SC - Re: So-Called "Oil from the Spleen"

[Vincent Cuenca]

>Either Dionisio Perez was an idiot, or he was working with a seriously
>flawed manuscript.

I vote for the first part, meself.
>
>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.

That's the way I translated it too; I wrote it off as a typographical error, 
of which there are many.  I took a few liberties here and there when there 
was an obvious typo or the direct translation was too confusing.
>
>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.)

NOW it makes sense!
>

>It was my intention anyway to check my translation against the facsimile, 
>but
>now I will do so much more carefully.
Geez, sounds like you're much better equipped than I am.  Sheesh!

Vicente
(rethinking those publishing plans)
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