SC - lime or sorbet, but not lime sorbet

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir wrote:
> 
> "de quo distemper predictam pastam ut fiat ad modum sorbitii" - from
> Tracantus de modo preparandi ..., quoted in The Medieval Kitchen.

Hmm. My copy of Cassell's Latin Dictionary, admittedly focussing on
classical Latin, not medieval Latin, says "sorbitio" refers to sorbs or service-berries.

What do people think of the chances that Redon, et al, are taking a word
that sounds like sorbet and translating it as such, without checking to
see if the item supposedly referenced (i.e. sorbet) actually existed? In
other words, are they seeing the word "sorbet" and automatically
assuming it to mean some sort of chilled fruity confection?  We could
get into some interesting examples of circular logic, potentially, if
not careful. ("Sorbet is documentable in 15th-century Italy by the
presence of the word "sorbitii", which means sorbet, which is a fruity
confection, chilled or frozen, etc.")

Or, I could be talking through a hole in a bowl. You be the judge...

Lime, BTW, was often used as a mason's mortar or grout. It would be
about as thick as plaster of Paris usually is. Kinda like toothpaste. It
would go through a hole in a bowl, but not too easily.

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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