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What was ulpicum?*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Margaret R. Mezzabotta
Margaret R. Mezzabotta
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
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Extract

The Latin word ulpicum is attested thirty-one times. The literary texts in which the term occurs range in date from the second century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. It denotes a plant used in antiquity both as a foodstuff and as an officinal substance in human and animal prescriptions, but discussions of ulpicum in the work of classical scholars show that there is no agreement about its identity. This lack of clarity consequently obfuscates the understanding of the passages in which reference is made to the plant. Furthermore, those students of ancient medicine, botany, and horticulture who depend on translations receive an inaccurate and even misleading impression of the original Latin sources. I propose to demonstrate the present unsatisfactory state both of translations of the term and of efforts by classical scholars to identify the plant, then to review the data supplied by the ancient sources. Following this, I shall suggest that what Latin writers referred to as ulpicum is, in fact, the plant known to modern botanists as Allium ampeloprasum L., ‘great-headed garlic’. Finally, I shall investigate its function in the Roman diet and pharmacopeia.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 50 , Issue 1 , May 2000 , pp. 230 - 237
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 2000

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References

1 PI. Poen. 1314; Cato, Agr. 70.1, 71; Col. 6.4.2, 10.113, 11.3.15, 11.3.16, 11.3.20, 21, 22; Plin. N.H. 19.112 (twice), 19.114; Garg. Mart. Curae bourn 1, 3; Med. 39; Arnob. Nat. 2.59; Pallad. 2.14.5, 3.24.2, 4.9.5, 12.6, 13.3, 14.3.5, 14.4.2;Mul. Chir. 199, 204; Veg. Mul. 1.18; Isid. Orig. 17.10.14; Gloss. Ill 185.56,430.47;Not. Tir. 104.47.1 gratefully acknowledge the assistance given by Dr P. Flury of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae in confirming these testimonies.

2 For another example of errors of interpretation created and perpetuated by mistranslation of Latin terminology, see M. R. Mezzabotta, ‘The meaning of spica in Cato Agr. 70,1’, Glotta 70 (1992), 100–5.

3 For example, André, J., ‘Les noms latins de l'hellébore en latin’, REL 32 (1954), 174–82Google Scholar; ‘A propos des noms de la consoude’, RPh 30 (1956), 62–7; ‘Les noms grecs et latins de la momordique’, LEC 24 (1956), 40–2; Lexique des termes de botanique en Latin (Paris, 1956), ‘Confusions botaniques dans les textes des médecins et vétérinaires latins’, Latomus 17 (1958), 488–92; commentary in the Budé editions of the botanical books of the Naturalis Historia of Pliny; ‘Noms de plantes et noms d'animaux’, Latomus 22 (1963), 649–63; L'alimentation et la cuisine à Rome (Paris, 1981); Les noms de plantes dans la Rome antique (Paris, 1985); ‘Les érables de Pline l'ancien’, RPh 68 (1993), 7–20. For recent discussions of botanical vocabulary by other scholars, see Actes du colloque international ‘Les phytomymes grecs et latins’ (Nice, 1993) and M.-Cl. Amouretti and G. Comet (edd.), Des hommes et des plantes: Plantes mediterranees, vocabulaire et usage anciennes (Aix-en-Provence, 1993).

4 André, Les noms de plantes (n. 3), vii–xiv.

5 see De Sainte-Denis, E., ‘Des vocabulaires techniques en latin’, Mémorial des études latines… offert ` Jean Marouzeau (Paris, 1943), 56–7.Google Scholar

6 Riddle, J. E., A Copious and Critical Latin-English Lexicon (London, 1868), 1313Google Scholar, s.v. ulpicum.

7 See also Walde, A. and Hofmann, J. B., Lateinisches etymologisches Wörlerbuch, vol. 2 (Heidelberg, 1954 3), 112Google Scholar, s.v. ulpicum; Ernout, A. and Meillet, A., Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine (Paris, 1932), 1078Google Scholar, s.v. ulpicum.

8 P. Nixon, Plautus, vol. 4 (London and Cambridge, MA, 1932), 133.

9 Duckworth, G. E., The Complete Roman Drama, vol. 1 (New York, 1942), 778.Google Scholar

10 Ernout, A., Plaute, vol. 5 (Paris, 1938), 251.Google Scholar

11 Maurach, G., Plauti Poenulus (Heidelberg, 1975), 382.Google Scholar

12 Burroway, J., in Slavitt, D. R. and Bovie, P. (edd.), Plautus. The Comedies, vol. 3 (Baltimore and London, 1995), 87.Google Scholar

13 Brehaut, E., Cato the Censor on Farming (New York, 1933), 87.Google Scholar

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16 Goujard, R., Caton, De Vagriculture (Paris, 1975), 59, 244.Google Scholar

17 ‘A Virginia farmer’, Roman Farm Management. The Treatises of Cato and Varro. Done into English with Notes of Modern Instances (New York, 1913), 46. This translator did not include Agr. 70 in his selection.

18 E. S. Forster and E. Heffner, Lucius Junius Columella on Agriculture, vol. 2; Lucius Junius Columella on Agriculture and Trees, vol. 3 (London and Cambridge, MA, 1955), ad loc.

19 W. Richter, Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella, Zwölf Bücher über Landwirtschaft, 3 vols (Munich, 1981–3) ad loc.

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22 For example, Jones, W. H. S., ‘Ancient Roman folk medicine’, JHM 12 (1957), 463–4Google ScholarPubMed; Janiszewski, J., ‘Veterinärmedizin Catos des Älteren’, Hist. Vet. Med. 4 (1979), 43Google Scholar; Phillips, J. H., ‘Cato on the prevention and treatment of animal disease’, Hist. Vet. Med. 6 (1981), 58Google Scholar; Hausmann, W., ‘Die Tierheilkunde bei Cato’, Tierärztliche Praxis 13 (1985), 274, 279Google Scholar, but cf. the reservations of Scarborough, J., ‘Roman medicine to Galen’, ANRW 2.37.1 (1993), 16–17Google Scholar and n.48.

23 André, Les noms deplantes (n. 3), 10.

24 Text cited from Richter (n. 19). Alium and ulpicum are discussed in Col. 11.3.20–3.

25 Text cited from André, J. (ed.), Pline Vancien. Histoire naturelle, Livre XIX (Paris, 1964).Google Scholar

26 Text cited from Wimmer's 1854 Teubner edition, printed in Hort, A. E., Theophrastus, Enquiry into Plants (London and New York, 1916).Google Scholar

27 For example, Pallad. 12.6, which gives detailed instructions on the planting and cultivation of garlic and ulpicum.

28 As noted by André, Les noms deplantes (n. 3), 275.

29 Meyer-Lübke, W., Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (Heidelberg, 1935), 752Google Scholar, no. 9037. Dietz, F., Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen (Bonn, 1887 5), 408Google Scholar, cited by Meyer-Lübke, derives upiglio from ulpicum, ulpiculum and translates the term as ‘Knoblauch’.

30 F. D'Ovidio, Archivio gtottologico italiano, vol. 13 (Torino, 1892–4), 423.

31 See n. 1 above.

32 Von Wartburg, W., Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, vol. 14 (Basel, 1961), 7; cf. R. Cotgrave, A Dictionary of the French and English Tongues (London, 1611) [no page numbers], who glosses ulpic as ‘Great, or wild Garlick’.Google Scholar

33 I was unable to find any words related to ulpicum in Romance languages or dialects other than Italian and French.

34 For information on the distribution, names, and classification of the genus, see Stearn, W. T., ‘Notes on the genus Allium in the old world’, Herbertia 11 (1944), 11–34Google Scholar; Helm, J., ‘Die zu Würzund Speisezwecken kultivierten Arten der Gattung Allium L.’, Die Kulturpflanze 4 (1956), 130–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Purseglove, J. W., Tropical Crops. Monocotyledons I (Essex, 1972), 37–57.Google Scholar

35 See G. Bonnier, Flore compléte illustrée en couleurs, de France, Suisse et Belgique, vol. 10 (Neuchatel, Paris, and Brussels, n.d.), 78 for vulgar names of Allium ampeloprasum L. in other languages. These include: ‘ail à cheval’, ‘ail d'orient’, ‘ail faux-poireau’ (French); ‘Pferdelauch’, ‘Wildlauch’ (German); ‘porrandello’ (Italian).

36 In André, Lexique de termes de botanique (n. 3), 334, both species are suggested; in his 1964 commentary on Plin. N.H. 19.112, Andre preferred Allium scorodoprasum L., which he identified with rocambole; in Lalimentation et la cuisine (n. 3), 20, n. 69, Allium ampeloprasum L. is rejected; but in Les noms deplantes (n. 3), 275, André states only that ulpicum was a ‘Variété d'Ail à grosse tête (Allium sativum L.), distinct d'allium dans Columelle et Palladius…’.

37 This identification has been confirmed by Brian Mathew, VMH, Principal Scientific Officer i/c Petaloid Monocotyledon Section, The Herbarium, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, UK (personal communication).

38 Redouté, P. J., Les liliacées, vol. 7 (Paris 1813)Google Scholar, t. 385.

39 Written by A. Raffeneau Delile (Stearn [n. 34], 16).

40 Culled and condensed from Purseglove (n. 34), 50–1; Bailey, L. H. and Bailey, E. Z., (compilers), Hortus third (New York and London, 1976), 48Google Scholar; Tutin, T. G. et al. (edd.), Flora Europaea, vol. 5 (Cambridge, 1980), 63–4Google Scholar, Mabberley, D. I., The Plant Book (Cambridge, 1987), 19Google Scholar; Huxley, A. et al. (edd.), The New Royal Horticultural Dictionary of Gardening, vol. 1 (London and Basingstoke, 1992), 108.Google Scholar

41 After reasoning that ulpicum should be identified with Allium ampeloprasum L., on the basis of comparisons of the ancient testimonies with modern botanical descriptions, I discovered that Sturtevant, E. L., ‘History of garden vegetables: great-headed garlic. Allium ampeloprasum L.’, American Naturalist 22 (1888), 427–8Google Scholar had come to the same conclusion. Sturtevant, however, wrote as a botanist and as a horticultural historian and did not engage in a detailed examination of the Latin sources. It is a pity that Sturtevant's observations of over a century ago went unnoticed by classicists and so failed to be incorporated into their discussions of classical texts which mention ulpicum.

42 Walde and Hofmann (n. 7), s.v. ulpicum; OLD s.v. ulpicum. But for what the information may be worth, the term is not listed in Nencioni, G., ‘Innovazioni africane nel lessico latino’, SFIC 16 (1939), 3–50.Google Scholar

43 Evans, J. K., ‘Plebs rustica. The peasantry of classical Italy II’, AJAH 5 (1980), 153Google Scholar, 158 supplies details of the composition and nutritional value of garlic, evidently a staple food of the Roman peasantry.

44 For additional comments, see Gowers, E., The Loaded Table (Oxford, 1993), 289–92.Google Scholar

45 See e.g. Fliick, H. and Jaspersen-Schib, R., Medicinal Plants and their Uses (London, 1976), 37Google Scholar; Schauenberg, P. and Paris, F., Guide to Medicinal Plants (Guildford and London, 1977), 84Google Scholar; Simons, P., Garlic The Healing Herb (Wellingborough, 1980)Google Scholar, passim; Chiej, R., The Macdonald Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants (London and Sydney, 1984), 18Google Scholar; Block, E., ‘Antithrombotic agent of garlic’, in Steiner, R. P. (ed.), Folk Medicine: The Art and the Science (Washington, DC, 1986), 125–37.Google Scholar

46 Gowers (n. 44), 295–6.

47 Cato, Agr. 70.1 and 71; Col. 6.4.2; Garg. Mart. Curae bourn 1, 3; Pallad. 14.3.5, 14.4.2;Mul. Chir. 199, 204; Veg. Mul. 1.18. The eleventh example, Garg. Mart. Med. 39 ('Ulpicum indigestibile est. cum vino tritum potui datum calculosis prodest') does not exclude veterinary use (cf. Mul. Chir. 228; Veg. Mul. 1.46).

48 Thielscher (n. 15), 278.

49 Discussed and identified as glanders by K.-D. Fischer, 'Genera huius morbi maleos numero VII: eine Infektionskrankheit (Malleus) und ihre Unterarten im Spiegel des antiken veterinamedizinischen Schrifttums’, in G. Sabbah (ed.), Le latin medical, Centre Jean-Palerne, Memoires 10 (Sainte-Étienne, 1991), 351–66. See also Adams, J. N., Pelagonius and Latin Veterinary Terminology in the Roman Empire (Leiden, 1995), 41–2, 49, 141, 295–302, 665Google Scholar; and Viré, G., ‘La description de la morve dans la Mulomedicina Chironis et dans la Mulomedicina de Végécé’, in Deroux, C. (ed.), Maladie et maladies dans les textes latins antiques et médiévaux. Actes du V Collogue International ‘Textes medicaux latins’ (Bruxelles, 4–6 septembre 1995) (Bruxelles, 1998), 260–75.Google Scholar