The Michigan Medical Codex: P. Mich. Inv. 21 - Corso di Papirologia

138 L.C. Youtie
The new Oxford Latin Dictionary (ed. P.G.W.Glare, 1982) has "oesypum, some
times written oesopum (fr. Gr. oCcunoc). The grease obtained from unwashed
wool (used in medicine, as a cosmetic, etc.).
The Azanites text of Paulus (VII 19.6) has otc'unou Wp4p&xou, "the medic
ament, oesypum"; but four of the MSS of Paulus have the spelling oCc6mou,
while four other MSS have uccorTou = hyssop.50) Hyssop, an herbal plant, is
of course out of the question in this recipe and the word should have been
punctuated ucc'iToU = oCc)unou. The interchange of OL and u is extremely common.
Cf. Gignac, Grammar, I 197, "This is the most frequent interchange in the
papyri next to the interchanges of eL with L and aL with E." For the inter
change of u and w, see Gignac, Grammar, I 293-4, and note that the Latin
word is found with the same interchange. A double consonant, in place of a
single consonant, and vice versa, is common enough to need no remark, although
in the present instance it was undoubtedly caused by the similarity of sounds
between ocuinoc and 'jccwnoc.51)
The Azanites text of Aetius has bcc6noU, with no recorded variants in the
MSS, but the presence of the short direction at the end of the recipe, T'EcLc
XP, "melt the ingredients together and use," shows that the ingredients must
all be TnxT&L, i.e. soluble ingredients. Hyssop is a plant or small shrub,
and would be among the dried ingredients in the familiar brief direction, Tla
TITRTL XaTCL T5V Enp65v, "add the melted ingredients to the dried ingredients."52)
We must therefore read in the Aetius text 6cc6rToU = o-ci5iou.
10-11. cxeaToc oM[ou xaL Tau]pLou: Cf. D, 6 for the spelling CLou, and A,
8-9 for E[i]iou. The Galen text of the recipe has the same two fats, that of
swine and of bulls, but only half the amount of each, i.e. 3 oz. instead of
6 oz. The Aetius recipe has the same two again, but specifies that the pig
fat should be old and pure (n0rXCLLou xo.a&poG) and there should be 6 oz. of it
to 3 oz. of bull fat. The recipe of Paulus calls for the same ratio of pig fat
to bull fat (24 oz. to 12 oz.), but XOLpECOU iS substituted for i660ou, i.e.
fat of young pig rather than full-grown pig. Oribasius calls for an amount
of pig fat four times that of bull fat, i.e. 12 oz. to 3 oz. and requires the
pig fat to be melted separately (cTEa.Toc, 6E'OU T1TfnXOToC).
11-12. mE[uxivvnc (o6y.) ?: ? is restored from Galen and Aetius, whose
amounts in general are comparable to those in 21 B. But Galen has r5nrTvnc
rEeuxLvnc; Oribasius has n6vuxLvnc rn-flLvTlc n TLLTU'vTnc; and Aetius, TLTUUV-nc
ni rTE:UXVnCc; while Paulus has k'nLvnc xoXopcvixac.
49) Cf. Webster's Third New International Dictionary, 1971, s.v. lanolin:
"wool grease refined for use chiefly in ointments and cosmetics; ... it is
much used as a basis for ointments."
50) For the confusion of oCcunoc with uccwnoc among the ancient writers,
see Stephanus, TGL, s.v. U'ccwnoc.
51) Cf. LSJ, s.v. 'ucc&noc, for the spelling with one sigma, and likewise
Latin hys(s)opum.
52) Cf. A, 11; B verso, 12.