[Sca-cooks] magpie / Athenaeus

Suey lordhunt at gmail.com
Thu Mar 6 11:40:58 PST 2008


Bear wrote:
> I think the answer may be a little more complex than a lazy translator. 
> Pica and cissa (kissa) refer to a class of nutrient deficency eating 
> disorders originally classified in Antiquity.  In a footnote on page 49 of 
> Temkin's translation of Soranus's Gynecology is the following, "The Kissa is 
> the Jay, Garrulus glandarius L., but the name included the magpie (pica in 
> Lat.) as well (cf. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, A Glossary of Greek Birds, new 
> edition, Oxford University Press, 1936, pp. 146-48.)  Soranus speaks of the 
> winged Kissa possibly distinguishing the bird from some fish, also named 
> Kissa (cf. Liddell & Scott s.v.2).  Through the Latin literature, "pica" has 
> become the more customary for designating the condition Soranus names 
> kissa."
>
> Bear
>
>   
medicinenet.com defines pica as:


*"Pica:* A craving for something not normally regarded 
"as nutritive. For example, dirt. Pica is a classic clue to iron deficiency in 
"children. It also occurs in zinc deficiency. Pica is also seen as a symptom in several 
"neurobiological disorders, including autism <http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=287> and Tourette's syndrome, 
"and is sometimes seen during pregnancy. 

"Pica is a Latin term for magpie, a bird that gleans all sorts of things 
for its nest."

Shouldn't that read: a bird that eats anything and everything in sight?
Another theory is that pie comes from the spots on the magpie's wings 
and tail which are called /pies/.

lubbockonline.com defines:
"kitta (a jay) for the genus, while the species name is from Latin 
cristata, meaning crested."

"kitta (a jay)" is mislerading. It should read a blue jay. We have more 
crested birds than the /Cyancitta cristata, /blue jay such as /Galerida 
cristata, /crested lark but the jay has nothing to do with being crested 
as the scientific name is indeed Garrulus glanderius.as Vittoria wrote.
lubbockonline is not the only misleading website when writing about this 
subject.
Suey






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