Helen COB
On Monday, April 15, 2002, at 04:55 PM, Patrick Roper wrote:
I would be interested in views on the plants in the following from Eclogue
IV:
Errantis hederas passim cum baccare tellus Mixtaque ridenti colocasia fundet acantho
Hedera and Acanthus were, I imagine, the same as the plants (ivy and bear's
breeches) that bear those Latin names today. Colocasia and baccar, however,
seem to present some difficulties. One translator suggests sowbreads and
lotuses, another gipsy lilies and wild woodbine, my dictionary indicates
Celtic valerian (whatever that was)and Egyptian bean while Dryden bags them
all up as 'fragrant herbs'.
Do people just have a guess at what these words might have meant?
Patrick Roper
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