SC - Apicius and Platina

[Thomas Gloning]

I looked around a bit to see, whether "laser foot" could be defended
somehow. But I failed.

Well, the latin counterpart to "foot" would be "pes, pedis". This word
_could_ be used for various parts of a plant in Latin too, e.g. for the
root of something, like in "pedes betacei" (quoted from Varro in Georges
II 1667). However, the Apicius recipe in question has "radix laseris"
'root of laser'.

Searching the electronic Apicius, I got from the Oxford Text Archive a
while ago, for "laser" and the more rare form "lasar" I found, that the
phrase "radix laseris" (or rather "laseris radicem") is VERY frequent
and that there is no "pes" 'foot' around, even if the Latin language
would allow for that. If you prefer a printed source for questions like
this, use the "Concordantia Apiciana", published in 1995.

Here is the passage with the recipe for Crane or Duck with Turnips. The
keyword is:
    "laseris       radicem". 
     of-the-laser  the-root-(accusative)

"Gruem vel anatem ex rapis: lavas, ornas et in olla
elixabis cum aqua, sale et anetho dimidia coctura. rapas
coque, ut exbromari possint. levabis de olla, et iterum
lavabis, et in caccabum mittis anatem cum oleo et liquamine
et fasciculo porri et coriandri. rapam lotam et
minutatim concisam desuper mittis, facies ut coquatur.
modica coctura mittis defritum ut coloret. ius tale parabis:
piper, cuminum, coriandrum, laseris radicem, suffundis
acetum et ius de suo sibi, reexinanies super anatem ut
ferveat. cum ferbuerit, amulo obligabis, et super rapas
adicies. piper aspargis et adponis." (Apicius 6.2.3)

Best,
Thomas
[Re: Tannahill, Food in history: for potatoes, she relies on R.N.
Salaman's 'The history and social influence of the potato (1949)' too.
This was also one of Wiegelmann's sources. -- I think we must go back to
_this_ source and its references. I do not know the Salaman book yet.]