Pinaster

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Pinaster Plinius nihil aliud est quam pinus silvestris mire altitudinis et a medio ramosa sicut pinus in vertice copiosioremque dat resinam gignitur et in planis.


Apparatus:

Pinaster | Pinascer B {'t' misread as 'c'}

nihil ABC | nichil efjp

quã ep | quam B j | quamuis f | qua AC

mire | minor Pliny

medio B ep | meo fj | mẽio C | menio A

copiosioremqʒ (-reʒ qʒ j; -rẽqʒ C p) AC jp | copiosior ē que B | copiosorem f | copioso rorem que ms. e

resinam | rasinaʒ ms. e

{resinam} montuosis add. AC

et | ea B


Translation:

Pinaster according to Pliny is nothing other than the wild pinus {"pine"}, of astonishing {Pliny: "smaller"} height and it is full of branches from the middle on just like the pinus {"cultivated pine"} is at the top; and it gives resin more abundantly. It grows in flat country.


Commentary:


The word pinaster is derived from pinus {"pine"} with the suffix –aster, which has pejorative function and with plant names it often denotes the wild or useless variety/species, cf. oleaster "the wild olive-tree" < olea "the cultivated olive-tree".

Simon's entry is a near verbatim quote from Pliny, 16, 17, 39, ed. Rackham (1938-63: IV.414), with a number of corruptions having entered the text:

- mire altitudinis "of astonishing height" is corrupted from minor altitudine "of smaller height";

- a menio in witnesses AC is Pliny's a medio "from the middle";

- montuosis "in mountainous {regions}" in witnesses AC is from que dicemus modo "which we shall report on soon". Possibly an abbreviated m͡o for modo {"soon"}, cf. Cappelli (1912: 223), was misinterpreted as montuosis.


Botanical identification:

Pinaster is generally identified as Pinus pinaster Soland [[1]], [[2]], cf. André (1985: 199).

WilfGunther 08/01/2014


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