Golena
Golena in antidotario esdra dicto exponitur origanum.
Apparatus:
Golena ABC fjp | Goleria(?) e
antidotario ABC | antidoto jp | antido (antido f) ef
esdra AC f | exdra B ep | exdya j
dicto | dc͞a j | om. f
exponitur | exponi j
origanum | cugiliũ? (cri-?) f
Translation:
Golena is the name for origanum in the compound medicine known as the Esdra antidote.
Commentary:
The Esdra antidote contains over 60 or more ingredients, and its composition is described in most medieval antidotaria, like the Antidotarium Nicolai, where in fact one of the ingredients is "golene" {i.e. in the genitive case}.
Esdra is named after the biblical personage of this name, who supposedly invented this antidote during the Babylonian exile. The name appears as Ἔζρας /Ézras/ in the Septuagint and Ezra(s), Esdra(s) in the Vulgate, where he is the eponymous hero of Liber I and II Ezrae. He is described, I Esr.7,11, as: sacerdos, scriba, eruditus in praeceptis Domini - "priest and scribe, learned in the texts of the Lord", and in later Jewish tradition he was elevated to prophet.
The form Golena is also mentioned in the
Alphita, ed. Mowat (1887: 77): Golena id est origagonum. {sic!} [[1]]
and the
Sinonoma Bartholomei, ed. Mowat (1882: 77): Golena, i.origanum. [[2]]
Avelina Carrera de la Red extracted from Antonio de Nebrija’s Dictionarium latino-hispanicum and other sources a glosario of all the medical terminology found in Nebrija’s work, which she calls Dictionarium Medicum. She comments on p. 259, headed: Golecia vel gorenia, that concerning Golene there are numerous medieval variants of this plant name like golena, colina, colenne.
According to André (1956: 96), colena is a corruption of cunila and he gives i.a. these references:
Isidorus: 17, 9, 76, Oxford edition (1911): Origanum quod latine colena interpretatur propter quod infusa coloret vinum – "Origanum is called in Latin colena because when infused in wine it colours {coloret} it" [[3]].
and
the Dynamidia: 2, 12, ed. Mai (1835: 429), where it simply states: Origanum, hoc est colena [[4]]..
WilfGunther (talk) 23/11/2013
For further information see Colena origanum, Cunilla.
