Kitran
Kitran arabice grecus dicit kidria vel kedria ut supra, latini cedrian dicunt est gummi cedri que vocatur apud Avicennam xerbin est kitran vel alkitran notum apud nos quod dicimus vulgo kitran/ katran sed de hoc supra in ce et cetera.
Apparatus:
Kitran AC f | Kitrã B jp | Kitra ms. e
arabice | au͠t f {= autem}
kidria vel kedria | kidria uel ū su kedria B
cedrian AC f | cedriam ej | cedriã B p
est om. e
gũmi A efj | gũi BC p
apud A … trã B {text missing between A - vicennam xerbin est ki – trã B}
xerbiʒ AC | xerbin efp | xerbĩ j
vel alkitran om. jp
alkitran AC f | alkitrã B e
notum | notã j
{vulgo} kitran AC | kitram p | kidraʒ j | katrã B f | catram ms. e
supra | om. B
in ce | in cedria -dria added by different hand in ms. j
et cetera add. AC
Added in e: aliqui exponũt alkitraʒ a. pix liquida oleũ iuniperi.
Translation:
Kitran is Arabic for what a Greek calls kidria or kedria, see the entry Kedrea above, Latin speakers call it cedria. It is gummi cedri {"gum/resin of the cedar tree"}, which is called xerbin in Avicenna, which is also called in Arabic kitran or {with the article} alkitran. It is known among us as - what we call in folk language - kitran/ katran, but for more about this see the entry Cedria, et cetera.
Added in e: Some people define alkitram as Arabic for liquid pitch {or} juniper oil.
Commentary:
kitran:
Wehr (1976): ﻗﻃﺮﺍﻥ /qaṭrān/ (/qiṭrān/, /qaṭirān/) "tar". Siggel (1950: 60): ﻗﻃﺮﺍﻥ /qiṭrān/ "Teer, Harz, bes. Zedernharz. {i.e. "tar, resin, especially cedar resin"}
xerbin:
Wehr (1976): ﺷﺮﺑﻴﻥ /šarbīn/ "a variety of larch”. Siggel (1950: 45): ﺷﺮﺑﻴﻥ /šarbīn/ Cedrus, Ceder ; Juniperus oxycedrus (Cupressac.) {i.e. "prickly juniper, prickly cedar"} [[1]].
(vulgo) kitran/ katran:
Battisti (1968: I.A-CA 816) s.v. catrame, the Modern Italian word for “tar”, lists a number of Italic language and dialect forms and he mentions Genoese “catràn”, which is most probably a form similar to what Simon of Genoa must have had in mind. “catràn” is derived from medieval Latin catranum, which in turn is loaned from the Arabic variant ﻗﻃﺮﺍﻥ /qaṭrān/.
WilfGunther 05/03/2014
See also: Cedria, Gummi cedri, Kedrea, Kedros, Quitram, Scerbin
