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ælf-þone
noun,
f.,
n-decl.,
10 occ.
Type: plant
Last Update: 28.03.2011 09:48
Meaning Last Update: 28.03.2011 08:08
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A: plant: native
Solanum dulcamara L., bittersweet nightshade, Bittersüßer Nachtschatten
Comment Last Update: 17.10.2011 08:09
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Comment on (A): Solanum dulcamara L., bittersweet nightshade, Bittersüßer Nachtschatten
Occurrences Last Update: 31.03.2009 10:03
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Etymology Last Update: 28.03.2011 09:48
- Etymology: Etymology-Comment:
- Word-Formation:
- Word-Formation-Comment:
Image Last Update: 28.03.2011 09:48
Solanum dulcamara L., bittersweet nightshade, Bittersüßer Nachtschatten |
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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
BT:
Bosworth, Joseph.
An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary. Ed. by Thomas Northcote Toller. Reprint 1973. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1882.
BW I:
Bierbaumer, Peter.
Der botanische Wortschatz des Altenglischen. Grazer Beiträge zur Englischen Philologie 1. Bern, Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1975.
DOE:
Cameron, Angus, Ashley Crandell Amos, Antonette di Paolo Healey, et al. (eds.).
Dictionary of Old English (A to G). CD-Rom. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies for the Dictionary of Old English Project, 2008.
LA, Lor:
Grattan, John Henry Grafton, and Charles Singer.
Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1952.
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.
Cameron, Malcolm Lawrence.
Anglo-Saxon Medicine. Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England. 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Deegan, Marilyn.
A Critical Edition of MS. B.L. Royal 12.D.XVII: Bald's 'Leechbook'. Diss. Univ. of Manchester. 1988.
Hankins, Freda Richards.
Bald's 'Leechbook' Reconsidered. Diss. Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1993.
Hegi, Gustav.
Illustrierte Flora von Mitteleuropa. Mit bes. Berücks. v. Oesterreich, Deutschland u. d. Schweiz. Zum Gebrauche in d. Schulen u. zum Selbstunterricht. Bd 1-7. Wien: Pichler, 1906.
Kluge, Friedrich.
Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache. 24th rev. and enl. ed. Berlin, New York: De Gruyter, 2002.
MS London, British Library, Royal 12 D.xvii.
Olds, Barbara M..
The Anglo-Saxon Leechbook III: A Critical Edition and Translation. Diss. Univ. of Denver. 1985.
Pokorny, Julius.
Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2 Bde., 2. Auflage. Bern u.a.: Francke, 1989.
Pollington, Stephen.
Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plant Lore, and Healing. Hockwold-cum-Wilton: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2000.
Pritzel, Georg und Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Jessen.
Die deutschen Volksnamen der Pflanzen. Neudr. der Ausg.Hannover 1882. Amsterdam: Schippers, 1967.
Storms, Godfrid (ed.).
Anglo-Saxon Magic. Reprint of the 1948 ed. published by M. Nijhoff, The Hague. Norwood, Pa: Norwood Editions, 1975.
Tschirch, Alexander.
Handbuch der Pharmakognosie. 3 Bde und Reg.. Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1927.
Wright, Cyril E. (ed.).
Bald's Leechbook. Early English manuscripts in facsimile. 5. Kopenhagen: Rosenkilde & Bagger, 1955.
The identification 'Solanum dulcamara L., bittersweet nightshade, Bittersüßer Nachtschatten' is based on the plant name's etymology. The identification provided by Cockayne (1961,III,311) and BT (also Storms 1948,319) can be ignored because 'Circaea lutetiana L., Paris nightshade, Gewöhnliches Hexenkraut' does not match the meaning of -þone ('twine, Ranke'): C. lutetiana is not a creeper (cf. Hegi 1906,V,877). M.L. Cameron (1993,110f) also follows this reasoning and connects the OE plantname through the indications listed in the recepies to the solanaceae family. Moreover, C. lutetiana is outside the Germanic tradition and its popular name 'enchanter's nightshade, Hexenkraut' cannot be traced farther back than the 16th century (cf. Grattan / Singer 1952, 85-86). Nevertheless, Hankins (1992,218), and Pollington (2000,117) follow Cockayne's tradition.
Etymology: Pokorny (1989,I,30): "albho- 'weiß' […] lat. albus 'weiß' […] ahd. albiz, elbiz, ags. aelbitu, ielfetu, […] wahrscheinlich auch anord. alfr, ags. ælf, engl. elf […] mnd. alf 'Alp, Mare, böser Geist', mhd. nhd. Alp, Pl. die Alben (urspr. wohl 'weißliche Nebelgestalten'". Several OE names of illnesses are related to elves: ylfa gescot: 'elf shot, Elfengeschoß' (='lumbago, Hexenschuß'), ælfādl, wæterælfādl: 'elf sickness, Elfenkrankheit' or 'water-elf sickness, Wasserelfenkrankheit' (probably 'dropsy, Wassersucht'), etc. (cf. Geldner 1906,13).
Pokorny (1989,I,1065f) relates -þone to the IE root *ten- 'draw, cut, strain, dehnen, ziehen, spannen'; cf. L TENDO, -ERE 'strain, expand, spannen, ausdehnen', GOT. uf-þanjan 'expand, sprawl, sich ausdehnen, sich ausstrecken', OE þenian, þennan 'distend, strain, strecken, spannen', OHG, MHG donên 'expand, sich ausdehnen', OHG dona, AS thona 'twig, twine, Zweig, Ranke' (also cf. Kluge 2002, s.v. Dohne), MHG done, don 'strain, Spannung'. Consequently OE ælfþone can be translated with 'alp-twine, Albranke' and has to be synonymous with G 'Alfranken, Alpranken' (cf. Pritzel / Jessen 1967,381.5) as wel as NL alfsranken (cf. Hoops 1889,49): all names denote S. dulcamara.
The determinative ælf- refers to the use against sickness caused by elves, cf. Tschirch (1927,I,455): "Solche Qualmkräuter, welche vor allem die elbischen, stechenden und schmerzbereitenden Dämonen vertreiben sollten, waren […] Cannabis […] Bilsenkraut […] Atropa Beladanna […] und das uralte Nachtschaden- und Schadenkraut (Solanum)." Concerning this use cf. the fumigation recipe in LB 106/12ff which is specificly against 'elf sickness' (ælfādl) and which has ælfþone as main ingredient. The primary word -þone refers to the plant's winding stalks (vgl. Hegi 1906,V,2589).