f
initio ABC jp | inicio ef
mutato | mirtica j
et cetera om. ef


Translation:

Ospiris according to Pliny bears dark little branches that are tender and pliant and on them it has dark leaves like those of linum {"flax"}. Its seeds on the branches are dark at first and later after a change of colour they become reddish, et cetera.


Commentary:

Simon's text is a near-verbatim quote from Pliny, 27, 138, 111, ed. Rackham (1938-63: VII.456).

Pliny's form is Osyris; Ospiris is either due to an early copying error of Osyris with a less likely misreading of 'y' misread as 'pi', or it could be the result of interference from the next entry Ospiron. All witnesses show the corrupted form Ospiris.

The texts by Dioscorides, see previous entry Osiris, and Pliny are very similar and both authors must have consulted the same source.


Botanical identification:

Most authors agree that a possible candidate is Osyris alba L, "(white) osyris; poet's cassia", [[1]], cf. Berendes (1902: 442); André (1985: 183), s.v. osyris.

WilfGunther 12:07, 8 December 2014 (UTC)

For the etymology of the word see Osiris.


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