SC - To Rant or not To Rant ??? (Long and Rambling)

[William Seibert]

> "17. Roast Chicken
> Roast a chicken which is well plucked, gutted and washed, and when the
> roast is placed in a dish before it cools, put lemon juice or verjuice
> on it with rose water, sugar and well-ground cinnamon, and serve it to
> your guests."
> 
Essentially Martino's recipe.  I used the version from The Medieval Kitchen
and tried their substitution of adding 1/2 a lemon to three sweet oranges to
make a more bitter sauce.  I used about 1/8 teaspoon of fresh grated
cinnamon.  No sugar was added because the oranges were already sweet.  1
Tablespoon rosewater which is all I had on hand.

> Note: Millham includes the information that Platina translates Martino's
> term "pomarancie" (orange) as "mali citrei", roughly "honey-sweet
> lemon". It may be that citrei refers to a citrus fruit, of which the
> most commonly known was the lemon, but I don't know why Millham seems to
> feel that while Platina actually meant oranges, she translates it as
> lemons.
> 
> Adamantius
> 
I think this may be one of those places where Platina was at a loss for a
Latin translation.  The citrei refers to the citron (citreum), which was the
first citrus fruit introduced to the Mediterranean around 325 B.C. as a
result of Alexander's conquests.  Introduced later, lemons tend to be
sweeter than citrons, so they were referred to as malum citreum.  Oranges
were unknown to the Romans and therefore have no direct translation into
Latin.

Milham being a classicist, translates the Latin correctly, but provides the
footnote to relate the Platin's recipe to its source in Martino and to
reconcile what was stated, "lemons", with what was meant, "oranges".  Had
Dr. Milham translated "mali citrei" as "oranges" it would have reflected
badly upon her scholarship.  By properly translating the term, then
explaining it in a footnote, she maintains the academic integrity of her
work.

Bear