Graeco-Aramaica. The Syrian Plant Names in Pseudo-Dioscorides.

The collection of synonymous plant names added to Dioscorides’ De materia medica between the 2nd and the 5th centuries CE contains many glosses in different languages. Among them are seven plant names attributed to the Syrians. The main aim of the paper is to re-examine whether they are of Aramaic origin. Consideration is also given to the possible occurrence of these plant names in other Greek sources and to the botanical identification of individual names. As a result, the paper shows that five plant names can be treated as Aramaic: ἁρμαλά ‘rue (Ruta graveolens L.)’ (Jewish Aramaic ḥrmltʾ ‘wild rue’, Mandaic harmal ‘rue’, Arabic ḥarmal ‘wild rue’), βησσασά ‘rue (Ruta graveolens L.)’ (Jewish Aramaic baššāš, baššāšā ‘wild rue’; Syriac baššāšā, bšwšʾ ‘id.’), λαλλαβιάρια ‘white bryony (Bryonia dioica Jacq.)’ (Syriac ʾālepšrā ‘white bryony’), λοῦφαν ‘a kind of arum (especially Arum maculatum L. and Arum palaestinum Boiss.)’ (Aramaic *lûpā ‘Solomon’s lily’, reconstructed on the basis of the Mishnaic Hebrew lôp or lûp ‘id.’; cf. Syriac lāwpā [or lūpā?] ‘perh. pellitory, parietary; dragon arum; peeled barley’; Arabic lūf ‘sponge gourd; dragon arum’), and σασά ‘white lily (Lilium candidum L.)’ (Jewish Aramaic sôsaʾn, šwšnh ‘lily’, Syriac swsn ‘id.’). The etymology of the Syrian glosses ἀδοριού ‘sea carrot (Daucus carota var. drepanensis [Arcang.] Heywood) or sekakul (Malabaila secacul [Mill.] Boiss.)’ and μεούδα ‘sea beet (Beta vulgaris var. maritima [L.] Arcang.)’ is unknown. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]