Trinity College MS O.2.48 - Dabelion

Cambridge, Trinity College MS O.2.48 is a late XIV Century herbal which is thought to have been written in Germany. Rene Zandbergen has linked the digital scans on the Voynich.ninja forum. The manuscript is in part an ordinary copy of the collection of texts usually referred to as Pseudo-Apuleius, but a large part of the herbal (from f107r to 250v) presents plants whose names and appearance seem unknown.

A possible exception is the plant illustrated at the bottom of f185v. Unluckily, the right margin of the page is missing and a few words of the text have been lost. As in the case of Herba Romeys, a large part of the text is devoted to describe the properties of a magical stone that can be found inside the root of the plant.

Larger image of the text

Transcription: Nomen herbe Dabelion Greci farney. | [Eb]rayci Surop. Nascitur montibus | […] stipitem huius rubeam rectam. cum Xii. | […] foliis similibus cameleonte agresti. | […] stipitem crocesas rotundis | […] flore facit | […] unum fere smile fragiure sed longiora | […] radice nigram grossam rotundam. in qua radice | invenitur […] lapidem albam grossa fere avellana | [186r] Ille [?] lapidem gestant peryuvat hominem abomni macula oculorum | et abomni veneno et malocibo et ab omnibus face [?] malis | et si quis erit exterminatus. habet hanc lapidem super se | [?] cum uxore poterit nubere. | Simile prestat concordiam inter vir et mulier. | Et si quis portas non sentiet dolorem | renum nec splenis. nec morbum caducus | pacietur. Fructus uno vel herba mixta [?] et cum ysopo […] sumptam | in potu vel cibo et epatem et pulmo | nem yllico sanat. cum aqua | cicorie et boraginis floris et tamarindi bullitur usque ad | tercias et per dies vii sumitur | omnes […] paraliticos sanat. | Lege eam mense augusti.

Translation [with tentative interpolations]: The name of the plant is Dabelion, Farney in Greek, | Surop in Hebraic. It grows on the mountains. | […] Its stem [is] red and straight with twelve [?] | […] with leaves similar to Dipsacus [Cameleonta Agrestis]. | [At the end of the] stem [there are] round yellow [flowers?]. | By [this] flower, it makes | a [fruit] almost similar to a strawberry, but longer. | […] The root is black, large and round. Inside this root, | one finds a […?] big white stone almost as big as a hazelnut. | [186r] Wearing this stone protects a man from eyes spots | and from venom and from bad food and from all kinds [?] of evil. | And if one had been dismissed, if he has this stone upon himself | he will be able to marry the woman. | Similarly, it brings harmony between man and woman. | If one brings it, he will not suffer from pain | at his kidneys or at his spleen. He will not suffer | of epilepsy. A fruit or the plant, mixed [?] with hyssop […] and drunk | or eaten, immediately heals the liver and the lungs. Boiled with an infuse of | chicory and flowers of borage and tamarind until | the third [hour] and taken for seven days, | it heals all […] paralytics. | Pick it in August.


It is tempting to think that the name “Dabelion” might derive, like the English “Dandelion”, from the French “dent de lion”. Apparently, the name didn't apply only to Taraxacum (represented in the two examples below), but also to species with a bulbous root, e.g. Leontodon Bulbosus. But the strawberry-like fruits are really hard to explain.

Cadamosto: die laughing with Apio (water dropwort)

The paragraph about Apio riso (Oenanthe crocata, Water dropwort) from Giovanni Cadamosto's herbal – Img.23 from manuscript ONB Cod. 5264 Han. (1470 ca) Vienna.

Transcription:
Apio riso e caldo et secco in terzo grado. mangiata lherba purga li humori melancolici et discaccia le tristicie del cuore et e inductivo di tanta alegreza chi ne mangiera in qu- antitade ridendo morietur. 

Translation: 
Water dropwort is hot and dry in the third degree. Eating this plant purges melancholic humors and drives sadness away from the heart. It causes such cheerfulness that he who eats a great quantity of it will die laughing.

Cadamosto: Artemisia / Mugwort against demons and kidney stones

The paragraph about Artemisia (mugwort) from Giovanni Cadamosto's  herbal - Img.13 from manuscript ONB Cod. 5264 Han. (1470 ca) Vienna.

Transcription:
ARtemesia e calda in terzo grado e secca in secondo et e dimandata
matre delle herbe. La decoctione de questa herba beuta cura le
apostreme de la matrice et sedendo in dicta decoctione cura le sue
dureze, pistata con buono vino et beuta fa disperdere le done.
et emplastrata suso el ventre provoca la secondina, beuta la
sua decocione facta con vino bianco p[ro]voca la urina et condu-
ce for a le pietre delle vene. adiuta quelli che sono gialdi et
cura quelli che hanno recevuto lo Opio pistata et beuta con
vino, et chi mangiara de la dicta herba sara sicuro del noci-
mento de le medecine. portandola al colo non sara morduto da
bestia venenosa. mettendo lherba ad bulire nel mosto nel vasello
bevendo de quel vino havera bono et gratissimo odore. et conf-
ortara el Stomaco et levara li humori melancolici del cuore.
mangiata dicta herba apre le vene emoroidale et cure le apo-
steme del sedio, et chi la porta con si non teme la fatica de
lo andare. missa nel casa discatia li Demonij et veta
at tutti li incantamenti.

Translation:
Artemisia is hot in the third degree and dry in the second. It is called
the mother of plants. Drinking a decoction of this plant cures the
apostemes of the uterus. Sitting in said decoction cures the harness
of uterus. Crushed with good wine and drunk it causes abortion.
Plastered upon the abdomen, it causes the expulsion of the placenta.
Drinking its decoction made with white wine causes urination and
takes out the stones from the veins [calculi]. It helps those who are
yellow [jaundice]. Crushed and mixed with wine, it cures those who
took opium. And whoever eats this plant will be safe from the damage
of medicines. Wearing it at the neck one will not be bitten by poisonous
animals. If you boil the plant with must in a small jar, drinking that wine
you will have a good and very pleasant smell. It will comfort
the stomach and remove melancholic humors from the heart.
When eaten, this plant opens hemorrhoidal veins and cures the
apostemes of the bottom. Who brings it with himself will not be
tired for traveling. Kept in the house, it drives demons away and
prevents all spells.

Cadamosto and Wellcome MS 336

I propose a visual comparison between two manuscripts of the herbal of Giovanni Cadamosto da Lodi and a Wellcome Library manuscript in which some of the illustrations are clearly derived from Cadamosto's. I learned of this third herbal from Rene Zandbergen. The manuscript was also discussed on the Voynich.Ninja forum.

• Vienna ONB Cod. 5264 Han. – possibly the earliest copy, but almost contemporary to the BNF ms.

• Paris BNF Italien 1108 – a 1471 copy made as a gift to Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara

• London Wellcome Library MS 336 – late XV Century. Not all the illustrations seem to derive from Cadamosto's but some certainly do. From the comparison, it is clear that the direct or indirect source is the BNF ms.

The three pants, top to bottom, are:

1. "Afodili" , asphodelus 
2. "Peonia" , paeonia / peony 
3. "Dragontea" , dracunculus vulgaris

I find particularly relevant for the comparison the roots of Afodili and Dragontea. Peonia in the Vienna ms seems almost unrelated with the other two illustrations.