Veratrum_album_bd1_tafel_118

tungilsin-wyrt

noun, f., i-decl., hapax legomenon

Type: plant

Last Update: 30.08.2011 11:29

References Last Update: 22.11.2022 12:10

Meaning Last Update: 08.11.2010 08:50

  • A: plant: foreign
    Veratrum album L., white veratrum, Weißer Germer
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Comment Last Update: 30.08.2011 11:26

  • Comment on (A): Veratrum album L., white veratrum, Weißer Germer

    Cf. Erhardt-Siebold (1936,164). The etymology of the plant name is not clear, maybe it refers to a personal name Tunsing (cf. DP, n.149), but Biggam (1997,171) doubts this theory and suggests that it was at some stage confused with þung, which is frequently glossed with ELEBORUS. Tunsingwyrt seems to be the original form (cf. BT, BTC, s.v.) while tungilsinwyrt and tuningwyrt appear to be reinterpretations or writing errors. Erhardt-Siebold (1936, 169) interprets tungilsinwyrt as 'star in herb' (OE tungol = 'star, Stern'). In her summary on the different attempts at identification of the plant name Banham (2002,97a) adds: "It has been suggested that tunsing has some­ thing to do with brewing, which one does in a tunne, or tun, but the intrusive 's' would be hard to account for. […] Where tunsingwyrt appears in glossaries, it usually translates some form of helleborus, but no hellebore resembles a star so clearly as to make an identification from these two pieces of information. At the moment, we can get no further with tunsingwyrt.“

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Occurrence Last Update: 03.03.2008 12:58

  • LB, 37/5 asg tungilsinwyrt
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Image Last Update: 30.08.2011 11:29

Veratrum album L., white veratrum, Weißer Germer

Veratrum_album_bd1_tafel_118

Botanical-Information: stylised plate

Source: →reference-information

Thomé, Otto Wilhelm. Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. In 4 Mappen ; 531 Tafeln in naturgetreuen Farben mit 668 Pflanzenarten. Leipzip: Teubner, 1938.

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Research Literature

BW I: Bierbaumer, Peter. Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 1. Bern, Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1975.
Dur: Lindheim, B. von. Das Durhamer Pflanzenglossar. Beiträge zur englischen Philologie. 35. Bochum-Langendreer: Pöppinghaus, 1941.
LB: Cockayne, Oswald Thomas (ed.). "Leech Book." In: Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England. Being a Collection of Documents, for the Most Part never before Printed, Illustrating the History of Sience in this Country before the Norman Conquest. Vol. 2. Rev. Ed. by Charles Singer. London: Longman [et. al.], 1961. 1-360.
LB: Leonhardi, Günther. Kleinere angelsächsische Denkmäler I. Bibliothek der ags. Prosa VI. Hamburg: Grand, 1905.
Banham, Debby. "Investigating the Anglo-Saxon _Materia Medica_: Archaeobotany, Manuscript Art, Latin and Old English." _The Archaeology of Medicine._ Ed. Robert Arnott. British Archaeological Reports. International Series. 1046. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2002. 95-99.
Biggam, Carole P.. "Blue' in Old English: an Interdisciplinary Semantic Study. Costerus ; N.S.,110. Amsterdam / Atlanta (Georgia): Rodopi, 1997.
Deegan, Marilyn. A Critical Edition of MS. B.L. Royal 12.D.XVII: Bald's 'Leechbook'. Diss. Univ. of Manchester. 1988.
Erhardt-Siebold, Erika von. "The Hellebore in Anglo-Saxon Pharmacy." Englische Studien 71 (1936): 161-170.
Hankins, Freda Richards. Bald's 'Leechbook' Reconsidered. Diss. Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1993.
Kitson, Peter. "Two Old English Plant-Names and Related Matters'. English Studies 69 (1988): 97-112.
MS London, British Library, Royal 12 D.xvii.
Wright, Cyril E. (ed.). Bald's Leechbook. Early English manuscripts in facsimile. 5. Kopenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1955.