SC - So-Called "Oil from the Spleen"
Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
Thu Sep 21 07:24:32 PDT 2000
Either Dionisio Perez was an idiot, or he was working with a seriously
flawed manuscript.
Let me explain. Perez was the editor of the 1929 printing of the 1529
edition of Nola. I have mostly been working from his book, though I also
have a facsimile manuscript, because print is a lot easier to read than
calligraphy. (And the footnotes are helpful.) However, lately I have been
discovering some troubling errors in his transcription. There's a recipe
for fava beans which says to take the whitest ones that have not been
"cocidas" by weevils. Huh? "Cocidas" means cooked. As far as *I*
know, weevils are content to eat their food raw. I thought it might be an
archaic secondary meaning, but couldn't find one. I asked someone
else who has worked with the text -- a native speaker -- and she said
that her edition said "comidas" -- eaten. Makes perfect sense. So I
looked at the facsimile, and there was a perfectly clear "comidas" in the
midst of that sentence.
In the "manteca" thread, Vincente and I were discussing the puzzling
"aceite de bazo" -- so-called oil from the spleen. Well, "bazo" does
mean spleen, no getting around that. But when I looked in the facsimile
this morning, what I saw was "aceite debaxo". (Note the 'x', where
Perez spelled it with a 'z'.) Now, you have to understand that medieval
Spanish often uses an 'x' where modern spelling would use 'j'.
Transforming "debaxo" into "debajo" makes the word mean
"underneath", which makes perfect sense. And the phrase in the recipe
now reads: "cast in a little oil underneath so that the dough does not stick to
the frying pan". (The recipe is for a tart, baked Dutch-oven style in a frying-
pan with coals on the lid.)
Carmen Irazno, editor of the 1969 printing of the 1525 edition of Nola,
transcribed the word as "debaxo", and the glossary in back says "debaxo-
debajo".
It was my intention anyway to check my translation against the facsimile, but
now I will do so much more carefully.
Brighid, muttering darkly into her coffee
Lady Brighid ni Chiarain
Settmour Swamp, East (NJ)
mka Robin Carroll-Mann
harper at idt.net
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