Sunday 9 April 2017

Walahfridus Strabo: a useful herb.



The cultivation of herbs was an important part of the work of monasteries in the Middle Ages. Medical care was often in the hands of dedicated monks and they mostly had no other options than using herbs and a lot of praying for the sick.
Walahfridus Strabo (808 – 849) was abbot at Reichenau and an important Carolinian writer. Amongst his many works is a poem about cultivating an herbal garden, Liber de Cultura Hortorum also known as Hortulus, in which he describes 24 plants. He dedicated this poem to his friend Grimaldus, abbot of Sankt Gallen. Whether or not Walahfridus was himself an enthusiastic gardener is unknown, but he was at least an enthusiastic poet and with this work he has created the oldest didactic poem on herbs in the Middle Ages
The following poem is about sage, still a popular herb for use in the kitchen, but I don't think it is still in use as a medical herb.

Walahfridus Strabo, Hortulus, IV Salvia (Salvia officinalis L.)
Meter: hexameter

    Lelifagus prima praefulget fronte locorum,
    Dulcis odore, gravis virtute atque utilis haustu.
    Pluribus haec hominum morbis prodesse reperta
    Perpetuo viridi meruit gaudere iuventa.
    Sed tolerat civile malum: nam saeva parentem
    Progenies florum, fuerit ni dempta, perurit
    Et facit antiquos defungier invida ramos.


lelifagus: derived from ἐλελίσφακος, the Greek name for salvia
prima: with (in) fronte `at the very entrance’
locorum: of the places (i.e. the plant beds).  So salvia stood at the entrance of the garden.
praefulgeo: to glitter in front, shine greatly
gravis: eminent
haec: despite the masculine gender of lelifagus
haustu: supinum of haurio `to drink’
morbus: disease
prodesse reperta: found to be useful
perpetuo viridi meruit gaudere iuventa: she had deserved to enjoy (gaudeo + abl.) her green youth for ever
tolero (-are): to endure, suffer
civile malum: civil strife
saeva parentem progenies florum perurit : the wild child destroys the parental flower. New sprouts of Salvia have to be cut in time as otherwise it will overgrow the parental plant.
demo dempsi demptum (-ere): to remove
facit defungier ( = defungi): causes to die (The archaic form defungier is found in Terence. Roman comedies were well-known during the Middle Ages.)
invidus: envious
ramus: branch

 

Women picking leaves of a salvia plant (Picture from Tacuinum Sanitatis in Medicina c. 1498)

There is no ready translation for copy paste on internet, but a translation can be found here:

 



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