hāre-minte

Old-English: hareminte, harewinta, harminte,

Latin (Machine generated): CAROCASIA, COLLOCASTA, COLOCASIA, COLOSIA,

• →minte;

• B: plant: native
  Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi, lesser calamint, Kleinblütige Bergminze
• A: plant: native "Doubtfully native." (Clapham 1962,738).
  ?? Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds., spear mint, Ross-Minze

• Comment on (A): ?? Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds., spear mint, Ross-Minze

  The L lemmata resemble Gk κολοκασιον (= Nelumbo nucifera Gärtn., lotus, Indische Lotosblume, or Colocasia antiquorum Schott, elephant's ear, Elefantenohr) and do not match any mint species. The source for this gloss (also cf. Kindschi) is Isidor 17,9,82: COLOCASIA [NOMEN HERBAE].[1] MENTA AGRESTIS QUAM GRAECI ΚΑΛΑΜΊΝΔΗ, NOSTRI VULGO NEPETAM VOCAVERUNT. Therefore MENTA AGRESTIS (= MENTASTRUM = MENTA ALBA; cf. CGL 1965,6,693 s.vv.) has erroneously been taken as synonym of COLOCASIA; similar occurences are AhdGl 1999,3,573,60: COLOCASIA[2] uuildiuminza (Ms.Clm 14747), vildiu minza (Codex SGalli 299), feltminza (Ms. Clm.14689). Based on this (erroneous) evidence Marzell (2000,3,146) has COLOCASIA as old name for M. arvensis[3]

  Förster (1917,140) and Lindheim consistently interprete hareminte as sēo hāre minte, 'a whitely mint species, eine weißliche Minzenart' which would fit the description of M. longifolia perfectly; nevertheless this identification has to be revoked as Biggam (1998,179-187) has introduced a new line of argumentation (see our meaning B).

• Comment on (B): Calamintha nepeta (L.) Savi, lesser calamint, Kleinblütige Bergminze

  Biggam bases her identification on a meticulous analysis (1998,179-187) of both historical texts and images and concludes that if we assume Is. 17,9,82 being the source for the OE plant name, the glossator used L NEPETA to qualify MENTA AGRESTRIS. Cf. André (1985, s.v.) NEPETA = C. nepeta; also cf. →nefte.