Ictiocolla

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Ictiocolla grece apud Dyascoridem icthiocolla quod dicitur venter est ceti piscis sed utilior est que in ponto fit alba et grossa et non pertusa et citius se solvens et cetera, est colla piscis ab icthios quod est piscis dicta, de multorum piscium intestinis fit hodie.


Apparatus:

Ictiocolla AC | Icticola B | Icichocolla or Icithocolla ms. e | Ichicolla f | Ichiocolla p | Icchiocolla j | De yctiocolla Diosc. Long.
{Dyascoridem} icthiocolla AC | Ictiocolla ejp | Ictiocolla or Icciocolla ms. e | icticolla f | ycricola B {‘t’ misread as ‘r’} | Ictyocolla Diosc. Long.
quod dicitur venter est AC ejp | quod uẽter dicitur B | quidem dicit~ venter est ms. f
ceti piscis ABC fp | ceci or ceti j | cetipissas ms. e
utilior | utilor ms. e
{utilior} est om. AC
ponto AC jp | pũcto B | potu ms. e | ponte f
grossa | cossa p
pertusa | percussa fj
citius ABC | cicius ef | cuius jp
soluens | voluens AC
{et cetera} et add. e
{colla} piscis | pisciũ B
ab icthios quod est piscis om. B
ab ictrios AC | abiectis efp | ab ictis j | icthios scripsi (Wilf Gunther)
fit hodie AC | hodie (fiat B) B ejp | hodierno die fit f
Ms. p adds: ḥictis grece piscis and then attempts to write what is possibly: ἰχθύος κητῴου /ikhthýos kētṓou/ in Greek script; cf. Greek Dioscorides {see below} ἰχθυοκόλλα … κοιλία ἐστὶν ἰχθύος κητῴου /ikhthyokólla … koilía estìn ikhthýos kētṓou/ “fish glue is the belly of the whale fish”


Translation:

Ictiocolla is Greek, or in Dyascorides icthiocolla as it is called, is the belly of a big sea-fish, but the better {fish-glue or isinglas} is the one made in Pontus; it is white, thick and not holed and it dissolves very quickly, etc. And it is glue made from fish, from the Greek word icthios {= ichthys}, which means 'fish', for the glue is nowadays made from the intestines of many fish.


Commentary:

Ictiocolla and icthiocolla:
are derived from Greek ἰχθυοκόλλα /ikhthyokólla/, a compound of ἰχθυο- /ikhthyo-/ the compound form of ἰχθῦς /ichthŷs/ "fish" + κόλλα /kólla/ "glue" or "flour-paste".

It is said that the glue is made from the belly of the cetus fish, from Greek κῆτος /kêtos/ meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea monster", whereas the word is nowadays reserved in zoological terminology for whales only.

Ab ictrios, abiectis and ab ictis are corrupted forms of ab ichthyos, with the Greek genitival form of ἰχθῦς /ichthŷs/, i.e. ἰχθύος /ikhthýos/ - itacist /ikhthíos/ - here standing in for the ablative in Latin.

Simon's text up to et cetera is taken from Dyascorides alphabeticus Bodmer f 43r [[1]], which is copied from Dioscorides Longobardus, 3, 98, ed. Stadler (1899: 420), De yctiocolla [[2]]. The original Greek can be found in 3, 88, ed. Wellmann (1906-14: II.103) ἰχθυοκόλλα /ikhthyokólla/ [[3]].


WilfGunther (talk) 29/11/2013


See also: Colla


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