Vuvon
Vuvon grece bubon nos dicere possumus inguen .s. apostema inguinis.
Apparatus:
Vuuon ep | Vunon B {'u' misread as 'n'} | Vuon f | Uuuuon AC
inguen (-guẽ e; ĩguẽ B) B ep | inguiẽ AC | inguem f
.s. ABC ep | secundum f
inguinis (ĩgui- AB) ABC f | iguinis ms. e | ingunũs p
Translation:
Vuvon is {the pronunciation for} Greek bubon {i.e.lit. "the groin"}, {in Latin} we can translate it inguen, it is {also} an imposthume of the groin.
Commentary:
Greek βουβών /boubṓn/, already attested in the Iliad, means "groin", in the plural "glands", and from there it developed the meaning "swollen glands" (LSJ). Simon here portrays a later Greek pronunciation having undergone the sound changes /b/ > /v/ and /ō/ > /o/ resulting in /vuvón/.
The semantic development of βουβών /boubṓn/ is paralleled in Latin by inguen, which means i.a. "the groin" and then "swelling in the groin" (Lewis & Short).
Greek βουβών /boubṓn/ was adopted into late Latin as bubo "swelling, tumour, abscess in glandular parts, but often in the groin area and the arm-pits" and became particularly associated with the symptoms of the plague, hence the "bubonic plague". Du Cange glosses: BUBO. Tumor, species carbunculi, seu ulceris, a Græco Βουβών, Inguen, quod hujusmodi tumores sæpius circa inguina nascuntur, Gall. Boubon – "BUBO, is a swelling/tumour, a kind of carbuncle or ulcer, from Greek Βουβών /Boubṓn/, inguen in Latin, because such tumours very often grow in the groin area, in French Boubon". Although the plague known as the "Black Death" only occurred as late as in 1347, most likely well after Simon's lifetime, there had earlier been a plague in the Byzantine Empire, 541–542, named the "Plague of Justinian", of which Simon probably had some knowledge due to the reports from the Byzantian historian Procopius Caesarensis, in Greek Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς /Prokópios Kaisareús/.
WilfGunther 16:57, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
