Amichas
Amichas grece scarificationes Cassius felix capitulo de igne sacro.
Apparatus:
In B Amichas is not headword but part of the previous entry Amici.
Amichas AC e | Amicas BH | Amicax f | amychas Cassius
scarificationes (-ciones e; -ciões f ) B ef Cassius | sacrificationes (-ciões A) AC | scairficationes H
Translation:
Amichas is Greek for scarifications according to Cassius Felix in his chapter De igne sacro {"On St. Anthony's fire, erysipelas; (lit) holy fire"}.
Commentary:
ἀμυχή /amykhḗ/ means "scratch, skin wound; (medic.) scarification" (LSJ). Simon here uses the acc. pl. ἀμυχάς /amykhás/ dependent on an understood vocant. His transcription reflects the medieval pronunciation of Greek 'υ' {as in French 'u' or German 'ü'} as 'ι' (/i/ as in English "fatigue"}. The word occurs four times in Cassius, and in Greek written literature it is found e.g. in Hippocrates and Galen.
Simon refers to Cassius Felix, De medicina, chapter XXIV De igne sacro, ed. Fraisse (2001: 48-50) , where the word is mentioned p. 50, § 5. Cassius suggests that the affected area be thoroughly cleaned and: tunc paulo sursum a patiente loco carpodesmo ligabis et ubi nimius rubor fuerit, scarificationes levissimas laceraturas dabis, quas Graeci amychas vocant - "Then a little bit above the afflicted area you will make a ligature with a wrist bandage and where the redness is excessive you will make very shallow cuts of the sort the Greeks call amychai."
Scarificatio, misread by witnesses AC as a very similar sounding but context unsuitable sacrificatio, is the process still used of making shallow cuts or scratches in the skin to allow a substance to penetrate the body; cf. the vaccination against smallpox. (Martin, 1985).
See also: Erisipila, Ignis sacer
