Tabaisir
Tabaisir arabice spodium.
Apparatus:
Tabaisir AC jp | Tabasir f | Tabausir ms. e | Tabarsir B
{arabice} est add. efjp
Translation:
Tabaisir is Arabic for Latin spodium.
Commentary:
Siggel (1950: 49): ﻄﺒﺎﺷﻴﺮ /ṭabāšīr/, ﻄﺒﺷﻴﺮ /ṭabašīr/ Concretiones bambusae arundinaceae; Jetzt: Kreide. {i.e. "concretions from bamboo manna; but now it means 'chalk'"}.
Wehr (1976): ﻄﺒﺎﺷﻴﺮ /ṭabāšīr/ "chalk".
Tabasheer:
or "bamboo manna" is a silicious concretion from the hollows between the nodes of bamboo canes, especially of Bambusa arundinacea (Retz.) Willd, syn. of Bambusa bambos (L.) Voss, “thorny bamboo, bans” [[1]], [[2]], a plant that grows wild in most tropical parts of the Indian subcontinent, growing up to 1000 m altitude and in Northern China. The plant forms occasionally irregularly-shaped grains the size of a pea of a white, yellowish or brownish hue, transparent and consisting mainly of amorphous silicic acid, water and small amounts of potash, lime and other trace elements.
Tabasheer was exported from India for thousands of years, and was introduced to the Middle East and Europe through Arab traders during the medieval period, when it was a highly sought-after medicament. It is still part of Chinese, Ayurvedic and Arabian traditional medicine, where tabasheer is considered having aphrodisiac, cooling and tonic properties. It is used for a broad spectrum of afflictions, but mainly asthma, cough and diverse debilitating diseases.
spodium:
See Spodion (2)
WilfGunther (talk) 28/06/2014
See also: Spodion (2)
