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æg-wyrt
noun,
f.,
i-decl.,
hapax legomenon
Type: plant
Last Update: 12.10.2011 11:07
Meaning Last Update: 20.09.2010 13:39
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A: plant: native
?? Taraxacum officinale Weber, common dandelion, Gewöhnlicher Löwenzahn
Comment Last Update: 28.03.2011 07:15
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Comment on (A): ?? Taraxacum officinale Weber, common dandelion, Gewöhnlicher Löwenzahn
Occurrence Last Update: 31.03.2009 09:58
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Image Last Update: 12.10.2011 11:07
?? Taraxacum officinale Weber, common dandelion, Gewöhnlicher Löwenzahn |
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Botanical-Information: stylised plate
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
BT:
Bosworth, Joseph.
An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Ed. by Thomas Northcote Toller. Reprint 1973. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
BW II:
Bierbaumer, Peter.
Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 2. Bern, Frankfurt am Main, München: Lang, 1976.
LA:
Cockayne, Oswald Thomas (ed.).
"[Lacnunga] Recipies." 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. 3. Rev. Ed. by Charles Singer. London: Holland Press, 1961. 2-81.
LB:
Leonhardi, Günther.
Kleinere angelsächsische Denkmäler I. Bibliothek der ags. Prosa VI. Hamburg: Grand, 1905.
Grein, Christian-Wilhelm-Michael (ed.).
Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie. Göttingen: Wigand, 1864.
MS London, British Library, Harley 585.
Pettit, Edward, (ed. and trans.).
Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms and Prayers from British Library MS Harley 585: the 'Lacnunga'. Vol. I: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Appendices. Vol. II: Commentary and Bibliography. Mellen Critical Editions and Translations. 6A and 6B. Lewiston, Queenston and Lampeter: Mellen, 2001.
The recipe of LA 148/13f is that of LB 99/19f, only that the LB has →ēag-wyrt, another hapax legomenon, instad of ægwyrt. Concerning the meaning cf. Cockayne (1961,II,368): "ægwyrt, gen. -e, fem., eggwort, dandelion, leontodon taraxacum; like Germ. Eyerblume, from the round form of the pappus. Lacn.40." BT accept this definition, which is the literal meaning of the OE lemma. The DOE labels ægwyrt as a spelling variant of →ēag-wyrt and provides the meanings of both plant names: "plant of uncertain identification; form suggests it is a plant used to treat complaints of the eye; ‘dandelion’ and ‘eyebright’ have been suggested as possible identifications". Pettit (2001,LXXI,516) has a similar reasoning: "The two forms can be reconsiled if - as is occasionally the case with other words in Lacn. - the 'æ' results from late OE monophtongisation of 'ea' (equally it might result from Anglian smoothing of 'ea')." He does not favour the identification of ægwyrt by Cockayne, etc. but supports the identification of →ēag-wyrt.
Since the context of the recipe provides no further evidence, the OE name can denote any plant that is known als 'egg-plant, egg-wort, egg-flower, Eierpflanze, Eierwurz, Eierblume'. Marzell (2000,V,101), for example, names ten plants that have the G name 'Eierblume', among them Taraxacum Weber. ModE 'eggwort' is not documented anywhere.