Xiracost
Xiracost arabice species manne ut Avicenna capitulo de manna.
Apparatus:
manne | mãna j
Translation:
Xiracost is Arabic for a kind of manna, as stated in Avicenna’s chapter De manna {"On manna"}.
Commentary:
Simon is referring to [Goehl] Avicenna’s Canon, liber II, Capitulum 493 {489}. De manna (followed by: id est melle (for manna annotation: men, et est nomen commune ad omnes species mannae) – {"On manna, which is melle (and manna is annotated: {Arabic} men, and it is the common name for all kinds of manna)"}. This text is also available online p. 109 De manna, cap. ccccxciii [[1]].
For the Arabic original see p. 212: ﻣﻦ /mann/ {"manna"} [[2]].
Xiracost:
This word is loaned from Persian, cf. Siggel (1950: 47): p. {= Persian} ﺷﻴﺮﺧﺸﻚ /šīrḫušk/ e. Manna-Art {i.e. "a kind of manna"}.
Steingass lists a number of variants in Persian: (1892: 741): ﺷﺮﺧﺸﺖ /širḫišt/ "a kind of manna, which at certain seasons drops upon the leaves of trees; pottage, gruel; (1892: 773): ﺷﻴﺮﺧﺸﺖ /šīrḫišt/ "manna (of Atraphaxis spinosa); a kind of bread; ibid. ﺷﻴﺮﺧﺸﻚ /šīrḫušk/ "a kind of manna"; (1892: 672): ﺳﻴﺮﺧﺴﺖ /sīrḫist/, ﺳﻴﺮﺧﺷﺖ /sīrḫišt/, "a species of white manna, dissolving in water like chalk, administered, mixed with flower, in fevers; a small sprinkling rain".
The word is a compound of the words for "milk" + "dry", describing how manna was perceived to be by some; cf. MacKenzie (1986): šīr "milk" + hušk "dry" {Steingass: khushk}
Manna:
See also Mana; for Arabic ﻣﻦ /mann/ see Men.
WilfGunther 10:47, 12 June 2015 (BST)
See also: Sciracost