P littera
P littera apud grecos eiusdem est potestatis que apud nos nisi quando antecedit ei .m. littera tunc illud .p. transit in sonum nostri .b. quapropter scribunt ampelos et legunt ambelos. arabes vero omnino hac littera carent: quando arabes volunt dictiones grecas vel latinas .p. habentes scribere ponunt pro ipsa aliquando .b. aliquando .f. ut berdichiados pro perdichiados que est paritaria et frassion pro prassion.
Apparatus:
P Littera AC f | P Litera B | P lr̅a e
est potestatis AC | potestatis (potes- e; -tis f) est ef | est potẽtie B
.m. littera tunc {tũc B} illud .p. BC f | .m. lr̅a tũc illud p A e | lr̅a M. tunc .n. illud .p. f
ampelos ABC | ampleos e | ampellos f
ambelos ABC | ambleos e | ambellos f
quã arabes AC | qñ aŕ. B | qñ arabice e | q͡n a' f
volunt (-lũt A) AC f | volui̔t e | nolũt B {letter upside down}
pro ipsa aliquãdo .b. aliquãdo .f. C | pro ipsa aliquñ .b. aliquñ .f. A | pro ipsa aliqñ b aliqñ f B | al͞n pro ip͡a .b. al͞n f. ms. e
berdichiados f | berchichiados AC {'ch' for 'd' in anticipation of 'ch' in –chiados} | berdichiodes B | bedichiodes e
perdichiados (per- C) AC | perdikiados f | pertichiados B | perichiados e
frassion AC | frasion B | fraxion ef
prassion ABC | prassĩo f | praxion e
Translation:
The letter 'p' has in Greek the same sound value as with us unless it is preceded by the letter 'm'. Then this /p/ changes its sound into our /b/ sound. Therefore they write ampelos, but they read /ambelos/.
The Arabs on the other hand lack this {sound and therefore this} letter altogether; and if they want to write in their script Greek or Latin words that contain a 'p', they put instead sometimes a 'b' or sometimes an 'f', like in berdichiados for Greek perdichiados, which is paritaria in Latin, and frassion for Greek prassion.
Commentary:
For the sound change /p/ > /b/ after /m/, e.g. /ampelos/ > /ambelos/, see the appropriate section in B littera.
Simon is perfectly correct to say that Arabic lacks the sound /p/ and indeed adopted foreign words containing this sound see /p/ replaced by either /b/ or /f/.
Siggel (1950: 56): ﻓﺮﺍﺳﻴﻮﻥ /firāsiyūn/ Marrubium vulgare L. (Lab.), Andorn < πράσιον /prásion/ {i.e. "horehound"}.
For the other words mentioned see Paritaria, Perdiciados, Prassium, Faraxion, Marubium.
Wilf Gunther 04/01/14
