Benefsegi

Benefsegi arabice viola Stephanus benefsegum scripsit.

Apparatus:

Benefsegi f | Beneffigi + attempt to write ﺑﻧﻔﺴﺞ banafsağ in Arabic ms. p | Beneffigi or Benefsigi B j | Benessigi e | Benefigi AC
benefsegum (–gũ j) fj | beneffegũ p | beneffegũ or benefsegũ B | beneseguʒ e | benefegum A | bñfegum C

Translation:

Benefsegi is Arabic for Latin viola {"violet"}; Stephanus writes benefsegium.

Commentary:

Benefsegi:
Siggel (1950: 22): ﺑﻧﻔﺷﺔ ,ﺑﻧﻔﺴﺞ /banafsağ, banafšah/ Viola odorata u.a. Veilchen {i.a. "violet"}.

The closest transcription is benefsegi. 'Long s' {i.e. ſ} and 'f' are very similar in shape in the writing of the time. Any copyist, who did not know any Arabic, could easily misread benefsigi as beneffigi or benefigi.

Stephanus in his Breviarium writes: Ion ... uiola ... benefsegum [[1]].
N.b. ἴον /íon/ is Greek for “violet”.

WilfGunther 23:02, 13 July 2015 (BST)

See also: Viola, Ion (2)

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