Rhoiton

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Rhoiton apud Plinium vinum malorum granatorum.


Apparatus:

Rhoiton AC | Roiton (-õ B) B fjp | Roytũ ms. e | rhoiten Pliny


Translation:

Rhoiton according to Pliny is the name of the wine made from malum granatum {“pomegranates”}.


Commentary:

Simon is referring to Pliny 20,19,103, ed. Rackham (1938-63: IV.254).
In this chapter Pliny speaks of the multitude of different kinds of vinum ficticium “artificial wine”, i.e. not made of grapes, and he says: vinum fit et e siliqua Syriaca et e piris malorumque omnibus generibus — sed e Punicis rhoiten vocant – “Wine is e.g. made from siliqua Syriaca {lit. "Syrian pods" = 'carob'} and from pirum {“pears”} and from all varieties of malum {“apples”} – but the wine from {malum} Punicum {lit. Punic apple, i.e. “pomegranate”} is called rhoites”.
N.b. Pliny uses another name for the fruit, instead of malum granatum he calls it malum Punicum.

Rhoites:
The Greek adjective ῥοΐτης /rhoḯtēs/, here in the accusative ῥοΐτην /rhoḯtēn/, is derived from ῥόα /rhóa/ “pomegranate, tree or fruit”. ῥοΐτης οἶνος /rhoḯtēs oînos/ - with οἶνος /oînos/ “wine” often understood - simply means “wine from pomegranates”. All of Simon’s witnesses have misread final ‘e’ as ‘o’, -on being a more common Greek ending.

There is also a chapter in Dioscorides on ῥοίτης οἶνος /rhoítēs oînos/, De materia medica, 5,26, in Wellmann (1906-14: III. 21) [[1]].

A Latin translation of this chapter is also found in Dioscorides Longobardus, 5,48, ed. Stadler (1902:186) De bino male granate [[2]].
N.b. The translator(s) avoided using the adjective ῥοΐτης /rhoḯtēs/ and used malum granatum in its Vulgar and late Latin form fem.sg.: mala granata.

According to Dioscorides this is the recipe: in essence ripe deseeded pomegranates have their juice pressed out and are stored away or boiled down to one third before storage.


WilfGunther (talk) 10:57, 23 August 2016 (BST)


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