''De Viribus Herbarum'' (On the properties of plants), also known by the author's pseudonym, Macer Floridus, is a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek as well as in Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of s ...

poem on the properties of herbs. It was written, probably by Odo of

Meung-sur-Loire Meung-sur-Loire () is a commune in the Loiret department, north-central France. It was the site of the Battle of Meung-sur-Loire in 1429. Geography Meung-sur-Loire lies 15 km to the west of Orléans on the north bank of the river Loir ...

, in the 11th century. It was still in scholarly use as late as the 16th century, but was superseded by more comprehensive

herbal A herbal is a book containing the names and descriptions of plants, usually with information on their medicinal, Herbal tonic, tonic, culinary, toxic, hallucinatory, aromatic, or Magic (paranormal), magical powers, and the legends associated wi ...

Translations

The herbal was translated first into Hebrew, then also German, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, French, Italian, and Spanish. A

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

version of the poem was translated by John Lelamour, a schoolmaster from

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

, in the fourteenth century.

Sources

The original poem lists 77 plants and their properties; it is accompanied by 20 additional items known as " Spuria", which were added later. The ultimate source of most of the information is Pliny's '' Historia naturalis'', though Odo may have come to this information second-hand, possibly through the Roman writer Gargilius Martialis.

References

External links

Beinecke MS 823
a fully digitized twelfth-century copy of ''De Viribus Herbarum''
A digitized copy of the first printed edition (Naples, 1477)
* {{Cite book , url=https://archive.org/details/deviribusherbaru00mace , title=De viribus herbarum , date=1832 , publisher=Lipsiae : Leopoldi Vossii , editor-last=Choulant , editor-first=Johann Ludwig , editor-link=Johann Ludwig Choulant, a critical edition of the poem History of medieval medicine 11th-century books in Latin 11th-century poems Herbals Medical texts Latin-language literature Medical manuals

Translations

Sources

See also

Further reading

References

External links