Saufe

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Saufe vel seufe arabice spongia ut in libro de doctrina arabica verum apud Avicennam vocatur asfungi imitatione greca.


Apparatus:

Saufe ABC e | Sanfe f {'u' misread as 'n'}

ut AC ef | ul' B

in om. AC

verum om. B

verum apud Avicennam vocatur asfungi imitatione greca om. e, adding from the next entry Sauich: secundum almansor cao de fluxu ventris

asfungi AC | afungi B | affongi f {"long s" misread as 'f'}

imitatione (ĩmi- B) ABC | imitacione f


Translation:

Saufe or seufe is Arabic for Latin spongia {"sponge"} according to the liber de doctrina arabica; but in Avicenna it is called asfungi imitating the Greek name.


Commentary:

Simon's often quoted source, the liber de doctrina arabica, has so far not been identified, but cf. what must be a similar glossary/dictionary- Vocabulista - ed. Schiaparelli (1871: 131): ﺻﻮﻓﺔ /ṣaufa/ Spongia [[1]; (1871: 589): SPONGIA ﺻﻮﻓﺔﺍﺕ /ṣaufa/ ~āt/ [[2]].

Dozy (1877-81: I.853) under ﺻﻮﻓﺔ /ṣūfa/ says only briefly: Eponge, Voc., qui prononce ﺻﻮﻓﺔ /ṣaufa/ {i.e./ṣūfa/ 'sponge': but Vocabulista pronounces it /ṣaufa/}.

Lane (1984: 1748) has ﺻﻮﻒ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺮ /ṣūf al-baḥr/ lit. "wool of the sea", which he interprets as "seaweed resembling wool". N.b. ﺻﻮﻒ /ṣūf/ means "wool" in Arabic and ﺻﻮﻓﺔ /ṣūfa, ṣaufa/ are listed under the root ﺹﻭﻒ /ṣwf/.


Simon observes correctly that in Avicenna the word ﺍﺳﻔﻨﺞ /isfunğ/ is used, which is indeed ultimately derived from Greek σπόγγος /spóngos/ {i.e. "sea sponge"}. Cf. Siggel (1950: 14): ﺍﺳﻔﻨﺞ ﺍﻟﺒﺤﺮ isfunğ (al-baḥr)/ Spongia officinalis L., Meerschwamm σπόγγος /spóngos/ {i.e. "sea sponge"}; Wehr (1976: 17):ﺍﺳﻔﻨﺞ /isfanğ, isfunğ/.

The word is used by Avicenna e.g. in the second book of the Canon in his chapter entitled in the Arabic original, p. 131: ﺍﺳﻔﻨﺞ /isfanğ/ [[3]].

This is in its Latin translation: [Goehl] Capitulum 602. De spongia maris {(annotation: asfengi albhar)} "On the sea-sponge". Also available online in Lyon edition (1522: 119): De spongia maris Ca. dcii [[4]].


ﺍﺳﻔﻨﺞ /isfanğ, isfunğ/ is also used e.g. in [Goehl] Capitulum 406 {404}. De lapide spongiae (annotation: hagiar alsefengi) – "On the sponge-stone". Lapis spongiae quid est? Est lapis inventus in corpore spongiae – "What is the sponge-stone? It is a stone found in the {inner} body of the sponge". Also available online in Lyon edition (1522: 101): De lapide spongie Ca. ccccvi [[5]].

Cf. the Arabic original pp. 180/181: ﺣﺠﺮﺍﻻﺳﻔﻨﺞ /ḥağar al-isfunğ/ ﺍﻟﻤﺎﻫﻴﺔ ۞ ﻫﺬﺍ ﺣﺠﺮ ﻳﻮﺟﺪ ﻓﻰ ﺟﺮﻡ ﺍﻻﺳﻔﻨﺞ /al-māhīya - hāḏā ḥağar yūğadu fī ğirm al-isfunğ/ [[6]], [[7]].


Biological remarks:

Corcerning what substance 'sponge-stone' is meant to be, consulting Croker, Williams & Clark (1765: 120), reveals: "In the larger and coarser pieces of spunge {sic}, there are often small stones found embedded in the substance of the matter; and yet, more frequently, a crustaceous sparry matter gathered round the surface of certain parts of the plant; both these substances are called by the common name of lapis spongiae, the sponge-stone, … "

N.b. At times this substance was confused or equated with pumice stone and meerschaum {in Latin: spuma maris}; cf. Karbstein (2002: 38, 8) Meeresschwamm/ Bimsstein/ Meerschaum.

WilfGunther 21:44, 28 September 2014 (BST)


See also: Spongia, Asfengi, Gefafe

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