[Sca-cooks] Gems preventing poisoning

emilio szabo emilio_szabo at yahoo.it
Thu Dec 27 15:27:40 PST 2007


> ... I have a little problem with your 
> citations in Italian, German and Middle English...If you prefer modern English: Many articles on the following site mention old sources 
in modern English paraphrase:

http://www.jjkent.com/articles/precious-stones-guide-vol9/index.htm

E.g.: http://www.jjkent.com/articles/medicinal-virtues-emeralds.htm
("... The emerald was employed as an antidote
for poisons and for poisoned wounds, as well as against demoniacal
possession. (Lapidario del Rey D. Alfonso X, Codice Original, Madrid,
1881, f. xv.)")

This passage in question was translated into Castilian by Maria Brey Marino 
as follows:

46. De la piedra que tiene nombre "zamorat".
Del décimosexto grado del signo de Tauro es la piedra a 
que dicen en arábigo "zamorat" y en latin "esmeralda". Esta piedra
es verde, de muy hermosa verdura, y cuanto más lo es, tanto es
mejor. Mezclada es de naturaleza de tierra y de piedra; y
es, de su naturaleza, fría y seca. Hácese mucha en las minas
de oro y hállanla en tierra de Occidente más que en otro lugar.

Su virtud es tal que sirve contra todos los tósigos mortales
y heridas o mordeduras de bestias venenosas; si tomaren de ella
peso de una dracma, la molieren, la cernieren y la dieren a beber
con vino o con agua al hombre envenenado, sana, que no
muere ...

There are other places where it is said that you have to wear the gemstone
around your neck, on the left hand etc.


Here is C.W. King's "Antique gems"; it includes a translation of Marbod's 
Liber de lapidibus seu de gemmis, which was probably the most important
text during the Middle Ages.
http://books.google.com/books?id=PRgGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:gems&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1

Marbod starts here:
http://books.google.com/books?id=PRgGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:gems&lr=&num=100&as_brr=1#PPA389,M1
(John Riddle, in his edition of Marbod, suggests alternative translations now and then but still reprints King's translation.)

Could you please quote, what Alfonso Luengo wrote? 

Another valuable article is Urban Tigner Holmes's "Mediaeval gem stones", published in Speculum, vol. 9, 1934, pages 195-204. Among other things, he used inventories of kings in order to see what kinds of gems they really had.

There is also a 15th century spanisch adaption of Marbode, on which see Nunemaker in a short article in Speculum, vol. 13, 1938, page 62-67.

Of course, reading the old texts in the original language opens a field 
which is much wider. E.g., there is a transcription of 

the "Lapidaire" attributed to Jean de Mandeville:



http://www.univ-provence.fr/Local/cuerma/dir/user-1086/Gontero-lapidaireFV.pdf


A printed "lapidaire en francoys compose par messire Jehan des mandeuille cheualier"
is online at http://gallica.bnf.fr
This text, e.g., says in the chapter about "Le dyamant" that it "fuit venin" (makes poison flee); 
This echos a passage in Marbod's "De adamante": "Atra venena fugat" 'it chases away black poisions' (John Riddle, improving on King's translation).

Happy new year to all,
Emilio







      ___________________________________ 
L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! Mail: http://it.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html


More information about the Sca-cooks mailing list