The Book of Women's Love 9781317847465, 9780710307583

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The Book of VUimen’e Love arib Jewish Mebieval Mebical LiteRatuRe on Women

The first part of this book is an historical study of the Hebrew written production on women's healthcare and of Jewish women's lives and experiences regarding the care of their bodies during the late Middle Ages in the Mediterranean West. The aim is to restore value to femi­ nine knowledge and practices that were significant then and remain so today The second part presents an edition translated into English with commentary of the Hebrew compilation Sefer Ahavat Nashim, The Book o f Women's Love. This was compiled in the late Middle Ages and is pre­ served in a single manuscript from Catalonia-Provence. Its contents are concerned with magic, sexuality, cosmetics, and gynaecology areas of knowledge essentially, though not exclusively, related to women. The author focuses on the relation between women and health care and examines both women's knowledge and knowledge about women. This pioneering work makes a valuable contribution to the history of Jewish culture and Jewish women during the Middle Ages, and also makes a substantial contribution to the history of medicine.

Dr Carmen Caballero-Navas graduated in Hebrew Philology from the University of Granada (Spain) and obtained her PhD at the same uni­ versity. She carried out part of her doctoral research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel). She has undertaken postdoctoral research at the Wellcome Trust Centre of the History of Medicine at University College London. She is currently based at the University of Granada.

www.keganpaul.com

The Kegan Paul Library of Jewish Studies Series Editors Gerrit Bos, University o f Cologne and Tzvi Langermann, Bar Elan University

A Corpus of Magic Bowls Dan Levene The 'Book of Women's Love' and Medieval Medical Hebrew Literature Carmen Caballero-Navas The Doctrine of Evil in Lurianic Kabbalah Isiah Tishby Translated by David Solomon Philosophy and Exegesis on Samuel Ibn Tibbon's Commentary on Ecclesiastes James Robinson

The Book of W>men’s Love anb Jewish MebievaL Mebical LiteRatuRe on Women

Sefen Ahavat Nashim

Ebiteb arib tRansLateb with a commentaRj fcy

CaRtnen CahalleRo-Navas

O Routledge Taylor & Francis Croup LONDON AND NEW YORK

First published in 2 0 0 4 by Kegan Paul Limited Published 2 0 1 4 by Routledge 2 Park Square, M ilton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0 X 1 4 4R N 711 Third Avenue, New Y ork, N Y , 10017, U SA

Routledge is an imprint o f the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © Kegan Paul, 2 0 0 4 All rights reserved. No part o f this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electric, m echanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data The Book o f wom en’s love, and, Medieval medical Hebrew literature on women. - (Kegan Paul library o f Jew ish studies) 1. W om en - History - M iddle Ages, 5 0 0 -1 5 0 0 2. W om en - History - Middle A ges, 5 0 0 -1 5 0 0 - Early works to 1800 3. Jew ish women 4. Jew ish women Health and hygiene 5. M edicine - History - T o 1500 I. Navas, Carmen Caballero. M edieval medical Hebrew literature on women 3 0 5 .4 ’8696 IS B N 13: 9 7 8 -0 -7 1 0 -3 0 7 5 8 -3 (hbk) Jacket illustration Narkiss - Represents M iriam and the maidens singing, playing and dancing in front o f the people o f Israel leaving Egypt. Golden H aggadah, Barcelona, c.1 3 2 0 . M S British Library, Add. 2 7 2 1 0 , fo l.l5 r

For my mother, Pepa, and for my sisters, Tere, Nini and Virginia, for being an inexhaustible source of love and wisdom.

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Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgements Part One: The Book in its context Chapter 1: Composition and characteristics of the Book 1.1. Cultural activity in the Jewish communities of southern Europe and the production of medical literature on the female body 1.2. Linguistic analysis 1.3. Sources 1.3.1. Sources of Graeco-Latin origin 1.3.2. Sources of Arab origin 1.3.3. Sources of Hebrew origin 1.3.4. Unidentified sources 1.4. The genre and intended audience of the Book o f Women’s Love Chapter 2: Contents of the Book 2.1. Magic and kabbalah in the Book o f Women’s Love: the written reflection of a living practice. 2.1.1. Magic is a living practice 2.1.2. The more women the more witchcraft 2.1.3. Kabbalah and magic practices in the Book 2.2. Sexuality and eroticism in the Book 2.2.1. Treatises dedicated to (hetero)sexuality and the Book o f Women’s Love 2.3. The care of women’s health and beauty: cosmetics and gynaecology 2.3.1. The adornment and decoration of female bodies 2.3.1.1. The texts on cosmetics and the Book o f Women’s Love 2.3.2. Women’s diseases: gynaecology and obstetrics 2.3.2.1. The Hebrew corpus on women’s healthcare 2.3.2.2. Women’s health and the diseases of genital organs in the Book o f Women ’s Love

1 3

7 10 15 23 25 32 34 38 40 49 49 50 52 55 63 69 71 72 76 80 83 91

Part Two: Edition and translation The manuscript On the edition and translation Abbreviations and SIGLA Hebrew text and English translation Commentary

101 102 105 108 179

Glossary of materia medica and technical terms English - Hebrew Hebrew - English

215 249

Sources and Bibliography Unpublished sources Published sources Bibliography

283 283 288

Index of names, places and topics

307

Preface This book is the outcome of a long project that began ten years ago in Jerusalem, was mainly carried out in Spain, where it was part of my PhD thesis, and sees the light today in London, where I have been working on it for the last few years. It tells the story of another book and of its composition, a compilation that was written in Hebrew nearly seven hundred years ago: The Book o f Women ’s Love. When I found the only manuscript copy in the Institute of Microfilmed Manuscripts of the National and University Library of Jerusalem, I little imagined that this wonderful work would become the source of enormous personal and intellectual satisfaction for me, although work on it has not always been easy. The process of understanding and learning the precious knowledge that was dormant in its beautiful words has involved the investment - and I hope improvement - of all my skills as an editor, translator and student of medieval Hebrew texts. My life and my academic interests have also become intermingled in this process. That said, I should explain that two main personal and academic interests were the starting point of this project: my fascination with Hebrew textual production in the West, and my commitment to an understanding of the historical experience of women. By putting both together - a happy chance that I owe to Lola Ferre, who suggested that for my doctoral thesis I work on Jewish women and medicine - I became involved in the enthralling world of the development of medical theory and practice at the end of the Middle Ages, its textual transmission among different traditions, and the interaction between members of the various cultural groups that co-existed at the time in southern Europe. My work with the Book o f Women’s Love, and with other related texts, has also allowed me a glimpse of women’s lives and of their experiences regarding the care of their bodies, a care understood in the broad sense of preserving, beautifying, attending to, and curing. Manuscripts are artefacts - part of material culture - that bear witness to thoughts and words of people long dead, but also to their deeds and attitudes, to their experiences. Certainly, it is not always possible to leam about actual practice from the written material, and many medical texts do not show practice at all. Yet, those works that are not learned books, but mainly groups of recipes (even loose recipes), compiled from many different sources, dealing with various issues connected to contemporary knowledge

The Book o f Women’s Love

of the treatment of specific ailments, and of health and wellbeing, may also be a source of enlightenment on actual practice. This is, in my view, the case with the Book o f Women ’s Love, which is a valuable example of the confluence of Graeco-Arabic views and local traditions on women’s physiology, health and disease. One of my main interests in studying it has been, precisely, to explore the complex mixture of medical traditions that comprise medical Hebrew literature on women. I suspected they were articulated with other currents on women’s healthcare that were disseminated throughout Europe from the end of the twelfth century onwards. Thus, while trying to determine the different sources of the book, I endeavoured also to learn more about the formation of the corpus on women’s healthcare. In my view, gaining a better insight into the origin and composition of Latin and vernacular texts influencing this and other Hebrew literature on women, as well as the Arabic literature behind them, proves crucial for an understanding of how different traditions articulate to shape this speciality of medical writings in the western tradition. In this sense, I believe that the Book o f Women’s Love is a jewel that illustrates the harmonization of all these traditions, in theory and in practice. The book is a beautiful compilation devoted mainly to what the compiler describes as “women’s matters”, and offers a large number of recipes that deal with a wide range of issues such as sexuality, aphrodisiacs, love charms, preservation and care of general health, cosmetics, gynaecology and obstetrics. Its contents, mainly therapeutic, have been organized from head to toe, and its objective is general wellbeing. I have divided this book into two parts. The first contains two chapters devoted to contextualizing the composition of the compilation, and to ascertaining its position within the Hebrew corpus on women’s healthcare, a corpus whose main features I have also attempted to analyse. The second presents, on facing pages, the edition and English translation of the only extant copy of the book, followed by a commentary on the translation. I include also two glossaries (English-Hebrew and Hebrew-English) of materia medica and technical terms, showing both the terminological richness of the text and the strong influence of the vernacular on Hebrew vocabulary. I hope that readers derive as much pleasure from this text as I have while translating and studying it. Carmen Caballero-Navas London, February 2004

2

Acknowledgements I am a very fortunate woman. So many people have helped and supported me while writing this book that the narrative of my acknowledgements could easily result in one more chapter. I must, nevertheless, be brief in words, although I am not in gratitude. I am especially indebted to Lola Ferre and Montserrat Cabre, who have been instrumental in producing this book and who, while supervising my PhD thesis, initiated me into research, opening up for me a new world of learning and knowledge for which I shall be forever grateful. Vivian Nutton graciously took it upon himself to continue my training in western medical textual production and gave me the tools to achieve my aims. The editors of this series, Gerrit Bos and Tzvi Langermann have been a constant support and a generous source of assistance. They pointed out many a mistake and have always helped with improvements. Caroline Tonson-Rye took much trouble in seeing that my English was adequate and that I expressed myself comprehensibly. Other friends and colleagues have supported me at different stages of my research, by reading drafts, by discussing and offering valuable suggestions on my work, and by being there when I needed them. My thanks to Jose Ramon Ayaso, Marta Beltran, Maria Jose Cano, Martin Edwards, Eduard Feliu, Jose Ramon Magdalena, Miguel Perez, Milagros Rivera, Angel Saenz-Badillos, Fernando Salmon, Aurora Salvatierra, Elisabeth Uribe, Ana Vargas, and the best of friends, Pilar Moreno. Any mistake in the book is, of course, my responsibility. During these years, several academic and research centres provided me with the space to study and carry out my research. My beloved Department of Semitic Studies of the University of Granada, where I read for my degrees in Jewish Studies; the Research Centre for Women’s Studies DUODA, at the University of Barcelona, which has been and continues to be an indispensable, personal and academic point of reference. In September 2000, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport awarded me a two-year postdoctoral grant to carry out my research abroad. I was kindly received at The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London, which generously offered me all the facilities necessary for my work. This Centre has been my home for more than three years, as the Wellcome Trust awarded me a one-year fellowship (068503/Z/02/Z/AW/HH/SW) following the Spanish grant. Its dynamic intellectual activity and the constant exchange with medical historians has had a major role in my training. I should like to express my

The Book o f Women’s Love

special appreciation of the unconditional support that Harold Cook and Alan Shiel afforded me throughout my time in London. I have also been made welcome in the Department of History of Science of the Institucio Mila y Fontanals del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas of Barcelona; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Institute of Microfilmed Manuscripts of the National and University Library of Israel; and many other libraries such as the Wellcome Library, the British Library, and the Warburg Institute Library in London, and the Biblioteca Firenze Laurenziana in Florence. A special mention must be made of my family, without whose love and lasting friendship, understanding and generosity, this book would probably have not been written. Last, but not least, I am deeply indebted to the Koret Foundation, whose Koret Jewish Studies Publications Program made the publication of this book possible through its generosity in awarding me the necessary funds to print it. To all of them, thank you.

4

Part One: The Book in its Context

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Chapter One Composition and Characteristics of the Book The Book o f Women’s Love or Book o f Regimen o f Women, of which only one late fifteenth century copy has survived, is a compilation, written in Hebrew, of different kinds of knowledge relating to magic and the care and preservation of the health and beauty of the human body, especially the female body. The work is eminently practical and like other compilations of the late Middle Ages - whether from the Latin or Hebrew traditions - is composed as a recipe book with hardly any theoretical input. It is divided into three sections, which the compiler announces and introduces clearly with a few brief words in which he refers to himself in the first person. These sections are dedicated, respectively, to magic, (hetero)sexuality, and cosmetics, gynaecology and obstetrics. The only manuscript of the compilation that has been preserved is part of the codex entitled Book o f Practical Kabbalah ( n r t a p nso), which contains various works relating to the kabbalah, medicine, and natural philosophy. The whole codex was copied by the same hand, which suggests that the manuscript of the Sefer ’ahavat nashim that has come down to us is not an original work, but a later copy. From what can be deduced from a codicological and palaeographic study - the type of writing, paper, format, etc. - it was written at the end of the fifteenth century and, possibly, derives from the Catalan-Proven9al region.1Nevertheless, the collection contains no explicit information on the compiler, or the date and place where it was written, or the identity of the scribe who copied it. So far, the only reference I have been able to find about this book and its possible author is rather recent. Suessmann Muntner cites the manuscript, of which he seems to know only a fragment (fols. 66-81), in the introduction of his work Sexual Life, published in 1965.2 There Muntner explains that the

1 See the section of this book on the codicological study, pp. 101-102. 2 Suessmann Muntner, Sexual Life (Hygiene and its Medical Treatment). Collection o f Medieval Treatises. Jerusalem: Genizah-Publishing Corporation, 1965, p. 11 [Hebrew].

The Book o f Women’s Love

unknown author of the medical work Sefer ha-yosher (1270) attributes to his brother Rabbi Jacob (ha-Qatan) - perhaps the multilingual translator Jacob ben Elijah3 - a work that bears this title. However, I was unable to find any reference to the Sefer ’ahavat nashim in the Sefer ha-yosher, which is as yet unpublished.4 Alternatively, I found several mentions of a book (or books) entitled Sitrei nashim, attributed to his brother Jacob and, surprisingly, to two other authors.5 What, then, is the source of this apparently erroneous reference? In an earlier article, Muntner had regarded Sitrei nashim as identical to Sefer ha-seter, a gynaecological work rendered into Hebrew from Latin, together with 23 other works, by an anonymous translator active in Provence at the end of the twelfth century. By identifying this translator with Jacob haQatan, Muntner postponed the date of Hebrew translations from Latin by more than 70 years.6 Recently Ron Barkai has demonstrated that Sitrei nashim and Sefer ha-seter are two different works. Though the first is still unidentified, Barkai has suggested that Sefer ha-seter corresponds with the Hebrew translation of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3, one of the three distinct versions in which this text circulated independently before becoming a part of a compendium that circulated widely during the Middle Ages under the name of Trotula.7 According to Barkai, Muntner probably founded his mistaken identification of both works in the shared root of the Hebrew words sitrei and seter, that is, “s-t-r” (secret).8 In my opinion, Muntner’s attribution to Jacob haQatan of a book entitled Sefer 'ahavat nashim, is also the result of a (mis)identification of both titles. The error is not due to terminological coincidences, but rather stems from a misunderstanding on the semantic level. Monica Green has demonstrated that some late medieval Latin and French texts on women’s healthcare, whose therapeutic contents derived from Salernitan theories, circulated under the title of Secreta mulierum. Their contents and orientation, however, were clearly different from the misogynistic

3 Joseph Shatzmiller, “Jacon ben Elie, Traducteur Multilingue a Venise a la Fin du XHIe Siecle”, Micrologus, IX, Gli Ebrei e le Science (2001), pp. 195-202. R. Jacob ben Elijah translated works from Arabic and Latin into Hebrew and collaborated in the translation into Latin of an Arab work. 4 The Sefer ha-yosher has been preserved in four manuscripts, one of them only a fragment. See Moritz Steinschneider, Die hebraischen Ubersetzungen des Mittlelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher, Berlin 1893, repr. Graz 1956, p. 842. The copy I have examined is Oxford Bodleian, MS Oppenheim 180 (Cat. 2134). 5 The treatise devotes a fragment to women’s healthcare - fols. 39v-51v in the Oxford manuscript - which includes several references to Sitrei nashim attributed to Jacob: fols. 39v, 40v, 41r, 42r, 44v, 46v, 47r, etc.; one to al- RazT, 45v; and one more to Yishaq, 48v. 6 Suessmann Muntner, “R. Ya’qob ha-Qatan the Anonymous Translator of the thirteenth Century”, Tarbiz, 18 (1947), pp. 192-199. [Hebrew] 7 Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, on pp. 30,32-33, and 62-63. 8 Ibid., p. 33.

8

Composition and characteristics

tradition initiated by the pseudo-Albertus Magnus’s Secreta mulierum? As I have pointed out above, the author of the Sefer ha-yosher attributes a book entitled Sitrei nashim (Secrets of women) to his brother Jacob, to al-RazI and also to Yishaq. I believe that a book under this title, devoted to women’s ailments, might have been written or translated by Jacob ha-Qatan. However, it seems to me plausible that the author of the Sefer ha-yosher could have also made use of die heading Secrets o f women to label works or part of works on women’s healthcare, as I will argue in the next chapter. This seems to be also Muntner’s view, who appears to have identified as well “secrets of women” with “women’s healthcare” and who, subsequently, associates the work cited in the Sefer ha-yosher with the compilation we are discussing now, whose manuscript copy he may have come across in his search of Hebrew medical manuscripts. In view of the paucity of information about the compilation, until we acquire more data that can shed light on the circumstances of the composition of the Book o f Women’s Love, it has to be taken as an anonymous work from which we only infer the sex of the compiler, as he refers to himself in the first person masculine (I, the one who writes, iniDD However, although the work does not permit us to identify the compiler, the linguistic analysis of the text gives us some clues as to his training and geographical origin. That apart, it would be, at the very least, risky to attempt to establish a reliable date for the composition of the work. Nevertheless, using information that is set out below, I can suggest a terminus a quo, which I consider to be the second half of the thirteenth century. It is worth mentioning that the suggested date and place of composition of the Book o f Women’s Love coincide notably with Jacob haQatan’s milieu, who lived and wrote part of his works at Montpellier before 1280, at the beginning of which decade there is evidence of his residence in Venice.10 A work written or translated by Jacob could have been known, or even used as a source, by the compiler of our book. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, to put in context the composition of the work and to place it in a geographical and chronological frame. With this in mind, I include a brief review of the scientific development in Jewish communities during the Middle Ages and of the genre of medical literature dedicated to the female body. Subsequently, the philological analysis of the text, together with the study of the sources of the compilation and of certain internal references, will allow me to establish some facts relating to the author’s

9 See Monica Green, “Traittie tout de Me^onges’. The Secres des Dames, ‘Trotula’, and the Attitudes towards Women's Medicine in Fourteenth- and Early-Fifteenth-Century France”, in Marilynn Desmond (ed.), Christine de Pizan and the Categories o f Difference. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998, pp. 146-178, on pp. 163-167. The article also points out that texts belonging to the Secreta mulierum tradition circulated under the name of Trotula. 10 Cf. Joseph Shatzmiller, “Jacob ben Elie”, pp. 195-197.

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education and language, and the way in which the knowledge gathered in the work has been transmitted and manipulated.

1.1. Cultural activity of the Jewish communities of southern Europe and the production of medical literature on the female body. During the Middle Ages, Jewish intellectual activity was centred in the communities of the western Mediterranean, that is, the Iberian Peninsula, the south of France and Italy.11 In the stimulating atmosphere of the Cordoba caliphate and its cultural splendour, Jewish language and culture experienced a renaissance during the tenth and eleventh centuries. The level of intellectual integration can be measured by the fact that the Jews adopted Arab literary forms and were much influenced by philosophy and science in both original Arabic works and translations into Arabic, in which language Jewish scientific works were written, Hebrew being reserved at this period for writings of a religious and literary character.12 The fitna and the later and successive arrivals of the Almoravids and the Almohads to the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the eleventh and during the twelfth centuries, brought to an end this period, often called the “golden age” of Spanish Jewry. Many members of the Jewish and Christian minorities were forced to flee. Some Jewish intellectuals who emigrated to the Christian kingdoms of the north of the peninsula and, especially, the south of France, became agents of the cultural transmission and exchange between al-Andalus and the south of Christian Europe, disseminating Graeco-Arabic science among the Jewish communities in those areas and in Italy.13

11 On the cultural and scientific development of the Jewish communities in the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France, see David Romano Ventura, La ciencia hispanojudia. Madrid: MAPHRE, 1992; Angel Saenz-Badillos, A History o f the Hebrew Language. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993; Lola Ferre, “Aportacidn de los judios a la ciencia medieval”, in Francisco Mufioz (ed.), La confluencia de culturas en el Mediterraneo. Granada, 1993, pp. 141— 154; eadem, “Hebrew Translations from Medical Treatises of Montpellier”, Korot, 13 (1998-99), pp. 21-36; Luis Garcia-Ballester, Lola Ferre and Eduard Feliu, “Jewish Appreciation of Fourteenth-Century Scholastic Medicine”, Osiris, 2nd Series, 6 (1990), pp. 85-117; Joseph Shatzmiller, Jews, Medicine and Medieval Society. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California press, 1994; Ron Barkai, A History of Jewish Gynaecological Texts, especially on pp. 6 37; idem, “Origines et sources de la medecine Hebrai'que au Moyen Age”, Micrologus, IX, Gli Ebrei e le Scienze (2001), pp. 9-19; and Y. Tzvi Langermann, The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages. Aldershot: Ashgate, Variorum, 1999. 12 See Angeles Navarro Peiro, Literatura hispanohebrea (siglos X-XIII). Cordoba: El almendro, 1988; Saenz-Badillos, A History o f the Hebrew Language, pp. 219-264. 13 See David Romano Ventura, La ciencia hispanojudia, 30-37; Lola Ferre, “Aportacion de los judios”, pp. 148-149; Ron Barkai, A History of Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 13-14.

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Composition and characteristics

From the twelfth century, principally in Toledo, but later in Catalonia, Provence and Italy, works that had originally been written in Arabic began to be translated into Latin, with Hebrew on many occasions being the vehicle of transmission. Translations into Hebrew were made of works of classical philosophy and science that had been translated and/or commented on by Arab authors, as well as of original works by these authors, and also of works by Jewish authors writing in Arabic. This task was undertaken principally for practical reasons and for reasons of cultural identity, as many of the translators explain in the prologues to their works.14 The thirteenth century witnessed a shift towards Latin culture and science, which materialized in the translation into Hebrew of works written in Latin. This gave the Hebrew rationalist minority a literary corpus of medical and scientific works similar to those used in Christian estudia generalis}5 The first translations into Hebrew of works containing information about the female body and its care were produced at the end of the twelfth century. Between 1197 and 1199 a translator, active in Provence, whose identity is unknown, translated from Latin into Hebrew a series of seven theoretical and seventeen practical books that formed part of the corpus of medical literature that circulated in, and/or was translated at, the medical school at Salemo. Among these books were three gynaecological treatises: Sefer ha-’em ’el Galinus, Sefer ha-seter and Sefer ha-toledet}6 Ron Barkai has identified a total of fifteen treatises (including these three) of which at least twenty-two manuscripts are extant.17 Lately, other works on 14 Garcia-Ballester, Ferre and Feliu, “Jewish Appreciation”; and Gerrit Bos, “On Editing and Translating Medieval Hebrew Medical Texts”, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 89, nums. 1-2 (1998), pp. 121-122, on pp. 102-103. 15 See J.L.Teicher, “The Latin-Hebrew School of Translators in Spain in the Twelfth Century”, Homenaje a Millas Vallicrosa, 2 vols., Barcelona: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1956, vol. II, pp. 403-444; Lola Ferre, “Hebrew Translations”, especially pp. 21-22; eadem, “Los judios, transmisores y receptores de la sabiduria medieval”, Revista Espanola de Filosofia Medieval, 1 (2000), 81-93, especially pp. 90-92; Charles Burnett, “The Coherence of the ArabicLatin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century”, Science in Context 14, 1-2 (2001), pp. 249-288; Garcia-Ballester, Ferre and Feliu, “Jewish Appreciation”; and Shatzmiller, Jews, Medicine. 16 Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 20-34 (on pages 21-27 is reproduced in English the introduction written by the translator). Sefer ha- 'em 'el Galynus (identified by the editor as the Latin text De passionibus mulierum) and Sefer ha-seter (identified by the editor as the Hebrew version of Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum, 3) have been edited and translated into English by Barkai in this book, pp. 145-180 and 181-191, respectively. The Sefer ha-toledet was also edited by Ron Barkai and translated into French by Michel Garel in Les infortunes de Dinah, ou la gynecologie juive au Moyen Age. Paris: Cerf, 1991. 17 See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 2-5. He has edited and/or translated eight of the fifteen treatises listed by him: six of them in the above-mentioned book, one in Les infortunes de Dinah, and one more in “A Medieval Hebrew Treatise on Obstetrics”, Medical History 33 (1989), pp. 96-119. Mauro Zonta has edited the Sefer ha-herayon we-ha-rehem le'Abuqrat in “A Hebrew Translation of Hippocrates’ De superfoetatione: Historical Introduction and

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women’s healthcare have being also identified, although only very few of them have been edited so far.18 In general, all of these deal with gynaecology and obstetrics, based at times on magic, and some also contain information on cosmetics and female adornment, sexuality and general wellbeing. The direct source of many of these works is of Latin origin. Most of them were written or translated in Christian territory of the European Mediterranean between the end of the twelfth century and the fifteenth. In addition to those, Hebrew manuscripts preserved in various libraries and archives, which contain treatises, fragments and recipes on matters related, wholly or in part, to the ailments and healthcare of the female body have yet to be identified. In my view, the sections devoted to women included in major medical works are also an invaluable source for the understanding of transmission and reception of ideas on female health and disease within the circles of literate Jewish practitioners.19 All in all, the number of identified treatises, and of preserved manuscripts, shows that this type of literature was valued and quite widely disseminated among Jewish communities during the late Middle Ages. The material that has come down to us reflects also the shift that occurred in Jewish intellectual circles towards the Latin cultural model, as noted above, in whose shadow Jewish gynaecology flourished. The Latin medical corpus that circulated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages was rich in gynaecological treatises. During the early Middle Ages, it is possible to appreciate the great influence of Soranus of Ephesus (first century CE) through his Latin translators and commentators - especially in Muscio’s translation of his Gynaikeia (sixth century CE) - as well as the impact of parts of the Hippocratic Corpus.20 Beginning in the twelfth century, a new

Critical Edition”, Aleph, 3 (2003), pp. 97-143; and I have edited and translated into Spanish the treatise entitled Sha‘ar ha-nashim in “Un capitulo sobre mujeres: Transmision y reception de nociones sobre salud femenina en la production textual hebrea durante la Edad Media”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabesy Hebraicos, 52 (2003), pp. 133-160, on pp. 147-157. 18 Recently, Elisheva Baumgartem has edited a treatise written in Germany in the thirteenth century on the difficulties at birth that incorporates Jewish midwives’ practices: “Thus Sayeth the Wise Midwives: Midwives and Midwifery in Thirteenth Century Ashkenaz”, Zion, 65,1 (2000), pp. 45-74 [Hebrew]. Other manuscripts have been identified but have not yet been edited. For a list of Hebrew texts on women’s healthcare known to us, see below, chapter II, pp. 83-90. 19 For example, Seder nashim mi-sefer Son ha-guf, by Natan Yoel Falaquera (one of its extant manuscripts cited by Barkai in Les Infortunes de Dinah, p. 27), and the chapters devoted to women’s ailments of Sefer ha-yosher, in which analysis I am working at this moment. Both works have been also listed below in pp. 86 and 89, respectively (items 6 and 18). 20 See Monica Green, “The Transmission of Ancient Gynecology through the Early Medieval Latin West”, chapter III of “The Transmission of Ancient Theories of Female Physiology and Disease through the Early Middle Ages”, Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1985; eadem, “Female Sexuality in the Medieval West”, Trends of History, Vol. 4 (4) (1990), pp. 127-157, especially pp. 142-143; eadem, Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000; and Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference in the Middle Ages. Medicine, Science and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (1st ed. 1993), pp. 39-53.

12

Composition and characteristics

type of literature dedicated to the health and care of the female body (cosmetics and gynaecology), which probably originated in the medical centre of Salemo, began to circulate in Italy. By the middle of the thirteenth century these texts were widespread throughout Western Europe. This tradition is represented by a group of texts attributed on many occasions to Trota or Trotula of Salemo. The latest studies of this tradition have shown how these texts were produced and circulated independently before they were gathered in the so-called Trotula ensemble. The compendium is made up of the following texts: Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum, De curis mulierum and De omatu mulierum21 Although in Western Europe in the thirteenth century texts originating in Salemo displaced the gynaecological trend of Soranus, Ron Barkai has suggested that Hebrew gynaecological literature barely showed signs of this change, given that Latin adaptations of Soranus continued to be the main source for the Jewish treatises specializing in gynaecology between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.22 However, this assertion should be treated with some caution until we have more information, bearing in mind the relatively limited number of gynaecological texts and fragments that have been studied and edited to date. From this standpoint and given the present state of research on Hebrew gynaecology, a study of the data at our disposal gives us a slightly more complex picture than that portrayed by Barkai. For example, it is worth remembering that a Hebrew translation of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3 has been preserved, that is, one of the three versions in which this text circulated independently before becoming a part of the Trotula ensemble. It may also be significant that, according to a late twelfth century reference, it is possible that De ornatu mulierum, which formed part of the same collection of texts, was translated along with this book, although the translation has not so far been identified. In addition, some Hebrew texts contain indications that the work attributed to Trotula was known to Jewish authors. Indeed, Trotula is cited in a fourteenth century Proven9al manuscript; and the author of the Sefer ha-yosher borrows some fragments of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum although, as far as I know, without quoting the source.23 On the other hand, I share the opinion of those who have suggested that on some occasions the

21 Monica Green, “Estraendo Trota dal Trotula. Richerche su testi medievali di medicina salemitana”, Rassegna Storica Salemitana, XII, 2 (1995), pp. 31-53; eadem, “The Development of the Trotula', Revue d ’Histoire des Textes, 26 (1996), pp. 119-203; eadem, The Trotula: a Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001 . 22 Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 55-61. 23 See ibid., pp. 61-64, where he discusses the impact of the Trotula texts on Hebrew production. Barkai provides an edition and translation into English of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3 (pp. 181-191). Regarding the borrowings from the former work in the Sefer ha-yosher, their significance is still being evaluated as part of my ongoing research on the later treatise. As an example, see Oxford Bodleian, MS Oppenheim 180 (Cat. 2134), fol. 47r.

13

The Book o f Women ’s Love

influence of Arab medicine on Hebrew gynaecology has been overlooked.24 As I intend to demonstrate in the next chapter, it is possible to detect in the Book o f Women’s Love the influence of ideas about the female body and its care taken from the Graeco-Arabic medical tradition. These reached the book by various routes: first, through Hebrew translations of original Arabic texts or of ones translated into Arabic from Greek; second, through books written at Salemo or under the influence of Salernitan authors, which circulated in Latin and in a number of vernacular languages; and third, through the influence of some local traditions based on experience. Regarding the medical literature that originated in Salemo, a genre of practical, vernacular and Latin compendia influenced by Salernitan theories on female physiology and therapeutics has begun to be studied in the last few years. This genre was dedicated to the healthcare of the female body and appears to have been produced from the thirteenth century onwards. The first of these texts to be studied is a Catalan treatise called Trdtula, compiled by a certain master Joan [de Reimbamaco], of which only one fourteenth-century manuscript is preserved.25 A French treatise, Des aides de la maire et de ses medicines, has also been identified, of which three fifteenth-century manuscript copies from the south of France are known to us. Its text coincides significantly with the second section of the Catalan Trdtula26 The relationship between these texts and the Book o f Women’s Love is remarkably close both thematically and generically. There are important parallels between parts of the section of the book dedicated to gynaecology and the second section of the Catalan treatise that corresponds with the French texts, especially with one of the two traditions evident in the manuscripts.27 To sum up, the transmission, towards the end of the twelfth century, of a tradition linked to Salemo whose highest expression are the texts that circulated under the name of Trotula, which were quickly translated into the vernacular and Hebrew, as well as the development from the thirteenth century of a genre of practical compendia, also influenced by Salemo, dedicated to the health of 24 Gerrit Bos, “On Editing and Translating Medieval Hebrew Medical Texts”, pp. 103-105; and Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres”, pp. 140-143. 25 Monserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni i la medicina medieval de tradicio llatina. Els tractas De ornatu, De decorationibus mulierum atribuits a Amau de Vilanova, Trdtula de mestre Joan, i Flos del Tresor de Beutat atribuit a Manuel Die? de Calatayud”. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Barcelona, 1994 (microfiches, num. 2794); eadem, “From a Master to a Laywoman: a Feminine Manual of Self-Help”, Dynamis, 20 (2000), pp. 371-393. 26 Monserrat Cabre i Pairet, “From a Master to a Laywoman”, pp. 385-386, n. 38. The manuscripts are: Paris. BN. Nouv.Acq.Fran. 11649, fols. 160v-166r; Paris. BN. MS Ancien SaintGermain Fransais 1994, fols. 194r-201v; Chantilly. Musee Conde. MS 330, fols. 106a-109v. I am deeply grateful to Dr Cabre for allowing me to consult the codicological description and her unpublished edition of the French manuscripts. 27 The relationship between these texts and the Book of Women’s Love is studied in the section on sources of the compilation.

14

Composition and characteristics

women and written in Latin and the vernacular, both seem to indicate that the thirteenth century marks a turning point in the medical literature on the female body that developed in Western Europe. The context in which these works were written and circulated appears to be the most appropriate framework for a book such as the Book o f Women’s Love, a compendium of magic, sexuality, and care of the female body, written in Hebrew, a language used for scientific works and for communication among the various Jewish communities whose members did not always speak the same language.

1.2. Linguistic analysis.28 From a linguistic point of view, the Book o f Women's Love is an extremely interesting work and, I believe, representative of the period and broad genre - i.e. late medieval practical texts on therapeutics for both men and women - in which it was written. The most distinctive linguistic characteristic of the book is the incorrect use of Hebrew grammar, including inconsistency in the use of grammatical gender and number, confusion over the subjects of verbs, and frequent disagreement between subject and verb. This phenomenon is partly the result of the state of Hebrew usage at the end of the Middle Ages, but also, as I intend to demonstrate in this section, of the compiler’s imperfect knowledge of Hebrew grammar and of the influence of Romance languages. To see medieval Hebrew as a homogeneous whole is to disregard the influence on it of the geographical, political, social and cultural differences that developed within Jewish communities during this long period. Throughout the Middle Ages, Jewish men and women adopted a new attitude to Hebrew, and used it in a variety of ways, according to the territory in which they were living and the literary genre for which they required it. Thus, some of the Jewish communities were directly influenced by Arabic language and culture, whereas others, in lands dominated by Christian politics and culture, were influenced by Latin and the Romance languages. For example, one detects a great difference between the Hebrew used for poetry and grammar in al-Andalus, and that employed in Catalan scientific texts29

28 For a more complete linguistic study of the Book of Women’s Love, see chapter II of my Ph.D. dissertation, “Las mujeres en la medicina hebrea medieval. El libro de amor de mujeres o Libro del regimen de las mujeres. Edition, traduction y estudio”. Universidad de Granada, 2000, pp. 97-159; and my paper “The influence of Romance languages on Hebrew medical texts. A case study: The Sefer ahavat nashim”, presented at the International Conference Edition and Analysis o f Medieval Botanical-Medical Texts: Romance and Latin in the Context o f Hebrew and Arabic, Institut fur Romanische Philologie of Freien Universitat of Berlin, 2nd to 4th of May of 2002 (in press). 29 For an overview of medieval Hebrew, see Saenz-Badillos, A History o f the Hebrew Language, pp. 202-264; E. Goldenberg, “Medieval Hebrew”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 16 (1972), pp. 1607-1642. On the attitude of the Jewish communities to Hebrew according to the surrounding

15

The Book o f Women’s Love

Between the end of the twelfth and the fifteenth century, a great number of scientific and medical treatises were written in Hebrew, a considerable part of which were translations of works written in Arabic (both original works and translations from Greek) and in Latin.30 The sacred language was used for profane matters and had to be adapted to this new situation; as a result of this it acquired new lexical and linguistic resources to remedy its deficiencies. For example, neologisms were created by taking words or roots of words that already existed in Biblical and Misnaic Hebrew and giving them new meanings; loan translations were resorted to or foreign words were simply transliterated. Grammatical forms were also expanded.31 In the effort to adapt Hebrew to the new demands made by the areas of knowledge on which authors (especially translators) were writing, they paid very little attention to style and created grammatical irregularities, making the criterion of utility or nbym - that the text be comprehensible to the users - more important than linguistic purity or Yivybn runs.32 As a linguistic analysis shows, the Hebrew of the Book o f Women’s Love shares this criterion of utility, in which ease of comprehension by possible readers prevails over all else and is provided by a great number of transliterations and loan translations mainly related to the preparation of remedies, which readers probably knew better in the Arabic, Latin or Romance forms, than in those of Hebrew, if they existed. Regarding the supposed grammatical errors in the book, although they may in part be due to the linguistic incompetence of the compiler, I should point out, having compared the text with other sources, that the Hebrew in which other late medieval treatises are written is in general lacking in grammatical “correctness”.33 political-cultural influences, see Shelomo Morag, “Hebrew in Medieval Spain: Aspects of Evolution and Transmission”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos, Section Hebreo, 44 (1995), pp. 3-21. 30 See Lola Ferre, “Hebrew translations”; eadem, “Los judios”; and J.L.Teicher, “The LatinHebrew School”. 31 All the features and methods used by those who translated scientific treatises, or who wrote original works of this kind, are to be found, in one form or another in the following works: SaenzBadillos, A History o f the Hebrew Language, pp. 251-264; Lola Ferre, “La terminologia medica en las versiones hebreas de textos latinos”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos, 40, fasc. 2 (1991), pp. 87-107; eadem, “Hebrew Translations”. 32 See Saenz-Badillos, Ibid.; Lola Ferre, “Pirqe Amau Vilanova”, PhD dissertation, Unversity of Granada, 1987; eadem, “La terminologia medica”; eadem, “Hebrew Translations”; Jose Ramon Magdalena and Yom Tov Assis, Aljamia romance en los documentos hebraiconavarros (siglo XIV), Barcelona, 1992, pp. 3-17; Shelomo Morag, “Hebrew in Medieval Spain”. 33 The following late medieval Hebrew works have been studied in this respect: Sefer Hanisyonot, edited by J.O. Leibowitz and S. Marcus in Sefer Hanisyonot. The Book of Medical Experiences Attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984; the Sefer ha-toledet, edited by Ron Barkai in Les infortunes de Dinah; the treatises edited by the same author in A History of Jewish Gynaecological Texts: Sefer Dinah le-kol ‘inyan ha-rehem we-holayeah; Zikron haholayim ha-howim be-klei ha-herayon; Sefer ha-’em ’el Galinus hu’ ha-niqr’a Gyni’as; the

16

Composition and characteristics

All these factors, combined with others that will be briefly analysed below, give the work a series of features, mainly shared with other similar texts of the period, which distance it from the norms of Biblical and Misnaic Hebrew. In the Book o f Women’s Love the following linguistic phenomena, among others, can be observed: • Almost complete disappearance of the particle tin of the accusative. • The addition of (”>), as a link, between singular nouns that take the pronominal suffix: 7*nm • Substitution of the preposition (of) by the transliteration of the Romance preposition d e - 1 and n - prefixing or preceding the word in aljamiado34 phrases (although the use of the preposition n is found in Rabbinic language - due to Aramaic influence - 351 believe that in this context it is the result of the influence of the vernacular): Berries of ground ivy: [bayyas de’idrastereste]. Condito of satyrion: ymown >Dpn}p [qondiqti de-satiryon]. Gum dragant: yyyx n neta [gom’a de gargan]. Alum depluma: nd'Pd n cnbN [’alum de plum’a]. • Disagreement between number and gender of the subject and adjective, and between the pronominal suffixes and their antecedents. • Disagreement of gender, number and person between the subject and verb. • On occasions, the incorrect use of the construct forms: N TO ^pbp

• •

n sr&p.

Influence of the Romance language. Adoption of Latin medical and pharmacological terms and, to a lesser degree, Arabic, sometimes filtered through the Romance language.

The lack of agreement between the gender of nouns, adjectives and pronominal suffixes is due to a variety of factors, among the most important of which are: (a) the influence of the gender of the nouns in the Romance language of the scribe or compiler [rpn vraDy: aranya viva; monnpiD: electuari ho; nbrn nds: molta set; mop b nnN ibn ...N\ynn]. This marked tendency to confuse grammatical gender and the sex of people, is connected also to the marked predisposition found in the history of Western textual production and transmission to hide the feminine, to rub out its footprints, making women invisible and excluding them from the process of symbolic representation which makes language function.36 As some scholars have suggested, the way in which the grammatical masculine gender is used repeatedly to designate the female sex in the texts which have come down to us has contributed to eradicating women’s traces from the origin of the knowledge and practice associated with the healthcare and beautification of their own bodies.37 It is, at the very least, paradoxical that the masculine grammatical gender should be used in a recipe book dedicated largely to the care of the female body, in which there are indications that it was aimed at women.38 Verbs share some of the same problems that beset nouns. Discrepancies in the grammatical gender of subject and verb are recurrent, sometimes as a consequence of the author’s or copyist’s familiarity with the vernacular. But they are also attributable to the tendency to use the generic masculine, being quite usual that even when the subject is clearly a woman, the verb would be still written in the masculine. An extreme instance of this use is the masculine verb that matches Rachel’s name ( ivpyt) t>m n\yy\y). One might think that this is a scribal mistake, but it seems that even this striking disagreement of gender between subject and verb is not such an unusual phenomenon in medieval Hebrew manuscripts. For example, Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Or. 2133, f. 184r reads: ...bnp^n “idpi m n inm (And Dinah wrote in a book called...).39 Another example is found in a late medieval document from Navarre: ...w in o^Dn mN (Oro, who sold some objects from his house...).40 It is also interesting to observe how the mix up of the masculine second 36 See Grupo Nombra, Nombra: La representation del femenino y el masculino en el lenguaje. Madrid: Institute) de la Mujer, 1995; Patrizia Violi, El infinito singular. Madrid, 1991, especially pp. 11-16. (Or. ed. L ’infinito singolare. Considerazioni sulla diferenza sessuale nel linguaggio. Verona: Essedue, 1986). 37 See Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas, Textos y espacios de mujeres. Europa, siglos IV-XV. Barcelona: Icaria, 1990, especially pp. 31-38. 38A s some female researchers have noted, the masculinized textual expression of knowledge related to women is not unusual in this type of literature in Western Europe. Monica Green has pointed out that the author of the De omatu attributed to Trotula marks his gender with a masculine verbal form. Other treatises written in Catalan, studied by Montserrat Cabrd, were also compiled by men, according to manuscripts which have been preserved. See Monica Green, “The Development of the Trotuld\ p. 139; and Cabr6, “La cura del cos femem”. 39 Quoted by Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 63. 40 Quoted by Magdalena and Assis, Aljamia romance en los documentos hebraiconavarros, p. 11.

18

Composition and characteristics

person singular with the feminine third person singular of the future tense has resulted in disagreement not only in gender, but also in number and person of the verbs, and of these with their subject. This confusion has contributed to obscuring on many occasions not only the gender but also the person who is the subject of the sentences, and it adds to the difficulty of determining whom a certain therapeutic remedy is for and who should administer it. However, on some occasions I have noticed that the incorrect use (that is, discordant with regard to the subject) of a feminine verbal person or personal suffix could bear the intention of marking its female sex by eliminating any doubt with respect to its grammatical gender (iD\yb Nb\9 n\9N). Another main feature to point out with regard to the verbs, is the stereotyped use of the second masculine person of the imperative, which is, in fact, the verbal form far more frequently resorted to through the text. The spelling in the manuscript is quite heterogeneous due, principally, to the large number of words transliterated from other languages. The diversity of the spellings of one particular term, which produces a great number of variants, is caused by several factors, the most obvious of which, because it occurs so frequently in the manuscript, being the difficulty of transliterating the phonemes of those other languages into Hebrew characters. That is to say, the difficulty lies in adapting the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to the phonemes it is trying to reproduce. This is due in part to the ambiguous phonetic value of some Hebrew characters and to the confusion produced by the similarity between the sound of some Latin and Hebrew letters. Some examples are: Balaustia (pomegranate flower): tWDtnbn ,w otrto ,w \ j v t >2 ,>NOTta Camomile: Nb>QDp ,N>DDNp ,N>DNDNp. Ivy: ,N*n>N. Oruga (rocket): »an ,Nm Rosemary: pnD vyn ,»»n ,^nom. Violet: vybwi ,*>bwi. Sugar: npiv ,nnpjp ,nNpro. Furthermore, I believe that the heterogeneity of the spelling of the transliterated words is a reflection of the use of these terms in vernacular languages, in which also a wide range of variants of many of them are found. However, it also reveals the phonetic evolution of Hebrew in contact with the languages surrounding it. It was precisely this diversity of variants, together with a study of some vernacular glossaries,41 that made me consider the 41 See Gregorio Del Olmo Lete and Jose Ramon Magdalena Nom de Deu, “Documento hebreocatal&n de farmacopea medieval”, Anuario de Filologia, 6 (1980), pp. 159-187; Fernando Diaz Esteban, “Catalanismos en documentos hebreos medievales”, Anuario de Filologia, 9 (1983), pp. 69-86; Angel Saenz-Badillos, Un diccionario hebreo de Provenza (siglo XIII). Edicion del

19

The Book o f Women ’s Love

possibility that the transliterations were based on sounds, on the actual pronunciation of the language spoken in the social environment. The pronunciation of many of the aljamiado terms that appear in the compilation is very close to the documented spelling of these words in Romance languages. The manuscript itself contains certain indications that prove the influence of the spoken Romance language on the text written in Hebrew. Often, when a synonym is added to a certain word, the compiler - or the copyist - puts before it the phrases “which they ca ll... ”, “called ... ”, and even on one occasion he writes specifically “in the foreign language comella, which I have heard is a small raven” (my emphasis), comella being a Catalan term. In addition, among the characteristics of the spelling of the aljamiado words in the Book o f Women’s Love, I particularly note the use of yud (*>) and the sibilant shin/sin (vy) as morphemes of the feminine plural, which I have interpreted as the Catalan ending - e s - for that grammatical gender and number [\y>bwi, violes; vynn, roses]; and the use of nun-yud (*o) to represent the Castilian sound n, or, more accurately, the ny of Catalan [yws, pinyo]. Another major complexity that this short work presents is the translation of a great number of non-Hebrew words written in Hebrew characters, and of Hebrew words whose known meaning does not correspond to the needs of the text. I have already indicated that the necessity to adapt to new cultural requirements obliged Hebrew to acquire lexical resources to make up its deficiencies. Neologisms were made from words or roots of words in classical Hebrew and given new meanings. Semantic borrowing was practised and words from other languages transliterated. Therefore, the compilation has a series of terms found in Biblical and/or Rabbinical Hebrew whose semantic content has been modified to denote a reality for which Hebrew had no name. These new meanings have not appeared out of nowhere, obviously, but are rather the result of a process of transformation from the semantic field to which they originally belonged. They arise as a consequence either of the attempt to qualify and specify the content so as to signify a new reality, or else through metonymy based on semantic transference. Examples of the preciseness of meaning are nvyiinn, whose known meaning is compress, bandage, and in medieval medical texts, or, at least, in this text, changes to mean poultice; and nnpnft (drug, mixture of spices), which in this text - and in others42 - signifies manuscrito Vaticano Ebr. 413. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1987; Eduard Feliu, “Mots Catalans en textos hebreus medievals: els dictamens de Salomo ben Adret”, Calls, 3 (1988-89), pp. 53-73; Jose Ramon Magdalena Nom de D6u, Un glosario hebraicoaljamiado trilingiie y doce “aqrabadin ” de origen Catalan (siglo XV). Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 1993; Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Macer Floridus: A Middle Hebrew Fragment with Romance Elements”, The Jewish Quarterly Review, XCI, Nos. 1-2 (2000), pp. 17-51; idem, “Shem Tov ben Issac, Glossary of Botanical Terms, Nos. 1-18”, The Jewish Quarterly Review, XCII, Nos. 1-2 (2001), pp. 21-40. 42 See Michael McVaugh and Lola Ferre, The Tabula Antidotarii o f Armengaud Blaise and its

20

Composition and characteristics

electuary. Both terms have been identified with their new meanings to such an extent that, when they appear in the manuscript, they are given the grammatical gender of the vernacular translation of the word, not that of the Hebrew [nu nnpnn, electuari bo]. Regarding metonymy, the Hebrew word nbmo, which signifies wick or plait, acquires, as a result of semantic transference, the meaning of pessary (a medical substance introduced into the body by means of a vaginal suppository). The same happens to the term (cotton wool), which at times in this manuscript also takes the meaning of pessary. However, it should be made clear that in these two specific cases the process of semantic transference is similar to that which they have undergone in Romance languages. For example, in medical treatises written in Castilian, we find that mecha and tritafe (wick) are also synonyms for pessary43 which raises the question whether this is a case of metonymy or a loan translation from another language. With regard to loan translations, it is extremely difficult to discover from which language they have been produced and when they became current. This occurs because the language of scientific works in general has several underlying strata consisting of the original Greek, the translations and original works written in Arabic, and those written in Latin. Nevertheless, in the Book o f Women’s Love, it is evident that expressions have been borrowed that are common in the Latin and vernacular treatises dedicated to women, as already mentioned. Examples are the use of the word “flowers”, OTT0, for menses,44 or that of “mother”, ON, for the uterus. Ron Barkai has suggested that the predominance of the word om {rehem) for the uterus shows a textual influence of Arabic, in which a very similar term exists (rahim), while in the texts translated from or influenced by Latin medical literature the term o n is preferred, which, according to Barkai, is the translation of the word matrix45 Although I share with him the view that the differing use of each of these two terms can serve to uncover their different origins, I believe, nevertheless, that, at least in the case of the Book o f Women’s Love, the term o n is not the loan translation of the word matrix, but of mother [madre, mare, maire], the Romance translation of the Latin term. This Romance word was used often in

Hebrew Translations. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2000, especially pp. 92-93, 106-107 and 110-111. 43 See the glossary of Bernard of Gordon, Lilio de Medicina. Un manual basico de medicina medieval. Edicion critica de la version espanola Sevilla 1495. Eds. John Cull and Brian Dutton. Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1991, p. 390b. 44 This tradition originates in the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum, one of the texts that make up the Trotula. It seems that “flowers” was a common vernacular term to designate menses in most of the medieval Western European languages, and it is often found in texts belonging to the genre of practical compendia for women to which I have referred in the previous section. See Monica Green, “The Development of the Trotula”, pp. 128 and 132; eadem, The Trotula, p. 21. 45 See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 54.

21

The Book o f Women’s Love

treatises written in or translated into the vernacular46 and, undoubtedly, in the linguistic surroundings in which the compiler “heard” many of the other terms he has introduced in this work. All the same, the option most resorted to in the Sefer 'ahavat nashim in order to fill in the terminological gaps in Hebrew is the transliteration of words from other languages, frequently a Romance language. However, I have noticed that the text includes transliterated words of which Hebrew versions already existed; in fact, at times, the Hebrew term is alternated with the transliterated one. Both usages appear to arise from the writer’s deficient knowledge of the Hebrew lexicon and also from an undeniable influence of the local vernacular language. This indicates that the compiler and the possible users, even when they knew the Hebrew term, were perhaps more familiar with the Romance word and preferred to use it for that reason. Among the aljamiado terms are to be found, mainly, words relating to medicinal products and therapeutic procedures, units of measurement (most of Greek and Latin origin) and, occasionally, organs and parts of the body; but also words taken more directly from a Romance language [NvnxnN, Cat. hermosa (beautiful); Nbbmp, Cat. cornella (raven); tr>vm\2p, Cat. catorze (fourteen)]. Many of the transliterations are of terms of Greek and/or Latin origin already integrated into Romance languages. This seems to be reflected in the pronunciation, which, as a reading of many of them shows, is very close to the form found in the medieval stage of Romance languages and, even, at times, today. In the same way, plural endings frequently take a sibilant as a desinence of number, a sibilant that does not always appear in the plural of Latin declensions. Nevertheless, the question as to which Romance language is hidden behind the transliterations and influences the book’s grammar is very difficult to answer with absolute certainty. The level of linguistic homogeneity found in various treatises (at least those that I have consulted) written or translated into Hebrew in different regions of the Christian territories of the Iberian Peninsula and Southern France, makes it difficult to identify the Romance language that has influenced this work. When an attempt is made to ascribe to a particular Romance language the origin of an aljamiado word, one discovers that this spelling or pronunciation has been found in or is even common to several of these languages. The reason for this similarity among technical words in Romance languages is that most scientific, technical and pharmacological terms came to them largely through Latin, which in turn took them from Greek, and many are learned expressions acquired from translations of scientific works. As a result, they lack a native evolutionary process that could produce differences. 46 Precisely in many of the texts in Romance languages already cited: the Catalan treatise called Trdtula, the French Des aides de la maire, the Castilian version of Bernard of Gordon’s Lilium medicinae, etc.

22

Composition and characteristics

All the same, with the help of dictionaries and some published glossaries, I believe I have identified in this text a number of aljamiado terms that are Catalan or Occitan. Some examples are: escuma\ ^mpm, escurol; nutPbN, aleixandre; twP'iD, poliol; w n , romanl.47 A final comment regarding the training of the compiler may add a few extra details to the picture that I have already tried to draw of him and of the circumstances surrounding the writing of the compilation. In my view, the Aramaic usages apparent in the book [Nrp ,w\rm ,vvjny ,nttin, etc.] could indicate an education related to Rabbinic studies - the Mishnah and Talmud - central to the Jewish educational system which prevailed among the Jewish communities of Mediterranean countries during the Middle Ages 48 To sum up, what appears to be the compiler’s incorrect use of Hebrew could be a consequence of a number of factors deriving from contemporary usage, the influence of the Romance language of the area, a male-centred view of the world, and even the man’s own limited knowledge of Hebrew grammar. This last feature, even in the assumption that this might be a particularly corrupted copy of the original, is one more argument against the claim that a scholar and translator of Jacob ha-Qatan’s expertise and skills could have been its author.

1.3. Sources. During the Middle Ages, in the Arab tradition as in the Latin, the attribution of parts of a treatise, or of the information collected in it, to earlier and well-known authors gave authority to the information, since the concept of author encompassed that of authority.49 Nevertheless, a characteristic common to treatises of practical medicine, and especially those works or sections on cosmetics, is that the sources used are not directly mentioned, or are even suppressed. In the treatise called Trdtula by the master Joan [de Reimbamaco], the only two authorities cited, on only one occasion and in a general manner,

47 Regarding the glossaries see above note 41. The aljamiado terms have been noted and explained in the commentary on the translation. 48 See Elijah Bortniker, “Education in the Middle Ages”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. 6, pp. 382-466, on pp. 403-413; and Abot 5, 21, in which an outline of the curriculum is found, which was very much the norm in the Jewish educational system, and can be summarized as follows: at the age of five a boy can begin to study the Bible, at ten the Mishnah, at thirteen he is old enough to fulfil the ten commandments, at fifteen to study the Talmud, all this under the direction of a master or Rabbi. 49 See A.J. Minnis, Medieval Theory o f Authorship. Scholastic Literary Attitudes in the Later Middle Ages. Aldershot: Scolar, 1984, pp. 10-12; and Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La ciencia de las mujeres en la Edad Media. Reflexiones sobre la autoria femenina”, in Cristina Segura Graifio (ed.), La voz del silencio II. Historia de las mujeres: compromiso y metodo. Madrid, 1993, pp. 41-74, especially on pp. 56 and 65-66.

23

The Book o f Women ’s Love

are Galen and Hippocrates.50 It is my belief that the lack of attribution to authors of some of the remedies that can be found in a variety of treatises is due to the fact that many of the practices, especially those related to magic, cosmetics, contraception and others, originated from daily use and were orally transmitted, as can be inferred from the fact that they are found in sources from very different cultures and eras, without any connection between them.51 Given the length of the Book o f Women’s Love, the number of authors cited and sources used is certainly large. Nevertheless, as often happens in medieval works, it is extremely difficult to identify all the sources, and to decide if these have been taken directly or indirectly from the originals and are therefore literal or only approximate citations. Moreover, this is a text written in Hebrew that uses sources from the Graeco-Arabic and Latin traditions, and hence it is easy to imagine that some of the works cited have suffered changes in translation, particularly in a double translation, to the language from which the compiler took the quotation. Indeed, the comparison between some passages of the Book o f Women’s Love and their purported source reveals that the resemblance is more marked when the source is a Hebrew work than when it is a paraphrase of Graeco-Latin works. The sources of the Book o f Women’s Love are frequently given explicitly, although, as I have already said, not all of those cited have been identified. On the other hand, at times we discover that the sources referred to by the compiler have not really been used (although there is always the possibility that on some occasions I have not been able to identify a passage correctly). However, that does not necessarily signify that the attribution has been “invented” intentionally. Some of these false attributions may be due to errors of previous authors, from whom a passage has been copied or translated; or to carelessness or mistakes on the part of the compiler or copyist; or to the vicissitudes of the transmission of texts. Nevertheless, I have identified certain passages and recipes that are the same as those in the Book o f Women’s Love in treatises that are not cited in the work. The possibility exists that these texts from which the parallel passages come are one of the sources of the book; another plausible alternative is that both texts share an earlier common ancestor. In some cases, specifically in the sections on magic and cosmetics - precisely those parts of the compendium in 50 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 327; eadem, “Cosm&ica y perfumeria en la Castilla bajomedieval”, in Luis Garcia-Ballester (ed.), Historia de la ciencia y de la tecnica en la Corona de Castilla. Vol. II, Edad Media. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y Leon, 2002, pp. 773-779. 51 See Carmen Caballero Navas, “Magia: experiencia femenina y practica de la relation”, in Marta Bertran, Carmen Caballero, Montserrat Cabre, M-Milagros Rivera and Ana Vargas, De dos en dos. Laspracticas de creaciony recreacion de la viday la convivencia humana. Madrid: horas y HORAS, 2000, pp. 33-54.

24

Composition and characteristics

which the number of sources cited explicitly is least - I have discovered great similarities between recipes collected there and those in other medieval treatises, but also in texts and other sources (which record actual practice) from a variety of differing epochs and cultures. This suggests that, possibly, the common origin of all these recipes and remedies is experience, the living practice of women in the management of the care and beauty of their bodies, a practice that is sustained by human relationships.52 On a number of occasions, the compiler acknowledges “anonymous” authors as sources. This means that he attributes recipes to - or recognizes as their authors - men and women whose names he does not give, but whose sex or geographical origin he frequently does provide, thus associating them with a place name. This “anonymous” authorship often tends to be collective, such as the “sages of Greece”, or the “kings”, but individual men and women are also acknowledged, as in “a wise man” or, simply, “she”.53 It is important to stress that some of the possible sources of the material found in the Book o f Women’s Love link the text to the area of the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula and the south of France, and date it no earlier than the thirteenth century. Below, I offer an analysis of these sources, grouped according to their cultural origins: Graeco-Latin, Arabic and Hebrew.

1.3.1. Sources of Graeco-Latin Origin. The Graeco-Latin authors explicitly cited in the Book o f Women’s Love enjoyed acknowledged authority in the Middle Ages. Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Dioscorides, and Alexander are also cited in other Hebrew works. Although it is possible that these authors were consulted in Arabic or Latin, I am inclined to think that our compiler used Hebrew texts and probably, also those in the vernacular. The Aphorisms of Hippocrates (c.460 BCE) were translated into Hebrew, together with Galen’s commentaries, by Nathan b. Eliezer ha-Meati (thirteenth century).54 In the Book o f Women's Love, Hippocrates is cited together with Galen as the source of a warning - also included in the Catalan treatise called Trdtula —5 that the retention of the menses causes mortal illnesses. On another 52 See Bertran, Caballero, Cabre, Rivera y Vargas, De dos en dos. This book is the result of an interdisciplinary research project on the practice of female relationships carried out in DUODA. Centre de Recerca de Dones, University of Barcelona, between the years 1997-2000. 53 See Montserrat Cabre, “La ciencia de las mujeres”, especially pp. 66-67; eadem, “Autoras sin nombre, autoridad femenina (siglo XIII)”, in Ma del Mar Grana Cid (ed.), Las sabias mujeres II (siglos III-XVI). Homenaje a Lola Luna. Madrid, Al-mudayna, 1995, pp. 59-73. 54 Lola Ferre, “Tracing the influence o f the Hebraic Canon”, in Avicena, Canon medicinae: estudio y edicion facsimil del ms. 2197 de la Biblioteca Universitaria de Bolonia. Libro de estudios. Madrid: Ars Magna Editorial, 2002, pp. 244-287, on p. 270. 55 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 320. This quotation is also included in the three extant

25

The Book o f Women’s Love

three occasions the compiler specifically quotes Hippocrates or the Treatise o f Hippocrates (from which he says that he has copied part of a chapter dedicated to the retention of the menses) as the source of a number of remedies to provoke the menstrual flow. Though these are not likely to be direct quotations, it is a fact that suppression of the menses, considered a pathological condition in all cases, is precisely one of the leitmotifs of gynaecological material of the Hippocratic Corpus.56 Also during the thirteenth century, coinciding with the indisputable triumph of Aristotelian thought in Western Europe,57 some of the works of Aristotle (384-C.322 BCE) were translated into Hebrew, although Jewish intellectuals had access to them mainly through Ibn Rushd’s commentaries written in Arabic. Among the authors who translated Aristotelian or pseudoAristotelian works were Shemuel ibn Tibbon (1160-1232), Moshe ibn Tibbon (thirteenth century), Abraham ben Samuel ha-Levi ibn Hasday (twelfth to thirteenth century), Eli ben Yosef Habillo de Monzon (Xabillo) (fifteenth century) and Me’ir Algualdex (d. 1410), who translated from Latin the Ethics under the title of Sefer ha-middot.58 Aristotle is cited in the Book o f Women's Love on four occasions when gynaecological remedies are attributed to him, one of which is also found in the Hebrew treatise called Sefer Hanisyonot, although attributed to the “experimenter”.59 Also, in the Sefer ’ahavat nashim two gynaecological remedies are attributed to Plato (c.428-c.348 BCE), to whom other Arabic and Hebrew treatises often attributed medical lore. To Dioscorides (first century CE) and his book, in all probability the Materia medica, are attributed two recipes which I have not been able to find in his work: a remedy for skin infection and one for the displacement of the uterus. Dioscorides’ Materia medica was translated from Greek into Arabic during the Cordoba Caliphate in the tenth century; one of the translators was the Jewish intellectual Hasday ibn Shapmt, physician to Abderraman III.60 The influence of Galen (Pergamum 129-C.216 CE) reached Hebrew medicine through Arab medicine, his work being translated on numerous occasions into Hebrew. Zerayah ben Yishaq Hen or Gracian (thirteenth century) translated De causis et syntomatibus and part of the Katagene; and Ali ibn Ridwan’s manuscripts of the French treatise Des aides de la maire. 56 Monica Green, “The Transmission”, pp. 16-18. Helen King, Hippocrates’ Woman. Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece. London and New York: Routledge, 1998, pp. 29-30 and 76. 57 Prudence Allen, The Concept o f Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution, 750 B C -A D 1250. Montreal: Eden Press, 1985. 58 Angel Saenz-Badillos and Judith Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios (Sefarad. Siglos X-XV). Cordoba: El Almendro, 1988, pp. 110, 79,12,46 and 60, respectively. 59 Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 226. 60 Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, p. 50; and Tzvi Langermann, “Science in the Jewish Communities of the Iberian Peninsula: An Interim Report”, in The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages, Essay I, p. 4.

26

Composition and characteristics

commentary on the Tegni was translated by Shemuel ibn Tibbon.61 However, Galen’s authority is hardly invoked in the Book o f Women’s Love. In fact, only one recipe to ease pregnancy is attributed to him, which is also recommended in the Sefer Hanisyonot, although attributed to the “experimenter”.62 Together with Hippocrates, he is credited with the already mentioned warning that the retention of the menses causes mortal illnesses. As regards the references to Alexander, this might possibly be Alexander of Tralles (sixth century), author of a compilation in twelve books written in Greek, and translated into Hebrew, in which he brings together his experience in the practice of medicine 63 In the Book o f Women’s Love he is cited on three occasions when remedies are attributed to him: for scabs and ulcers on the head, and to ease pregnancy. I have not been able to find these in his work,64 although one appears in the Sefer Hanisyonot attributed, as on other occasions, to the “experimenter”.65 Some of the translations into Hebrew of the works of these authors have not been preserved, and others remain unedited, which has greatly complicated the search for recipes and the authentication of these attributions. Nevertheless, it has been possible to establish that some of the attributed remedies have not been taken directly from their sources, but are quoted second-hand, that is, taken from intermediary texts. This indirect method of compiling materials created by, or attributed to, a specific person is evident from the fact that some passages of the book have been found in other sources, at times even with different attributions, as is the case of the recipes found in the Sefer Hanisyonot attributed to the “experimenter”. In the same way, the passage in the Book o f Women’s Love in which the warning of the dire consequences of the long-term retention of the menses is attributed to Hippocrates and Galen, retains a wording much closer to a passage in the Catalan treatise Trdtula (and the French Des aides de la maire), and even to a statement made by Ibn al-Jazzar in his Zad al-musafir, than to that in the original works of these two authors. This is shown in the following comparison between these passages and an extract from Hippocrates’ Aphorisms, with commentary by Galen, on the excess and retention of menstruation.

61 Ibid., pp. 202 and 111, respectively; on the translations of Galen’s work into Hebrew, see Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. VII, p. 264. 62 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 224. 63 See Lynn Thorndike, History o f Magic and Experimental Sciences, I, New York: Macmillan Co., 1923, pp. 575-584. 64 See Theodor Puschmann (ed. and trans.), Alexander von Tralles. Original-text und Ubersetzung. 2 vols. Wien, 1878 (repr. Amsterdam, 1963). 65 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 226.

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The Book o f Women's Love

Hippocratis Aphorismi et Galeni in eos comentarii Menstruis copiosioribus profluentibus morbi oboriuntur, at non prodeuntibus accidunt ab utero morbi. [...] Quidquid autem fiierit, temporis progressu uterum ipsum aliquem affectum pati vel phlegmonodem vel erysipelatodem vel scirrhodem vel carcinodem, quo per consesum totum corpus affici necesse est [...]. When the menses are excessive, diseases take place, and when the menses are stopped, diseases from the uterus take place. [...] For whatever reason [the menses are suppressed], with the passage of time the womb will increasingly suffer from complaints, whether swelling, erysipelas, scirrhus or carcinoma, and equally all the body will inevitably be affected.66

B ook o f Women ’s Love m o np> n o p t

oni

tWT>00 OWp owbn p onptiNi noNW .oomtHo o»bn m m If [flowers] were retained a long time before, according to Galen and Hippocrates, it may cause serious fatal illnesses such as dropsy and epilepsy and several more complicated illnesses.67

Trdtula

Z a d al-m usafir

Mas per qualque guisa se retinga longament, avem-ne longues malalties e mortals, axi di Ypocras e Galienus, so es a ssaber: aiganus o desfici, e oradura, en moltes d’altres malalties.68

[If the menstruation of a woman is retained for a long time] Their bodies will, in short, be susceptible to some serious diseases, such as dropsy, consumption, and a humour consisting of black bile.69

66 See Kuhn, C.G., Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, 20 vols. Leipzig, 1821-1833 (reprint Hildesheim, 1967), Vol. XVII/2, particula V, num. 57, pp. 853-855. On the translation of Hippocrates’ Aphorisms see Francis Adams, The Genuine works o f Hippocrates, Aphorism 57, p. 312; my translation o f Galen’s commentary. 67 See edition and English translation below, pp. 156-157. 68 Edited by Montserrat Cabrd in “La cura del cos femeni”, p.320. 69 Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases and their Treatment. A Critical Edition o f Zad almusafir wa-qut al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary). London & New York: Kegan Paul International, 1997, pp. 263-264.

28

Composition and characteristics

Unlike the Catalan and French treatises, which display the same attribution as the Hebrew compilation, Ibn al-Jazzar does not mention any source. Gerrit Bos has pointed out the great similarity existing between Ibn alJazzar’s description of the symptoms of amenorrhoea and that made by Galen in his De locis affectis70 However, despite the correspondence between Ibn alJazzar’s and Galen’s accounts, De locis affectis does not make any reference to the serious diseases resulting from a long retention.71 In my view, this brief statement could be considered Ibn al-Jazzar’s own contribution. The Zad al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary) is the most important work of the tenth century Arab physician and medical author Ibn al-Jazzar. The work was translated into Latin by Constantine the African at the end of the eleventh century under the title Viaticum peregrinantis, becoming before long one of the most influential medical books in medieval Europe. It was translated three times into Hebrew: twice from the Latin, in 1197-99 by an anonymous translator under the title Sefer ya ’Tr nativ, and later by Abraham ben Isaac as Sedah la-orehim; and once from the Arabic, by Moshe ibn Tibbon in 1259 under the title Sedat ha-derakim.12 The Sefer y a ’Tr nativ, attributed by his translator to Yishaq Yisraeli, was profusely quoted in other Hebrew medical works such as the Sefer ha-yosher and the Sha ‘ar ha-nashim.73 In my view, although the Book o f Women’s Love never mentions Ibn alJazzar nor his work, the influence of some of the ideas developed in Zad alm usafif s sixth book - devoted to sexual diseases and their treatment - is undeniable. As I will discuss in the next chapter and in the commentary on the translation, I have been able to detect some resemblance in the aetiology, the symptomatology and the therapeutics articulated particularly in chapter nine (on the retention of menstrual blood) and in chapter eleven (on uterine suffocation) of that book. Yet, here too it is difficult to ascertain whether Ibn al-Jazzar’s theories reached our compilation by way of the Hebrew translations of that work, directly or by means of other Jewish authors’ commentaries upon it, or through the Latin/Romance tradition. Precisely those passages that introduce some of Ibn al-Jazzar’s ideas on women’s ailments are included in the section of the Sefer 'ahavat nashim in which I have discovered significant parallels with the Catalan treatise entitled Trdtula, and the French work known as Des aides de la maire et de ses medicines .74 70 Ibid., p. 42. 71 See Kuhn, Claudii Galeni opera omnia, Vol. VIII, De locis affectis VI, 5, p. 435; and Rudolph E. Siegel, Galen on the Affected Parts, Basel, 1976, p. 191. 72 Moritz Steinschneider, Die hebraischen Ubersetzungen, pp. 703-704; Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar, p. 10, who gets the dates wrong; and Barkai, A History of Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 25-26, note 58, where he only cites two translations. 73 See my article, “Un capltulo sobre mujeres”, especially on pp. 143-145. 74 See below in the commentary on the translation, notes 217 and 225.

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The Book o f Women’s Love

The second part of the Catalan compilation, dealing with diseases of the uterus and the treatment of menstrual disorders, corresponds with the beginning of the French treatise. At this point the similarities with the Book o f Women's Love begin. The matching sections of the three works include a brief explanation of some causes and possible consequences of the retention of menstrual blood, and various remedies to provoke or halt the menstrual flow. Although some parts are practically identical, the Hebrew text is, in general, organized and ordered differently from the treatises in the vernacular. Sometimes, the Book o f Women ys Love does not include some of the recipes found in Trdtula and in the Des aides de la maire, although the main deviation is in the suppression or addition of ingredients in recipes common to these texts. Book o f Women’s Love

Trdtula

Des aides de la maire

To promote menstrual flow you should know that sometimes women’s flowers are retained because she is old when she is older than forty - and, sometimes, because of the weakness of the nature, or thick humours, or corruption of the blood, or an abscess, or anger or fear, or similar causes. If [the menstrual flow] is retained because of coldness - the sign is that the urine is white it would be good for her [to use] heating remedies and hot electuaries: diaqaron, diasatiryon and trifera magna.15

Emperd io, en Johan Reimbamaco, die, si es la mare freda - que opotz conexer per la orina blancha e per moltz altres seynals - val-hi menjar de calda natura aytambe letovaris, empastres, fomigis, bayns persons, axirops e olis e unguents calts, letovaris, axi com diacodion, diaterorperipon , trasera macna, siloni, diatesseron, triaca major, diaciminum [...]. Lo reteniment de la jlo r per moltes gives se fa, car fas, per veylea o per feblea de natura: o per veylea a cap de XL ayns o de L; e noy val medicina; per feblesa de natura, axi com grosses umors o per corrumpiment de sanch del nars, o per apostema, o per ira, o per pahor, o per esmortiment, o per moltes altres guises. 76

Toutes fois moy, Jehan de Tarbamacho, dy que se la maire est froide tu le pues congnoistre p ar Turine blanche et par moult d ’autres senyaulx. Et lui fault manger choses chauldes a nature et aussi bien electuaires, emplastres et parfums et bains et bon pensement, ciroeps, olis et onguens calens et bien olens. Et des electuaires dis ainsi comme dyacontinion, dyatrion, pipereon, tafera magna, filon, dyatesieron, tiriaca maior, saccana dia macte Le retiennement de la flour se fait par moultes de guises car se fait par vieillesse de cap de xl ou de I ans. Et nuy vault medicine a foiblesse de nature ainsi comme par grosses humours qui empeschent les vaines ou par apostume ou par yre ou par paour ou par corrompement de sang par le nas ou per emeroides ou par moult d ’autres guises?1

In spite of the importance and length of the parallel extracts, neither Romance work is mentioned in the Book o f Women’s Love. On the contrary, it cites as sources of part of this material the Book o f al-Zahrawl, the Book o f al75 See English translation, p. 156. 76 Edited by Montserrat Cabre in “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 319-320. 77 MS Chantilly. Musee Conde, 330, fols. 106va-109v. Transcribed by Montserrat Cabre, who generously shared with me her work-in-progress.

30

Composition and characteristics

Razl, the Book o f Ibn Sina and the Treatise o f Hippocrates. Since it has not been possible so far to find out if the Catalan treatise is the source of the French manuscripts or vice versa, or if all of them were translations of an earlier vernacular or Latin source, it is very difficult to specify the exact relationship between these treatises and the Book o f Women's Love. In any case, this relationship is yet another proof of the contact between Hebrew and vernacular languages, which resulted in translations from these languages into Hebrew. We know of several made from Catalan, such as the two Hebrew versions of Arnold of Villanova’s Regimen sanitatis ad inclytum regem Aragonum directum et ordinatum done from its Catalan translation.78 The possible link between Jewish copyists and texts in Romance languages, and more specifically with Des aides de la maire, is proved by the fact that one of the known manuscript copies was copied by a scribe called Esdre,19 undoubtedly a Jewish name. There exists, therefore, the possibility, if not the certainty, that these treatises and the Book o f Women’s Love shared one or several sources in common, among which oral sources based on experience should not be ruled out. One of these common sources was certainly Ibn al-Jazzar’s Zad almusaflr. However, I cannot go beyond this assertion. Until we have got more clues about the kind of link between these treatises and their common source(s), we will not be able to ascertain the way in which Ibn al-Jazzar influenced these works, whether via the Hebrew or the Latin tradition. Regarding other sources of the compilation, the “sages of Greece” referred to collectively and anonymously - are the authority mainly cited throughout the text. These sages are mentioned on fourteen occasions, with a total of twenty-four remedies ascribed to them: three for toothache, one to whiten teeth, two to make a woman’s milk flow and two to halt it, three recipes to discover what a woman has been doing and one to discover if a young woman is a virgin, two to cause pregnancy, one to cause pregnancy in a sterile woman, one to cure suffocation of the uterus, one to provoke the menstrual flow, three to halt it, a recipe for abortion, two to prevent miscarriage and one to prevent pregnancy. The Book o f the sages o f Greece, according to the compiler, is the source of the section devoted to pregnancy. From the “Land of Greece” comes a recipe for toothache. The largest number of recipes to which Greek origin is attributed corresponds to the gynaecological part of the compilation. The concerns reflected in the remedies are closely related to the 78 See Lola Ferre, “Los regimenes de salud de Maimonides y Amau de Vilanova en sus versiones hebreas”, in Maria Jos6 Cano Perez, Jose Ram6n Ayaso Martinez y Lola Ferre (eds.), La ciencia en la Espana medieval Granada: University of Granada, 1992, pp. 117-126, especially pp. 118— 119. 79 This manuscript is Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, Nouvelles Acquisitions Fran^aises 11649, fols. 160v-166r. See H. Omont, Nouvelles acquisitions du Departement des manuscrits pendant les annees 1919-1920. Paris: Editions Ernest Leroux, 1921, pp. 30-32. I am indebted to Montserrat Cabre for bringing the name of the scribe to my attention.

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The Book o f Women’s Love

physiology, pathology and therapeutics which are characteristic of the gynaecological works of the Hippocratic Corpus, such as, for example: the uterus as the source of all illnesses, retention of menstruation as a pathological state, pregnancy as beneficial to health, and treatment by aromatic substances applied to the genitals and the mouth for uterine suffocation and prolapse of the uterus.80 Finally, another source cited anonymously, although identified by a place name, is that which specifies the Kingdom of France as the origin of the recipe for a procedure to make a compound of oil of myrrh. With the expression “Kingdom of France” the compiler is possibly referring to territory in Catalonia. Other Jewish authors, such as Abraham bar Hiyya, used the phrase “kingdom of France” to allude to Catalonia or the Crown of Aragon.81 The fact that a vague geographical area is used as the authority for a certain practice suggests that the origin or source is precisely the custom of that place, that is, actual practice in everyday life.

1.3.2. Sources of Arab origin. The Arab authors explicitly quoted in the collection are Ibn Sma, al-RazI and al-ZahrawI. As we have seen, they are alluded to in general terms as the source of a gynaecological section that corresponds with parts of the Catalan treatise called Trdtula and with the French Des aides de la maire. In addition, some other remedies are attributed to each of them individually. The work of Ibn Sma (980-1037) was translated both from Arabic and from its Latin versions into Hebrew on many occasions, particularly the Canon, the medical text that circulated most widely in Hebrew. It was translated by Zerayah ben Yishaq Hen or Gracian and by Nathan b. Eliezer ha-Meati in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, and by Yosef ben Yehoshuah ibn Vives Lorqui one century later.82 Also the Arjuza, a poem summarizing the fundamental medical knowledge of Ibn Sma’s time, was translated at least four times into Hebrew, the first one executed, together with a commentary, by Shelomoh ben David in 1233.83 In the Book o f Women's Love a recipe to halt the menstrual flow is attributed to the Book o f Ibn Sma, presumably the Canon. Ibn Sma is quoted on nine more occasions throughout the text, in six of them it is stated that the remedies are taken from among many others that he “wrote”.

80 See Monica Green, “The Transmission”, pp. 13-22 811 am indebted to Angel Saenz-Badillos for this personal communication of 24-01-2000. 82 See Benjamin Richler, “Manuscripts of Avicenna’s Kanon in Hebrew Translations, a Revised and Up-to-date List”, Korot, 8 (1982), pp. 145-168; and Lola Ferre, “Tracing the influence of the Hebraic Canon”, pp. 244-287. 83 See Tzvi Langermann, “Some New Medical Manuscripts from St. Petersburg”, Korot, 13 (1998-1999), pp. 9-20, on pp. 13-14.

32

Composition and characteristics

These recipes are associated with the care of the female body and cover remedies for a wide range of health concerns and hygiene: toothache, body odour, the superfluous moisture of the womb that prevents conception, the displacement of the mother, retention of the menstrual flow and/or of the placenta, menorrhagia, pain after childbirth and the prevention of pregnancy. The work of al-RazI (c.850-c.923) was also translated into Hebrew from the thirteenth century on. He is cited in the Book o f Women’s Love on five occasions in which seven remedies for a variety of complaints are attributed to him: for scabs and ulcers on the head, to prevent miscarriage, for conception, to abort a foetus and to provoke menstruation. This last recipe appears also in the Sefer Hanisyonot with the same attribution.84 In two other instances, the compiler turns to the Book o f al-Razi, from which he says he will copy material on the retention of the menstrual flow and on how to provoke it, and on menstrual haemorrhaging and how to stop it. In addition, Almanzor is twice quoted in the collection as if he were an author, when in fact the compiler is referring to a book by al-Razi known as Kitab al-Mansuri (Liber ad Almansorem or Liber Almansoris, in Latin), consisting of ten books. It was translated from Arabic into Hebrew in 1264 by Shem Tov ben Yishaq Tortosi. Later, towards the second half of the fourteenth century, Abraham Abigdor made an abridged translation of the ninth book (De curatione aegritudinum qui accidunt a capite usque ad pedes) from the Latin version of Gerard of Cremona, adding Galen’s commentaries.85 Recently, Tzvi Langermann has identified a new translation from the Latin of the whole work, whose only extant manuscript was copied in 1374 in Portugal.86 In the same way as Ibn Sma’s texts, al-Razfs major works were translated into Hebrew both from the original Arabic and from Latin translations, which makes it very difficult to determine the path of transmission. The work of the great Arab surgeon al-ZahrawI (d. c.1013) was very soon translated into Latin, Hebrew and some Romance languages. In the Book o f Women’s Love his work is cited at the beginning of the chapter dedicated to remedies to halt the menstrual flow, and the compiler attributes to him the section in which the causes of these abnormal bleedings are explained. This extract is also included in the Catalan Trdtula without the attribution to al-Zahrawi.87 On three occasions the Book o f al-Zahrawi is given as the source of yet more gynaecological material. Possibly, this book 84 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 234. 85 See Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, p. 104; George Sarton, Introduction to the History o f Science, vol. I, pp. 609-610; and Lutz Richter-Bemburg, “Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn ZakarTya al-Razfs (Rhazes) medical works”. Medicina nei Secoli 6 (1994), pp. 377-392, especially pp. 383-385. 86 See Tzvi Langermann, “Some New Medical Manuscripts from St. Petersburg”, on pp. 14-15. 87 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 326-327.

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is none other than the Kitab al-tasrif li-man ‘agiza ‘an al-ta’lif (The recourse o f him who cannot compose [a medical work o f his own]), a compendium of health comprising thirty books. The T asrif was translated into Hebrew, between 1254 and 1261, by Shem Tov ben Yishaq Tortosi under the title Sefer ha-shimmush. Some years later in Italy, Nathan b. Eliezer ha-Meati also translated it. Moreover, it seems that some fragments of the T a srif were also rendered into Hebrew by anonymous translators.88 When on one occasion the Book on unguents from the Book o f al-Zahrawi is given as the source of a recipe for a dried scab that has grown old, the compiler is in all probability referring to treatise twenty-four of the Tasrif which deals with precisely this subject.89 The Arab influence on the Sefer ’ahavat nashim is acknowledged in very different areas as an anonymous collective. A remedy to stop the menstrual flow and another to cause an abortion are attributed to “the Ishmaelites”. Recipes are recommended for making oil of myrrh and to prevent the utems “dropping down”, both of which originate in the “Land of Ishmael”. Also attributed to the “Ishmaelite kings” or “the kings of the Land of Ishmael” are myrrh water and oil of balsam, and to the “women of the Ishmaelites” a recipe for permanent removal of bodily hair. This last group is not only identified by cultural origin but also by sex, thus giving women a place at the source of knowledge of the care of the body, as other texts covering the preservation of beauty and health of the female body do when they refer to the “women of Salemo” or to the “Saracen women”.90 As I have argued above, the influence of other Arab authors’ views on women’s healthcare, although neither their names nor their works have been cited explicitly, is present in the compilation. Whatever the path of transmission was, Ibn al-Jazzar is one of these sources.

1.3.3. Sources of Hebrew origin. I have included among the Hebrew authors quoted in the Book o f Women’s Love the emdite FI tyry whose name, although not identified with certainty, could well be interpreted as “Falaquera” or “Palaquera”. This surname was widely known among the Jewish communities of the north of the Iberian Peninsula during the Late Middle Ages. In fact, there were two Spanish

88 See Sami Kalaf Hamameh and Glenn Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View o f Abulcasis alZahrawi in Moorish Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1963, pp. 41 and 75-76; Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, pp. 131 and 104, respectively; and Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Shem Tov ben Isaac, Glossary o f Botanical Terms, Nos. 1-18”. 89 See Hamameh and Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View o f Abulcasis al-Zahrawi, pp. 41 and 75-76. 90 See Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “Autoras sin nombre”, pp. 65-69.

34

Composition and characteristics

Jewish physicians who bore this name, and who practised medicine and composed their books in the second half of the thirteenth century: Natan ben Yo’el Falaquerah and Shem Tov ben Yosef ibn Falaquerah.91 The former wrote a detailed and systematic work entitled Sori ha-guf which has a chapter devoted to women’s conditions called Seder nashim mi-Sefer Sori ha-guf (Section on Women of the Book ‘Balsam of the Body’).92 Shem Tov ben Yosef ibn Falaquerah, who probably lived in Tudela and Provence, was the author of two philosophical and medical treatises, Batte hanhagat ha-guf ha-bari and Batte hangagat ha-nefesh 93 His works are written in verse and have a distinct didactic tone. Of the work of these two authors, the features and contents of the Sori ha-guf are closer to those of the Book o f Women’s Love. Nonetheless, I was not able to identify the only recipe attributed to this erudite man (for making hair grow wherever it is wanted) in the work of any of them. The possibility that the compiler is nevertheless alluding to one of them hinges on whether the text was compiled in the second half of the thirteenth century. In its turn, this would also support the idea that it was written in territory belonging to the Crown of Aragon or in the south of France. The Sefer ’ahavat nashim also mentions Yishaq, possibly Yishaq ben Shelomoh Yisraeli, the famous Jewish physician of the ninth to tenth centuries, who wrote in Arabic, and whose works enjoyed a wide distribution during the Middle Ages.94 However, in medieval medical literature he is often confused with his student Ibn al-Jazzar, author of the medical encyclopaedia Zad almusafir ( Viaticum peregrinantis), since Latin translations of his work were published in the name of Yisraeli.95 This is probably the reason why the translator of the Sefer ya'ir nativ attributes the Viatiq ( Viaticum) to Yisraeli, initiating a Hebrew textual tradition which credits this work to him.96 To R. Nahman has been ascribed the authorship of a magic square for easing difficult birth. The square is divided into compartments containing

91 See Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, pp. 81 and 101-102, respectively. 92 A brief description of the section on women of this treatise is offered in chapter II, p. 86, item 6. 93 See Encamacion Varela (ed. and Xx.), Shem Tob ibn Falaquera, Versos para la sana conduccion del cuerpo, y versos para la conduccion del alma. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1986; and Mauro Zonta, Un interprete ebreo della filosofia di Galeno: gli scritti filosofici di Galeno neWopera di Shem Tob ibn Falaquera. Torino: S. Zamorani, 1995. 94See Harry Friedenwald, Jewish Luminaries in Medical History, Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 1946, pp. 86-88; George Sarton, Introduction to the History o f Science, New York, 1975, Vol. I, 639-640; Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, p. 12. 95 Danielle Jacquart, “ La place d’lsaac Israeli dans la m6decine medievale”, Vesalius 4, Special number (1998), pp. 19-27, especially on pp. 20-21; and Danielle Jacquart and Francoise Micheau, La Medecine Arabe et TOccident Medieval. Paris: Editions Maisonneuve et Larose, 1990. 96 See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 25; and Carmen Caballero, “Un Capitulo sobre mujeres”, p. 138.

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numbers expressed in Hebrew letters, surrounded by some verses from the Psalms and Isaiah. Possibly the compiler is alluding to Moshe ben Nahman or Nahmanides (1194-C.1270), a well-known kabbalist from the Girona circle,97 in an attempt to give authority to a magical practice that has also been recorded in the Sefer Hanisyonot, although attributed to Galen 98 The logic behind the attribution of this formula to Nahmanides lies in his connection with the kabbalah, and of the kabbalah with the power attributed to the numerical value of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet.99 It is also possible that the author (or the copyist) of the Book o f Women's Love could have easily established an association between this practice and the probably well-known use by Nahmanides of astrological talismans for therapeutic purposes, as evidenced by the Responsa of his disciple R. Shelomoh ben Abraham ben ’Adret of Barcelona (1235-1310).10° The same disciple recorded in a responsum a piece of information that is relevant for this discussion, since it reveals that Nahmanides took a fee for treating a woman in a fertility-related case.101 If our compiler in attributing the formula to R. Nahman is in fact alluding to Nahmanides, not only is he establishing a link between some of the book’s contents and the Catalan kabbalistic school, he provides also a terminus a quo for the composition of the book: the second half of the thirteenth century. To Rachel, the biblical matriarch, is attributed a magic formula to prevent a husband leaving his wife. In a sense this is a symbolic attribution, since, traditionally, Rachel represents the paradigmatic figure of the woman who managed to keep her husband’s love despite the numerous difficulties that Jacob had to overcome in order to marry her, and having to share him with her sister. Although I have not been able to trace in the midrashic tradition any episode that relates to Rachel’s using love formulas to prevent her husband abandoning her, the Bible does contain an episode in which she is linked with a practice not very different from some of those in this book. The Bible recounts that Rachel, worried by her sterility, bought from the son of her sister Leah the mandrakes that he had found in the countryside. In exchange, she gave Leah her place in Jacob’s bed for one night. Rachel then grated and ate the mandrakes and conceived her first son (Gen. 30:14-24). The mandrake is a 97 See Saenz-Badillos and Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, pp. 75-77. 98 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 238; and Shlomoh Marcus, “Magical Passages in the Book o f Experiences Attributed to Ibn Ezra”, Korot 4 (1967), pp. 254-282 [Hebrew]. 99 See T. Schrire, Hebrew Amulets. Their Decipherment and Interpretation. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966, pp. 91-135; and Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish, Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion. New York: Atheneum, 1970, pp. 260-264. 100 See Samuel Kottek, “Medical Practice and Jewish Law: Namanides’s Sefer Torat HaAdam ”, in Samuel Kottek and Luis Garcia Ballester (eds.), Medicine and Medical Ethics in Medieval and Early Modern Spain: an Intercultural Approach. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1996, pp. 163— 172, especially p. 165. 101 See Tzvi Langermann, “Fixing a Cost for Medical Care”, in Luis Garcia-Ballester and Samuel Kottek (eds.), Medicine and Medical Ethics, pp. 154-162, on p. 160, n. 12.

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Composition and characteristics

plant that, due to the widespread belief in its ability to cure infertility, has produced an extensive medical literature, as well as numerous legends regarding the difficulty of collecting it. The biblical tradition stresses its properties for overcoming sterility and for increasing a wife’s attractiveness to her husband.102 The effectiveness of this practice was validated by experience, and converted Rachel into an authority for this and other female practices. Although the Book o f Medical Experiences or Sefer Hanisyonot is cited only four times for a total of seven recipes, clearly its impact on the Book o f Women’s Love is important given that I have discovered its influence on another twenty-nine recipes in which it is not mentioned as the source. The Book o f Medical Experiences is a treatise on therapeutics, attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra (twelfth century), which holds many similarities with an earlier Arabic treatise (tenth century) written by ‘Adi al-Rahman b. Ishaq b. alHaitham, of which only the Hebrew translation is preserved, called Sefer hasegulot.103 One of the manuscripts of this Hebrew translation of al-Haitham’s work is contained in the same codex as the Book o f Women’s Love (Florence, Mediceo-Laurenziana. MS Plut. 44.22/8). The links or parallels between the two books are fewer in the section on cosmetics - two recipes for toothache and one to make hair grow - perhaps because in the book attributed to Ibn Ezra none of the chapters deals explicitly with this topic. On six occasions I have been able to establish a relationship between love charms, while there are twenty recipes from the gynaecological section of the Book o f Women’s Love that correspond with ones in the Sefer Hanisyonot. These are the parallel recipes in both books: five remedies to ease pregnancy, one for pain in the uterus (attributed to al-Tabari in the Sefer Hanisyonot), three for suffocation of the uterus, two to provoke the menstrual flow, one to halt it, two to expel the foetus, another two to prevent miscarriage, two more, with an amulet included, to ease childbirth, and two to prevent pregnancy.104 Another Hebrew work, some of whose recipes are similar to those in the Book o f Women’s Love but which it does not mention, is a gynaecological work entitled Terufot le-herayon niqr’a Magen ha-rosh, attributed to Sheshet (Benveniste), nasi of the Jewish community of Barcelona, physician to the kings of Aragon, Alfonso II (1162-1196) and Pedro II (1196-1213).105 Two recipes of this work are very like two others of a magical nature in the Sefer 102 Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, Hebrew Myths: The Book o f Genesis. London: Cassell, 1965, pp. 215-220; and Fred Rosner, “Mandrakes and other Aphrodisiacs in the Bible and Talmud”, Korot, 7, 11-12 (1980), pp. 277-284. 103 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 11-24. (Edition of Sefer ha-segulot, pp. 292326) 104 The similarities found in the recipes in both works have been noted in the commentary on the translation. 105 See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 82-86 and 192-211 (edition and English translation of the treatise).

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’ahavat nashim: a simplified version of a magic square to ease a difficult birth, and a procedure for avoiding premature birth.106 The “sages of Babylon” are acknowledged once as a collective authority. I believe that the compiler is referring to the sages of the rabbinical schools in Babylon, centre of Jewish intellectual life from Antiquity until the Middle Ages, when the centres of knowledge moved to the West. Finally, the voice of the compiler (I, the one who writes) is heard at certain times in the text in order to validate, through his own experience, some of the suggested formulas.

1.3.4. Unidentified sources. Among the male and female authors mentioned in the text as sources of knowledge and recipes, there is a small group that I have not been able to identify. At one point the text mentions a certain Py tr dLwq ’ (Npibl *i\J>£>), whose name could be read in a variety of ways. He could be an unidentified author, by the name of Peter (Pietro?) connected with the Italian city of Lucca, or the ninth century author Qusta ibn Luqa (c.830-910), who wrote among other works a treatise on ligatures and other magic procedures and a regimen for pilgrims to Mecca,107 although I have not been able to find in his work the only remedy, for curing dry scab, attributed to him in the Book o f Women’s Love. Then there are a series of sources that the compiler mentions without naming them, most often collectively, using the grammatical gender to indicate sex and on occasion a toponym to indicate their geographical origin. Thus, the compiler acknowledges certain people or groups of people anonymously as being the originators of a specific piece of knowledge, that is to say, its authors.108 In spite of the geographical locations given for some of these indicating, most probably, the place where the person or persons practised - I have not been able to determine if these sources are of Jewish, Graeco-Latin or Arab origin. So, when the compiler gives the town of Rhodes as the place of origin of certain magic love formulas, all I can suggest is that, probably, he possessed information that they came from or were practised in that city. In fact, there is much information on commercial and cultural links that the Greek island had during the Middle Ages with the kingdom of Aragon, especially with Catalonia. As a result of these, a type of love poetry without precedent in 106Ibid., pp. 196 and 194, respectively. The parallels with the Book o f Women’s Love found in this work have also been noted in the commentary on the translation. 107 See Judith Wilcox and John Riddle, “Qusta ibn Luqa’s Physical Ligatures and the Recognition of the Placebo Effect. With an Edition and translation”, Medieval Encounters 1 (1995), pp. 1—48; and Gerrit Bos, Qus ta Ibn Luqa’s Medical Regime for the Pilgrims to Mecca. The RisalaJi tabdlr safar al-hajj. Leiden: Brill, 1992. 108 See Montserrat Cabre “ La ciencia de las mujeres”, pp. 66-67; eadem, “Autoras sin nombre”, pp. 59-73.

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Composition and characteristics

Greek literature developed at the end of the Middle Ages, especially in Rhodes.109 The compiler twice refers to the “sages of Roses” (a word that on one occasion appears incomplete and on another is spelt with sere, which would fit perfectly well with the Catalan pronunciation). Roses - curiously this name means the same as Rhodes - could possibly allude to a Catalan city located on the coast of Girona, although the text gives no further indications to support this suggestion. The sages of Roses could be a “group” of Jewish sages or wise men in or linked to the place (if, that is, the compiler is in fact referring to the Catalan city) who might be connected with - or whom the compiler tries to connect with - the kabbalistic school of Girona. The Book o f Women’s Love attributes to these sages magic love formulas in which the compiler uses kabbalistic terms, such as the name of some sefirot (divine emanations) and epithets used for the kabbalists linked to the schools of Girona and Provence.110 Another source given in collective form, this time without a geographical situation, is that mentioned in a recipe for “oil of the kings”. In this case, however, I believe that “of the kings” is not an indication of its origin, but rather a modifier of “oil”. With it he aims to highlight the quality of the product, imitating the style of the Arabic treatises on cosmetics in which “royal oil” is applied to any oil of good quality, produced from expensive ingredients, for the use of royalty or the privileged classes.111 Twice the compiler turns to a “wise man” to give authority to a recipe. A therapeutic remedy to ease toothache is attributed to “the wise man” - the definite article giving him an individuality while nevertheless he remains anonymous. Also mentioned is a “great sage” as the author of a recipe to remove hair. In both cases there is no other identifying information.

109 See Anthony Lutrell, “La Corona de Arag6n y la Grecia catalana (1379-1394)”, Anuario de Estudios Medievales, 6 (1969), pp. 219-252; Jesus Lalinde Abadia, La Corona de Aragon en el Mediterraneo medieval (1229-1479). Zaragoza, 1975. I am indebted to Dr. Morfakidis, of the University o f Granada, for having drawn my attention to the relationship between the Crown of Aragon and Rhodes during the Middle Ages and, especially, for his information on the genre of love poetry. 110 The kabbalistic school of Provence began in the twelfth century and that of Girona in the thirteenth. With regard to the alluded terms in the text, “wisdom” and “knowledge” are names of sefirot (nn£>t> divine emanations) whose union creates a lower sefirah, “understanding”. The Spanish and ProvenQal kabbalists were called mashkilim (those who understand), from Daniel 10:12; the Spanish kabbalists called themselves ha-yode‘im (those who know), beginning with Nahmanides. See Eduard Feliu, Lletra Santa concernent Vajustament carnal de marit i muller (atribuida a Mestre Mosse de Girona). Barcelona: Columna, 1986, p. 26; Gershom Scholem, Ha-qabbalah be-Gironah. Peraqim be-toldot ha-qabbalah be-Sefarad. Jerusalem, 1963; and idem, Desarrollo historico e ideas basicas de la cabala. Barcelona: Riopiedras Ediciones, 1994, p. 15. 111 See Sami Hamameh, “The First Known Independent Treatise on Cosmetology in Spain”, Bulletin o f the History o f Medicine 39 (1965), pp. 309-325, especially p. 311.

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Still more enigmatic is the attribution of a recipe to halt the menstrual flow, whose author is “she”. The compiler does not even use a noun to refer to this source only a pronoun in the third person feminine (by which he clearly marks the female sex of the author) suffixed to a preposition (rPDD) indicates the origin of this therapeutic remedy. The brief reference to the source could have two explanations: either this piece belongs to an earlier source in which the name of the female author appeared and of which only a small part was copied or used, so that this information was cut out; or the compiler is referring to a female author or woman physician very well known in the context in which this book was written. Unfortunately, without any evidence, or even the slightest indication as to the person hidden behind this allusion, it is impossible for me to make an attempt to identify her.

1.4. The genre and the intended audience of the Book o f Women’s Love. As I have stated above, the Book o f Women’s Love is a collection of a wide variety of knowledge, whose compiler reveals himself, in the first person, at the beginning of the book and when he links and introduces each of the sections into which it is divided. Nevertheless, it is difficult to classify and identify the genre of this collection since, until now, no other texts in Hebrew of this type have been found, and the sphere to which it belongs is not well defined, sharing various characteristics found in a diversity of medieval genres from the Latin tradition, related to medicine and the preservation of health. Compilations were common in medieval medical literature in both the Arab and Latin traditions, and they enjoyed great popularity. In the West, Pliny’s encyclopaedia was used as a model, though there was a tendency towards greater brevity. During the Middle Ages, compilations became more selective and brief, with an obvious preference for the practical, the succinct, and to a certain extent, the eclectic. This kind of treatise collected together only the most essential practical suggestions contained in earlier more extensive works, showing a respect for ancient wisdom, remoteness from ancient philosophy and methods, an emphasis on practice and a lack of theoretical development. This and other genres allowed, and even reinforced, the preservation of a wide range of often-conflicting information, originally based on a variety of often-conflicting assumptions.112 The Book o f Women's Love shares some of the features of this genre since it is short, highly practical - at the expense of theory and speculation - and has been composed from earlier sources based, at times, on a variety of conflicting assumptions which are superimposed one on another. As we shall see in the analysis of the contents, 112 See Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 39-53.

40

Composition and characteristics

our book sometimes presents heterogeneous or even contradictory views on issues such as sexuality, menstruation, etc. From the thirteenth century onwards medical literature devoted to the preservation of health began to enjoy a wide circulation in Western Europe, especially a sub-genre, the regimen sanitatis written specifically for one person.113 These books flourished particularly in the vernacular languages, and also in Hebrew. In 1198 Maimonides had written one of these guides to health in Arabic,114 which was translated into Hebrew in 1244 by Moshe ibn Tibbon, under the title M a’amar be-hanahagat ha-beri’ut. In 1290 it was translated into Latin by Armengaud Blasi, of Montpellier, under the title Tractatus Rabby Mosyis de regimene sanitatis ad soldanum regem, and at the end of the thirteenth century by John of Capua, with the title Diaeta o regimen sanitatis ns Also preserved are two Hebrew translations of the Regimen sanitatis ad inclytum regem Aragonum directum et ordinatum of Arnold of Villanova, both translated from Catalan, one in 1460 by Semu’el ben David and the other by Yosef bar Yehudah ha-Sefardi. This second one was made from the Catalan translation that Berenguer de Qa Riera completed between 1305 and 1310. For a long time it was believed that Israel ben Yosef Caslari had made another translation, but this has proved to be an as yet unidentified text of Arnold of Villanova.116 In general, these regimens were written for men, and treatises on the preservation of health aimed at women were far less common, women having specific medical requirements.117 As it has been pointed out above, a genre of a practical nature specifically for women has been identified in the Latin tradition of medical literature, which, like the regimens of health for men, considers the body as a whole, a body of the female sex. To this genre belong a number of texts written in Latin and the vernacular that circulated in the West from the middle of the thirteenth century and during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. These treatises were written for - and at times addressed explicitly to - women, and dealt with the

113 See Montserrat Cabre, “From a Master to a Laywoman”, p. 381. 114 See Gerrit Bos, “Maimonides on the Preservation of Health”, Journal o f the Royal Asiatic Society, Series 3, 4, 2 (1994), pp. 213-235. 115 See Lola Ferre, Maimonides. Obras Medicas I. El Regimen de salud. Tratado sobre la curacion de las hemorroides. Cordoba: El Almendro, 1991, pp. 21-22. 116 See Ferre, Lola, “Los regimenes dieteticos medievales en prosa y en verso: entre la medicina y la literatura”, Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Serie III, Historia Medieval 1 (1994), pp. 327-340, especially pp. 328-329. 117 See Cabre, “From a Master to a Laywoman”, pp. 381-382; Monica Green, “The Possibilities of Literacy and the Limits of Reading: Women and the Gendering of Medical Literacy”, in Women’s Healthcare, Essay VII, which includes a list of medical books addressed to women and their ownership; and Alexandra Barratt, The Knowing of Woman’s Kind o f Childing. A Middle English Version o f Material Derived from The Trotula and Other Sources. Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, vol. 4. Tumhout: Brepols, 2001, which on pp. 1-5 discusses the explicit address of the book to a female audience.

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care and preservation of the health and beauty of their bodies.118 Some of these treatises were based on the group of texts which, from the thirteenth century, were known in Europe under the name of Trotula, and of which many late medieval translations are known in a variety of vernacular languages and in Hebrew.119 In a strict sense, the information in these treatises was neither new nor original, since women, their illnesses, and the adornment and decoration of their bodies had already been the object of study of Graeco-Latin medical literature. All this information was transmitted and re-elaborated during the Middle Ages.120 What was a new phenomenon and what gives consistency to the idea of a specific genre, is the appearance, from the thirteenth century, of a series of texts which draw together a wide range of knowledge on the preservation of health and beauty of the female body. The Book o f Women’s Love shares, in form and part of its contents, the characteristics that define this genre of treatises. It also shares some features with gynaecological works written in Hebrew, whether original compositions or translations from other languages. These works - as recent studies demonstrate - 121 are not limited exclusively to matters related to gynaecology and obstetrics, but also cover cosmetics and the adornment of the female body, and others introduce into their prescriptions elements of magic. In any case, the Book o f Women's Love cannot be considered a gynaecological text, or, at least, not exclusively. Nor is it a work on cosmetics, or magic, or sexuality. It is, specifically, a compendium that collects in one single work all these types of knowledge, and which considers the care and preservation of the health and beauty of the whole body, the female body. Accordingly, I believe that the simplest and most accurate definition for a work devoted to different aspects of women’s healthcare, including preservation of health, treatment of conditions and ailments, beauty and adornment, and general wellbeing, is to classify it as a compilation on women’s healthcare. Concerning the intended audience of the book, even though the compiler does not specify it, my belief is that it was aimed at women. The work lacks a proper introduction and the compiler does not state explicitly and clearly whom he is writing for. Nevertheless, a female audience is implicit throughout the text. The double title of the book (Book o f Women’s Love and Book o f the 118 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 101-102; eadem, “From a Master to a Laywoman”, pp. 372-373. 119 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 110; Monica Green, “A Handlist of the Latin and Vernacular Manuscripts of the So-called Trotula Texts. Part II: the Vernacular Translations and Latin Rewritings”, Scriptorium LI, n. 1 (1997), pp. 80-104, especially pp. 98-99; and Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 61-64 and 181-191. 120 See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 101-102. 121 See Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, and Carmen Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres”.

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Composition and characteristics

Regimen o f Women), together with the words which introduce the third and last section - concerning cosmetics, gynaecology and obstetrics - which is defined as “women’s matters” (in the original Hebrew their [feminine] own matters), points in this direction. This is also suggested by the words that serve as the introduction to the section devoted to sexuality, which explain the purpose of the book and justify the title arguing that it contains medical responses for women’s needs. jrrcrDo yytovxn in'? iYyi bmnN nrun m m in jtqttin o w w nn o>\w ran * mv Nti^ vwn ninN nso m icipjpbyi in!? nt -pn riNisnn irrcjpnmn otp^n .nsu Now I am going to begin, with God’s help, to talk about medicines and magical remedies tested in the Book o f Women’s Love, that is, what women like and need for themselves; for this reason it has been called Book o f Women’s Love, for you will find in this book what women, and those who are able to have intercourse with them, ask from the art of medicine.122 With regard to whom the writer is addressing the book to, the continual confusions and disagreements of grammatical gender and person - with a marked tendency towards the use of the supposedly generic masculine contributes significantly to obscuring the attributes of the potential reader. Concerning the grammatical person of verbs, we could say that the second person - that in Hebrew, unlike English, is gender-specific - dominates through the manuscript, although some of the proposals are directed to the third person. It seems that the reader of the text is, in most cases, someone assisting, especially in the gynaecological section, though it doesn’t make any reference to a midwife or to any other kind of practitioner. At times the recipes are also aimed to the patient/recipient of a remedy, especially in magic and cosmetic sections, though not exclusively. When this happens, when the giver and the recipient of the therapeutical measure are the same, despite the confusion created by the repeated discrepancies in grammatical gender and person, in most cases the nature of the recipe suggests a female addressee. Nonetheless, the characteristics of the text itself do not allow me to conclude that it was exclusively confined to a female audience, as, on the other hand, neither were 122 See edition and English translation, pp. 116-117.

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many treatises devoted to women’s healthcare. This discussion introduces, additionally, the debated question about women’s literacy in the Middle Ages. As it has been abundantly documented in recent works, some women could write and read during this period and, although in a very small proportion, it appears that some were associated with medical literature, either as readers or as writers.123 It also seems commonly accepted by scholars that literate medieval women read mainly in their mother languages, a lesser number of them having linguistic competence in Latin.124 Hebrew was not the mother language of the European Jewish communities. They generally adopted the language of the country or region in which they were settled. Their knowledge of Romance languages gave literate western Jews access to vernacular texts. It is well known that they often contributed to the process of translation of Arabic scientific texts into Latin through the “vulgarisation” of the Arabic original,125 and that on occasions translated Latin works into Hebrew from the vernacular versions instead of the Latin originals.126 However, whatever the language they spoke, from the end of the twelfth century onwards, Jewish intellectuals of Christian territories prompted the production and translation into Hebrew of scientific and philosophical works, stimulating a renaissance of Hebrew language whose significance has been discussed intensely in the last few years.127 Still, the 123 See Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas, Textosy espacios de mujeres, pp. 105-129; Peter Dronke, Women writers in the Middle Ages. A critical study o f texts from Perpetua (+ 203) to Marguerite Porete (+ 1310). Cambridge and New York: Cambridge Universtiy Press, 1984; Monica H. Green, “Books as a Source of Medical Education for Women in the Middle Ages”, Dynamis, 20 (2000), pp. 331-369; eadem, “In search of an ‘authentic’ women’s medicine: the strange fates of Trota de Salemo and Hildegarda of Bingen”. Dynamis 19 (1999), pp. 24-45; eadem, “The Possibilities o f Literacy and the Limits of Reading: Women and the Gendering of Medical Literacy”, in Women’s Healthcare, Essay VII; and Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La ciencia de las mujeres”. In the last few years, the figures on women’s literacy and book ownership in medieval Western Europe have been increased as a result of the development of locally focused studies on the subject. 124 See Susan Groag Bell, “Medieval women book owners: Arbiters of Lay Piety and Ambassadors o f culture”, Signs 1 (1982), pp. 742-768; and Alexandra Barratt, The Knowing of Woman’s Kind in Childing, pp. 2-3, where she argues that the assertion reiterated in Middle English texts that Englishwomen might read English but not Latin begins to sound as a rhetorical common place. Nevertheless, while recent research evaluates the role played by vernacular languages in the transmission of scientific ideas and the diffusion of written works throughout Europe from the thirteenth century onwards, systematic studies on the better access of women to texts written in their mother languages are still in the preliminary stage. 125 For some examples of this collaboration between Hebrew and Latin translators see Joseph Shatzmiller, “Jacob ben Elie, traducteur multilingue”, pp. 198-201; and McVaugh and Ferre, The Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 2-3. 126 See above note 116, on the translation of Arnold de Villanova’s works. 127 Anna Sapir Abulafia, Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Renaissance. London & New York: Routledge, 1995; Garcia-Ballester, Ferre and Feliu, “Jewish Appreciation”; Gerrit Bos, “On Editing and Translating”, pp. 102-103; Ron Barkai, “Origenes et sources”, 10-12; and Lola Ferre, “Hebrew translations”.

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influence of vernacular languages on the Hebrew writings was often considerable, as is evident in the Book o f Women’s Love and other works referred to here.128 The level of assimilation by Jewish women to local languages may be measured by some significant episodes recorded at times in different sources. For example, it has become known, by means of the information recorded in some legal Jewish literature (responsa), that in fourteenth century Zaragoza the Scroll o f Esther was read in the Synagogue during the Feast of Purim in the vernacular (presumably Aragones), in order to be understood by women.129 But, in which language were they literate? Research on Jewish women’s literacy in the Middle Ages is still in its prehminary stage, yet we know there were Jewesses who could read and write.130 We might assume that some professions often carried out by women, for example, money-lending, required at least some basic literacy skills. The analysis of some documents of economical and commercial character shows that private records of this kind were customarily written in Hebrew, although they included a considerable amount of vernacular terms transliterated into Hebrew characters.131 Presumably professional women’s hand-notes followed the same pattern. Furthermore, there is evidence of a number of Jewish women who earned their living as scribes, copying manuscripts; and we also know of a

128 See above note 41. 129 According to two of his responsa (numbers 388 and 390), dated between 1372 and 1373, R. Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet banned the thirty-year-old custom of reading the Scroll o f Esther in the vernacular. His master, R. Nissim ben Reuben ha-Gerondi (1315-1375), supported his decision (responsum 79). See Sefer she’elot u-teshubot ha-rabenu Nissim, she-hiber ha-rav ha-ga’on hagadol rabenu Nissim Gerondi. Mets: G.Spey’ar, 1776; and Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, She’elot uteshubot ha-Ribash. Vilna 1879 [reprint New York, 1954]. 130 See Judith Baskin, “Some Parallels in the Education of Medieval Jewish and Christian Women”. Jewish History 5, 1 (1991), pp. 41-51; eadem, “The Education of Jewish Women in the Lands o f Medieval Islam and Christendom”. P e ’amim 82 (2000), p. 31-49 [Hebrew]; Abraham Habermann, “Women Writers o f Early Times”, in From the Fruit o f the Pen and the Pen. Jerusalem: Reuben Mas, 1981, pp. 93-99 [Hebrew]; Joel Kraemer, “Women’s Letters from the Cairo Genizah: A Preliminary Study”, in Yael Azmon (ed.), A View into the Lives o f Women in Jewish Societies. Jerusalem: Zalman Sahzar, 1995, pp. 161-181; and Carmen Caballero Navas, “La educacion de las mujeres hispano-judias en la Edad Media. Aproximacion”, in Margarita-Johanna Birriel Salcedo (comps.), Estrategias laborales femeninas: trabajo, hogares y educacion. Malaga, 1998, pp. 135-150. 131 On the style of commercial documents written by Jews, see Magdalena and Assis, Aljamia romance en los documentos hebraiconavarros (siglo XIV); and Maritxell Blasco, “Aspectos economicos y comerciales de los judios de la Corona de Aragon a finales del siglo XIV (Ms. 3090 de la Biblioteca Nacional de Catalunya)”, Anuari de Filologia. Estudis Hebreus i Arameus, 22 (2000), pp. 89-100. On professional women, see Andree Courtemanche, “Les femmes juives et le credit a Manosque toumant sur XlVe siecle”. Provence Historique 150 (1987), pp. 545-558; Erika Uitz, Women in the Medieval Town. London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990, p. 116; William Jordan, “Women and Credit in the Middle Ages: Problems and Directions”, Journal o f European Economic History 17,1 (1988), pp. 33-63, on pp. 46-47.

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few women who produced literary works in Hebrew.132 But, on the issue of the intended audience of a work devoted to women’s healthcare, could women have had access to this written material? It has been documented, though no systematic study has been so far carried out on the subject, that some Jewish women owned books. What is more, a few of them owned medical books.133 We may presume they could read them (to themselves and to others). Although female book ownership does not prove that healthcare texts were aimed at them specifically, the possibility that this was so must now be given serious consideration. Regarding the book we are discussing now, to the question about who might have possessed and/or read this practical work, all I have been able to draw on is what we know of the history of the only surviving manuscript. This sole copy, as far as it is possible to leam from the codicological analysis, dates from the end of the fifteenth century. But the first reliable date that we have in connection with it is 1571, when it was bound so that it could be placed on public view with the rest of the library founded by Cosimo de’ Medici (13891469) and enriched by Lorenzo “the Magnificent”.134 Its contents, devoted in part to magic, with some references to kabbalah, explain why it was found in the Medicis’ library. The boyhood tutor and close friend of Lorenzo de’ Medici, Marsilio Ficino - a leader of the Florentine neoplatonists, interested in alchemy and kabbalah, and in close contact with Jewish intellectuals - promoted the translation and the compilation of Hebrew works,135 among which is to be 132 On female copyists, see Collete Sirat, “ Les femmes juives et l’ecriture au Moyen Age”, Les Nouveaux Cahiers 101 (1990), 14-23; and Jennifer Breger, “The Role of Jewish Women in Hebrew Printing”. AB Bookman’s Weekly 91,13 (1993), pp. 1320-1329. Regarding literary production, there are a couple of examples of poems written in Hebrew by women, both in alAndalus and in the Crown of Aragon. See Ezra Fleisher, “On Dunash ben Labrat, his wife, and his son”. Mehqere Yerushalayim be-sifrut ‘ivrit 5 (1983-84), pp. 189-202 [Hebrew]; and Emily Taitz, Sondra Henry and Cheryl Tallan, The JPS Guide to Jewish Women, 600 BCE-1900 CE. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2003, pp. 58-59 and 81, respectively. 133 In fifteenth century Arles, two women owned books, Mossone and Venguessona; the latter’s books were written both in Hebrew and in Latin. We know also of several women from Sicily who owned books, among them Gaudiosa, who possessed the striking figure of 72 Hebrew manuscripts; and Rebecca and Musuta, who owned medical books. In Estella, Navarre, Duena owned some books, including a medical book. See Daniele Iancu-Agou, “Une vente de livres hebreux a Arles en 1434: Tableau de l’elite juive Arlesienne au milieu du XVe si&cle” Reveu des etudes juives 146 (1987), pp. 5-62; Henri Bresc, Livre et Societe en Sicile (1299-1499). Palermo: Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani, 1971, numbers 62, 78, 88, 122 and 177; and Beatrix Leroy, “Recherches sur les Juifs de Navarre a la fin du Moyen Age”. Revue des etudes juives 140, 3-4 (1981), pp. 319-432, on pp. 352 and 367. 134 Benjamin Richler, Guide to Hebrew Manuscripts Collections. Jerusalem: The Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994. pp. 52-53. 135 See Moshe Idel “Jewish Kabbalah and Platonism in the Middle Ages”, in Lenn E. Goodman (ed.), Neoplatonism and Jewish Thought. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992, pp. 319-351, especially pp. 322-323; and Paul Oskar Kristeller, The Philosophy o f Marsilicio Ficino. New York: Columbia University Press, 1943.

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found the codex which contains the Book o f Women's Love. This codex, entitled Book o f Practical Kabbalah, has been preserved since then in the Biblioteca Laurenziana at Florence. Unfortunately, I have been unable to discover information on its fortune before it was exhibited in public. It seems plausible that the copy of this and the other treatises that are part of the codex were commissioned, and were always kept, by the Medici, although no evidence of this assumption can be discerned from the manuscript, nor from any other known contemporary sources. In any case, if the compilation was written during the second half of the thirteenth century, as I believe, the lack of available data expands the lacuna regarding to the possible owners or/and users of the book to nearly three centuries.

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Chapter two Contents o f the Book The Book o f Women's Love consists of three sections: magic, sexuality, and cosmetics, gynaecology and obstetrics. These sections are not physically divided, nor are they indicated by numbers, a change in the style of writing or any other method. But each one is simply introduced with a few brief words by the compiler himself who intervenes in the first person. The first section contains a large number of magic recipes, many of an erotic nature; to a large extent it is based on traditions derived from collective practice and experience. The second section, which is very short, provides a series of aphrodisiac preparations following the model of the so-called andrological treatises.1 Finally, the third section offers a well-organized collection of various procedures for the preservation of the health and beauty of the (female) body from head to toe.

2.1. Magic and kabbalah in the Book o f Women's Love: the written reflection of a living practice. Although the first section of the Book o f Women's Love is wholly devoted to magic, especially love magic, magic is not restricted to this part only, since many of the therapeutic measures throughout the collection include magical practices.2 However, while the latter are for the most part intended to cure, the purpose of the formulas in the first section is in the main to influence the will and desires of people in order to oblige them to do, or to prevent them from doing certain things. In general, the aims of these formulas are: to enable a man to inspire love; to prevent a husband from leaving his wife; to make a woman 1 See Luciana Rita Angeleti, “Preface, For a History of Andrology”, Medicina nei Secoli, 13, 2 (2001), pp. 251-253; and Enrique Montero Cartelle, “Sobre nombres y funciones (Testes, Semen): de la andrologia a la ginecologia”, ibid., pp. 373-399. 2 This division of the second chapter summarizes and revises a previous version published as “Magia: experiencia femenina y pr&ctica de la relation”, in Marta Bertran et al., De dos en dos. Las practicas de creacion y recreacion de la vida y la convivencia humana. Madrid: horas y HORAS, 2000, pp. 33-54.

The Book o f Women ’s Love

desire sexual intercourse; to prevent - by means of a “ligature” - a man or a woman from sleeping with someone else; to cause an argument between a man and his (male) friend; and to protect a person against magic and to counteract the effects of a spell already cast. We can say that, as well as the use of magic, what characterizes this first part of the compendium is, above all, its erotic content and its intention of manipulating sexuality, intervening - precisely through magic - in human relationships. What emerges from a reading of the book is that both the objectives of the proposed formulas and the methods used are not substantially different from those employed by contemporary Christians or, even, other people in other places and other eras. Thus a common substratum to all these practices can be identified. The work possesses, nevertheless, certain elements of Jewish origin or which have been “Judaized”. This process of Judaization could have been the effect of cumulative practice, that is, a consequence of the adaptation to Jewish customs and culture by actual practitioners. This does not exclude the possibility that it could also have taken place during the process of their crystallization in written form, in which the adaptation could have been effected so as to eliminate religious, cultural and social tensions from the text.

2.1.1. Magic is a living practice. While translating the Book o f Women’s Love I discovered, by chance, that one of its magic formulas for ensuring the love of the beloved - the addition of some drops of menstrual blood to his food or drink - is still used today in a village in the province of Granada, in the south-east of Spain. There the young women “season” the man they want, so that he will fall in love with them, by adding two drops of their menstrual blood to the coffee he drinks. After consulting historical and anthropological studies, I found that this practice had been documented in a German Penitential of the eleventh century,3 among Languedoc women in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,4 in Lucerne in the fifteenth century,5 and, today, among the Beng of the Ivory Coast, and among the white population in rural areas of the United States.6 Later on, I learned that this custom is not an unknown practice in modem Israel.7 3 See Burchard of Worms, “Decretum ”, in J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Latina, 140, pp. 537-1058, on p. 974. 4 See Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Montaillou. Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 12941324. London: Scholar Press, 1978, p.32. (French ed., Montaillou, village occitane de 1294 a 1324. Paris: Gallimard, 1975). 5 See Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989, p. 82. 6 See Thomas Buckley and Alma Gottlieb (eds.), Blood Magic: The Anthropology o f Menstruation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988, p. 35. 7 Tzvi Langermann heard this story from the late Rabbi Yosef Qafih, who for many years served

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The fact that this and other formulas collected in the Book o f Women’s Love are recorded in a variety of sources and from a variety of places and periods - or are part of actual practice today - led me to ask what the nexus could be between all these beliefs and magic practices. My hypothesis, which I have previously formulated with regard to the sources of the compilation, is that practical texts that contain magic formulas (as well as knowledge related to the care and adornment of the body) are to a large extent the written reflection of a living practice, of a collective activity and experience - a female one, I believe - of which the Book o f Women’s Love is written proof. The use of magic as a means of achieving a desired end has been documented from ancient times, and it was a fairly common activity in the Middle Ages. It is often stated that Christian magic practices were influenced by the practices of the Jews and Arabs with whom they came into contact in that period. In their turn, Jews and Arabs seem to have been the recipients of many beliefs and practices of the peoples among whom they lived.8 However, some authors argue that the reason why Jewish literature on magic differs so little from that of other peoples is because the material was copied, to a great extent, from non-Jewish literature on magic.9 In my view, the argument which explains the similitude between Jewish and other traditions’ magical praxes through the copying of the written material is based upon an erroneous premise and highlights a methodological problem inherent in the approach used sometimes for the study of magic. This approach, which identifies magic knowledge and practices with “literature on magic”, has belittled the historical experience by confusing it with the vestiges that have been preserved. Hence, the text is seen as the creator of the discourse, as if it predated human experience, and, therefore, annuls the human experience that preceded it and reduces research to a study of the influence of one “literature on magic” on others. That is to say that the study of magic through the written sources has resulted in the obliteration of the people who carried out or who were the objects of these practices. This has happened to such an extent that there are those who maintain that during the Middle Ages magic could be practised only by those who had sufficient education to study and understand books on magic (!),10 or that in Jewish communities formulas were written down because there

on the highest rabbinical court in Israel. I am grateful to Dr. Langermann who kindly shared with me this piece of information. 8 See Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 2; Christoph Daxelmiiller, Historia social de la magia. Barcelona, 1997, p. 276 (Or. ed. Zauberpraktiken: eine Ideengeschichte derMagie. Zurich: Artemis & Winkler, 1993); and Enrique Cantera Montenegro, “Actividades socio-profesionales de la mujer judia en los reinos hispanocristianos de la Baja Edad Media”, in Angela Mufioz and Cristina Segura (eds.), El trabajo de las mujeres en la Edad Media hispana. Madrid: Ediciones del Orto, 1988, pp. 321-345, on p. 341. 9 Joseph Dan, “Magic”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, XI, pp. 703-715, on p. 708. 10 See Josep Alanya i Roig, “La praxi magica d’un prevere vigata del segle XIV. Aportacio a

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was no particular group of people who practised magic and transmitted it orally.11 Obviously, magic knowledge and practices circulated and were transmitted partly through written texts, although we cannot estimate the extent of this activity. Despite the low rate of literacy in medieval times, especially among women, as has been discussed in chapter one,12 men and women nonetheless had access to written material which they were able to read to themselves and to others. Nevertheless, and especially regarding magic, written texts do not predate human experience, but they are rather based upon it. This notion leads us to look in that experience for the response to the question of how and from where some present-day women acquired a knowledge - such as the use of menstrual blood as a love philtre - that can be traced in the past and among different cultures. In my view, it is reasonable to think that magic practices and knowledge have been preserved and transmitted because the people who practised, manipulated, learned and taught them, believed, and still believe, them to be significant and important. And they have been principally, although not exclusively, transmitted in oral form from generation to generation, by means of personal relationships. Magic forms part of collective experience and involves human relationships, relationships that are both an essential vehicle for its transmission and the indispensable condition for it to be a living practice.

2.1.2. The more women the more witchcraft. The Jewish tradition has linked women with magic practices from ancient times. The Mishnah says, “The more women the more witchcraft” (Abot 2:7). Some misogynous Jewish thinkers, above all during the Middle Ages, agreed with this assertion that women, especially old women, had links with witchcraft. For example, in a collection of Hebrew stories compiled by R. Nissim of Qairwan in the eleventh century, the story is told of an evil old woman who passed herself off as good and helped other women in childbirth. Nevertheless, she had in her house a pot full of spells and curses which, when found and uncovered by a small child, showed her up for what she was and made her lose her power.13 l’estudi sobre la magia a Catalunya”, Estudis Castellonecs, 6 (1994-95), pp. 53-73, on p. 69. 11 See Dan, “Magic”, p. 714. 12 See above, chapter 1, p. 44. 13 See Amparo Alba Cecilia (trans.), Midras de los diez mandamientos y Libro precioso de la salvacion. Valencia: Editorial San Jeronimo, 1990. An analysis of some of the ideas elaborated in these stories is to be found in my “Mujeres buenas y mujeres malas en la narrativa hebrea medieval”, in M. Teresa Lopez Beltran (Coor.), Las mujeres en Andalucla. Actas del Segundo Encuentro Interdisciplinar de Estudios de la Mujer en Andalucla. Ill, Malaga: Servicio de publicaciones de la Diputacion Provincial de Malaga, 1994, pp. 109—122.

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But this tradition is much older. In the Pentateuch, in the Book of Exodus to be precise, is found: “thou shalt not suffer a sorceress to live” (Ex. 22:18). The early Greek translation called Septuaginta renders the term as pharmakis, of feminine gender, which means witch or poisoner. The Talmud (Sanh. 67a) extends to male witches this biblical command that female witches should be exterminated, explaining that the reason why only female witches were mentioned in the first formulation of the Torah was because “mostly women engage in witchcraft”.14 In other passages women are accused of being involved in magic rites (Abot 2:7; Er. 64b). In addition, the Talmud records that women’s involvement with witchcraft was such that Simeon b. Shetah (first century CE), in an attempt to halt the rapid spread of magic among them, ordered that in a single day eighty witches should be hanged in Ashkelon (Sanh. 45b-46a). The apocryphal Book o f Enoch, from the first centuries of our era, explains how the fallen angels instructed the daughters of men - who had seduced them - in the knowledge of magic formulas and spells.15 In one of his satires, Juvenal relates that many Jewish prisoners in Rome, especially women, gained their living by practising magic.16 The popular Jewish literature acknowledges as especially female the practices related to magic, healing, the preparation of love potions, etc.17 One reference in the Talmud to the connection between women and magic is particularly significant. In Shab. 66b we find: “Abbaye said: Mother told me, All incantations which are repeated several times must contain the name of the patient’s mother”, that is, must be made through maternal filiation, obviously defying recognized and deep rooted Jewish patrilineal principles. The use of maternal transmission in magic practices appears not to be exclusive to Judaism, but occurs also among the Mandeans, Greeks and Arabs, and has been explained, on occasion, by the dictum pater incertus, mater certa, although some writers see in it a memory of society’s matriarchal origins.18 In my view, this allusion connects magic practices strongly to female experience and places them in what Luisa Muraro has called “the symbolic order of the mother”,19 bearing in mind above all that the wise rabbi, one of the Talmud’s more revered sages, turned to the authority of his mother in order to give his saying authority

14 See also Joseph Dan, “Magic”, p. 706. 15 Richard Laurence (ed.), The book of Enoch the prophet: an apocryphal production supposed for ages to have been lost, but discovered at the close of the last century in Abyssinia, now first translated from Ethiopian Ms. in Bodleian Library, Oxford: S.Collingwood, printer of the University, 1838. See 7:10. 16 Juvenal, Satires, 6:542-7; quoted by Dan, “Magic”, p. 706. 17 See Joshua Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion. New York: Atheneum, 1970, p. 17 (lsted. 1939). 18 See Ibid., p. 115. 19 See Luisa Muraro, L ’ordine simbolico della madre. Roma: Editori Riuniti, 1991.

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and made explicit at the same time the role of the mother - of his own and of that of others - as mediator of a person’s desires. However, the connection that has been established historically between women and magic is not exclusive to the Jewish tradition. Some researchers today remark that pagan and Christian writers associate magic mainly with women although there is no reason to think that only women practised it.20 John Chrysostom (c.347-407 CE) preached against women who used magic when their children were ill,21 and linked women with the preparation of contraceptives and other potions, such as spells and love charms.22 Horace and Lucan ridiculed the witches of Rome.23 The Asbab al-tanzil, or traditional comments to passages of the Koran, on commenting on the Surah 113, which alludes to “those who make knots”, explains that it refers to those women whose magic practice consists of tying knots in cords and, then, of blowing and spitting on them.24 In 1484, in their work Malleus maleficarum, Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger responded to the question why women show a greater inclination towards the practice of witchcraft with these arguments: because they have a kind of perfidy that is more common in the weakness of their sex than in the male; because they are more prone to superstition and witchcraft; and because some become midwives and surpass the others in evil.25 These authors, like others, held the belief that midwives and non-leamed healers, because of their knowledge and practices, had links with witchcraft.26 Their arguments correspond perfectly with the question which prompted them, since its very formulation expresses the accusers’ firm conviction that there exists a connection between women and magic, taking it for granted that they show a well-known “natural inclination” to witchcraft.27 In fact, the very title of

20 See Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 39. 21 Ibid. 22 Quoted by John Riddle, Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the Renaissance. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press, 1992, p. 19. 23 Quoted by Richard Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 62. 24 Quoted by James George Frazer, The Golden Bough. Study in Magic and Religion, 3 vols. London: Macmillan, 1900 (2nd ed.). Vol. I, p. 397. I am indebted to Tzvi Langermann who enlightened me about this type of traditional explanation and the comments on Surah 113. 25 Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus maleficarum, Translated with an Introduction, Bibliography and Notes by the Rev. Montague Summers. London, Pushkin Press, 1948 (1st ed. 1928), pp. 66 (Part. I. Question 12). 26 See John Riddle, E ve’s Herbs. A History o f Contraception and Abortion in the West. Cambridge (Massachusetts): Harvard University Press, 1997, p. Il l ; Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, pp. 62 and 198; and Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History o f Women Healers. Old Westbury, New York: The Feminist Press, 1973 (2nd edition). 27 The belief that women were more subject than men to the influence of evil spirits was previously stated in the Talmud (Sahh. 67a) and in the writings by the Christian author Tertullian. Cf. Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 39.

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Kramer and Sprenger’s work establishes this by using the feminine for the term maleficarum, with which they refer to the practices they attack in it. As we can see, some of the sources that link women with magic are more or less neutral in character, while others are openly and belligerently hostile to them. This is the case of those works produced by the ideologues of the witch hunts (of which the Malleus maleficarum is perhaps the most representative, although not the first nor unfortunately the only one), by which anti-female ideas and concepts were propagated, so that they became fixed in the mind and in the legal codes. Certainly, the hostility of these sources has deformed our perception of part of the female experience through history. As a consequence, some modem historians and even many women, while trying to “counteract” the misogyny of history, have denied, or ignored, or minimized the importance of the connection between women and magic. But, although it is undeniable that these sources have been codified by the patriarchy, it is also hue - at least in my view - that the patriarchal view of the female experience is reflected not so much in the claim that women are linked to magic, as it is by the negative and prejudicial perception of this relationship. The hostility and misogyny with which many sources have represented the relationship between women and magic has resulted in its denial throughout history. Thus, it has worked as one of the patriarchal strategies to annul and efface female authorship, to discredit women and deny them their place in the origin of a form of knowledge.28 Indeed, in some of the more recent studies it is asserted that there is no reason to believe that women practised witchcraft or magic to a greater extent than men, despite the insistence with which the sources link the female experience to the knowledge and practice of magic. Nevertheless, I believe that the insistence of the sources has a basis of truth and that they, even the most contentious ones, can reflect a part of female experience, although distorted and demonized. This may pass us by unnoticed if we reject them without an attempt at critical analysis, without re-reading them. It is worth remembering that not all the accounts of the female practice of magic that have come down to us give a negative image of women. These sources confirm the intense connection that many women maintained with certain practices, which they probably originated and which were sustained through the relationships established between women, as well as between them and men.

2.1.3. Kabbalah and magic practices in the Book. The codex of which the manuscript of our compilation is a part has the suggestive title Book o f Practical Kabbalah (rpvyyn nbnp nDO). That is to say, at 28 Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La ciencia de las mujeres en la Edad Media. Reflexiones sobre la autoria femenina”, in Cristina Segura Graino (ed.), La voz del silencio II. Historia de las mujeres: compromiso y metodo. Madrid: Al-Mudayna, 1993, pp. 41-74.

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least the person who copied the codex considered the Book o f Women’s Love to be a book on practical kabbalah. In the words of Gershom Scholem, “The Kabbalah, literally ‘Tradition’, that is, the tradition of things divine, is the sum of Jewish mysticism”.29 In the beginning, the kabbalah was very influenced by Gnostic thought and included ideas on cosmology, angelology and magic. As a result of the contact with medieval Jewish philosophy, the kabbalah gradually changed into a mystical theology, which produced a separation between the mystical and speculative elements on the one hand, and the occult and magic elements on the other. From the beginning of the fourteenth century a distinction was made between “speculative kabbalah” and “practical kabbalah”, although they were not always totally differentiated. Historically, part of the components of what was called practical kabbalah predated that of the speculative and was independent of it, for practical kabbalah consisted of a conglomeration of magic practices that developed in Judaism from the Talmudic period and during the Middle Ages. By means of practical kabbalah it was claimed that the physical and spiritual world could be manipulated using the sacred and esoteric names of God and the angels. The kabbalists did not forbid the use of practical kabbalah, although they warned - as did the Zohar, the classical text of medieval kabbalah - of the grave consequences (including death) that could result from the irresponsible use of kabbalistic knowledge by people who had not reached perfection and authority in it.30 The abundant literature of practical kabbalah that has been preserved - largely unedited - shows that these warnings were disregarded. In many popular and widely circulated anthologies, practical kabbalah was combined with medicine.31 The Book o f Women’s Love includes among its magic formulas the preparation of amulets, the use of names and love magic. It contains, also, a clear warning about certain formulas that should be carried out only by competent people; terms taken from the kabbalistic tradition were used as criteria to determine the type of person considered to be suitable. The exact words are “[love formulae that] must be made with wisdom and knowledge. They are not to be revealed to inferior people but to wise people who have knowledge and understanding”. Hobnah, binah and da‘at (wisdom, understanding and knowledge) are names of sefirot, the ten entities which constitute the manifestations and emanations of God. Ha-mashkilim (those who 29 See Gershom Scholem On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. New York: Schocken Books, 1965, p. 1. 30 Cf. Esther Cohen, “‘La interpretacion crea firmamentos’. La dimension etica de la critica”, in El silencio del nombre. Interpretacion y pensamiento judio. Barcelona: Anthropos / Fundacion Cultural Eduardo Cohen, 1999, pp. 18-29. 31 See Gershom Scholem, Desarrollo historico e ideas basicas de la cabala. Barcelona, 1994, pp. 221-29; and Gerrit Bos, “Hayyim Vital’s ‘Practical Kabbalah and Alchemy’: a 17th Century Book of Secrets”, Journal o f Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 4 (1994), pp. 55-112.

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understand) is the term used for the ProveiKpal and Spanish kabbalists, and hayode ‘im (those who know) is one of the names they used from Nahmanides onwards to describe themselves.32 These three sefirot represent as well the heterosexual act, which is particularly significant in a group of love formulas. This interpretation derives from the kabbalistic notion that coitus is an imitation and part of the divine process of the unification of the different aspects of God. According to this idea, the man is wisdom and the woman understanding, their union (intercourse) creates knowledge,33 The belief in the magic power of names dates back to very ancient times. The word, the name, represents, paradoxically, both danger and protection. The word can kill, but it can also protect. To name something is a sacred act: it creates and recreates the universe.34 Joseph Dan has suggested that the sanctity of the name in the mysticisms of the scriptural religions is derived from the fact that a name, in essence, is that part of language in which the semantic level is minimal or non-existent. For him, the language of divine names should be viewed as a semiotic rather than a semantic one.35 It seems that, through the ages, many Jews have sought protection in the tremendous power of the written names (shemot) of God and the angels, and other magic names. This has converted the name into something fundamental by concentrating the strength and vital energy of a people in the name of the divinity, in the ineffable name of God, YHWH, which does not have a fixed, necessary semantic level.36 For Nahmanides the whole Torah is nothing but the names of God; other kabbalists think that the whole Torah is the name of God, which some of them try ceaselessly to decipher.37 During the Middle Ages the use of magic names characterized Jewish magic. A large number of these names are created from biblical verses - by acrostics and complicated combinations and permutations of letters - and by the use of gematria.38 However, examples are also found of 32 See Scholem, Desarrollo historico, p. 15; Eduard Feliu, Lletra santa concement Vajustament carnal de marit i muller. Atribuida a Mestre Mosse de Girona. Barcelona: Columna, 1986, p. 26. 33 According to the Iggeret ha-Qodesh, a thirteenth century kabbalistic Hebrew text attributed to Nahmanides: “And this is the secret of knowledge which we are telling you about. Man is contained in the secret of wisdom, reason and knowledge. The man is wisdom, the woman is the secret o f reason and pure intercourse is the secret of knowledge”. English translation by Seynir Cohen, The Holy Letter: A Study in Medieval Jewish Sexual Morality. New York, 1976. Quoted by Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law. The Essential Texts, Their History, and Their Relevance for Today. New York: Schocken Books, 1995, pp. 140-141.1 have preferred to render binah into English as understanding. For the Hebrew texts see: Moshe ben Nahman, Kitbe ha-Ramban. “ 'Iggeret ha-Qodesh”. Ed. R. Chavel. Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1994 (twelfth ed.), pp. 315-337; and its Catalan translation: Eduard Feliu, Lletra santa. 34 Cf. Esther Cohen, “Narrar los nombres”, in El silencio del nombre, pp. 39-50, on p. 42. 35 Cf. Joseph Dan, “The Name of God, the Name of the Rose, and the Concept of Language in Jewish Mysticism”, Medieval Encounters 2, num. 3 (1996), pp. 228-248, especially p. 232. 36 Ibid., p. 234; Cohen, “Narrar los nombres”, p. 42. 37 Cohen, “Narrar los nombres”, p. 45. 38 See Theodor Schrire, Hebrew Amulets. Their Decipherment and Interpretation. London:

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Latin or Greek phrases and words presented as a series of names that, having been transliterated to Hebrew, have lost their linguistic message.39 A considerable number of the magic formulas given in the Book o f Women’s Love contain names, some of which - although they have not been deciphered, if that is even possible - show phonetic similarities with Greek; for example: ’end de pari qarqor qaratom pe logenan peripdtiyesh mi dageran.40 In recent studies, scholars have distinguished between the different use that mystics and practitioners of magic have made of names. According to Joseph Dan, “in mysticism as in magic, the name is the essence of entities and the expression of their power. Both see language as semiotic rather than semantic, and tend to emphasize the mysterious, meaningless names of the powers they address. The difference, however, is that magic creates a language, while mysticism denies it”.41 Nevertheless, in my experience as a historian, I have found it at times extremely difficult to decide if the use made of names in a specific source is of a magic or a mystical nature. This compilation serves as an example in which magic and kabbalah (practical, according to the compiler of the codex) are intermixed. If, as we said at the beginning, the kabbalah is the sum of Jewish mysticism, does this perhaps mean that practical kabbalah is less mystical than the speculative kind? What I want to draw attention to is that the categorizations, especially those constructed as pairs of opposites, are at times too narrow to include the historical reality once compartments of precise limits are made which exclude part of the historical experience. The names used in the Book o f Women’s Love, the majority indecipherable or lacking semantic content, seem to have a magic nature, and aim to achieve a practical end, yet the repeated references in the text to the kabbalah give them to some extent a certain mystical quality (or, at least, this seems to be the compiler’s intention). What I mean is that texts, and probably practitioners, not always made this distinction. The Jewish author Hayyim Vital (1542-1620) did not make it when he collected many magical remedies (with similar aims to some of the formulas in our book) under the label of practical kabbalah, in his work Kabbalah ma ‘asit we-alkhimi’a h 42 In a separate section devoted to easing the difficulties of childbirth, the Book o f Women’s Love includes three magic squares that have been fully documented in Jewish sources since Talmudic times, although they do not belong exclusively to this tradition. Magic squares are blocks of cells arranged as a square in which the sum of each row, each column, and the main diagonal

Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966, pp. 91-135; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, pp. 260-264. 39 See Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, p. 102; and Dan, “The Name of God”, p. 239. 40 See edition and English translation, pp. 108-109. 41 See Dan, “The Name o f God”, p. 247. 42 See Gerrit Bos, “Hayyim Vital’s ‘Practical Kabbalah and Alchemy’”.

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are all equal.43 These squares, known since antiquity in the Far East, in western countries and by the Arabs and Jews, were used by philosophers to discover the properties of things, although their use in magic practices greatly exceeded other applications. The squares were closely related to astrological and alchemical speculations, for which the different types were associated with metals through their connections with the planets 44 The simplest type of magic square, consisting of nine cells and yielding the sum of 15 in every direction, is of interest to us. This type of square was used throughout the Middle Ages as an amulet for specific goals such as easing the pains of childbirth, and its use has been recorded in texts of Arab, Jewish, Christian and Hindu origins (specifically in a mathematical work composed in the middle of the fourteenth century).45 On occasions, the sum of the numbers of the magic squares resulted in a different number, although a multiple of the order, which corresponded with the numeric value of a certain word, generally one of the names of God 46 The words possess a numeric value when the letters possess one. This is the case in Hebrew, a language in which the letters of the alphabet correspond to numbers, a correspondence in which it seems the magic value of these squares resides. Of the squares that appear in the Book o f Women’s Love, the first, divided into six cells, has been included also in two separate medieval Hebrew medical treatises and seems to have been documented earlier in Arab sources47 In our compilation it is attributed to R. Nahman, possibly Moshe ben Nahman or Nahmanides. Of the other two squares, the second was very well known in the Jewish tradition and appears also in one of the two medical treatises referred to above 48 It is a square of the third order, made up of nine cells that contain the first nine letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which when combined, by means of the gematria, whether horizontally, vertically or diagonally, always produce the sum of 15, which in Hebrew characters (rp) constitute part of the tetragrammaton or the ineffable name of God.

43 Islamic mathematicians in particular contributed to this field. See Jacques Sesiano, “Islamic Mathematics”, in Helaine Selin (ed.), Mathematics Across Cultures. Dordrecht, 2000, pp. 137— 165, esp. 160-162, and the extensive references cited here. 44 See Vladimir Karpenko, “Between Magic and Science: Numerical Magic Squares”, Ambix, 40, num. 3 (1993), pp. 121-128. 45 Takamori Kusuba, “Combinatorics and Magic Squares in India: a Study of Narayana Pandita’s Ganitakaumudi, chapters 13-14”, PhD dissertation, Brown University, 1993. 46 See Karpenko, “Between Magic and Science”, p. 124. 47 The two other Hebrew sources are: The Sefer Hanisyonot, edited and translated by J.O. Leibowitz and S. Marcus in, Sefer Hanysionot: the Book o f Medical Experiences Attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984, pp. 240-242; and the treatise Terufot le-herctyon niqr ’a magen ha-rosh, edited and translated by Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages, Leiden: Brill, 1998, p. 196. See also Shlomoh Marcus, “Magic Elements in the Hebrew Medical Manuscript ‘Book of Experiences’ Attributed to A. Ibn Ezra”, Korot vol. 4, nums. 3-4 (1967), pp. 254-282. [Hebrew]. 48 See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 238.

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1 V 2 4 9 2 y n 3 5 7 n N 1 8 1 6 This same magic square is also included in a mathematical work of 1539 written by Girolamo Cardano, entitled Practica arithmetice et mesurandi singularis, in which the author presents a table of magic squares in which each one corresponds with a planet. Significantly, the square that assists childbirth through the number 15 represents the moon.49 The purpose of many of the proposed formulas in the text is to obtain or maintain the love of another person. In one of them, Rachel - the biblical matriarch who was able to win and preserve the love of her husband - is used as the authority to guarantee the result of the proposed action. This type of love magic had already been very common throughout ancient Greek and Roman literature, in which there are abundant examples of women who use magic to recover the love of lovers and husbands, such as Dido after the departure of Aeneas, or the wife of Hercules, who, in a play by Seneca, poisons her husband by confusing poisonous plants with the magic ones required for a love charm.50 During the Middle Ages such use of love magic is frequently documented, and the ingredients and procedures, as well as the forms of administering them, were also common in the traditions of a variety of ethnic-religious communities. Perhaps one of the most well-known magic procedures is the ligature, from the Latin ligatura (verb ligare\ that functions by means of knots, although not exclusively. The belief in the magic power of knots and in the restrictive and harmful effect of knot-making was very widespread throughout antiquity and exists even today. Rabbinic literature records the term g ltry , which has been interpreted as a transliteration of the Latin term ligatura.51 The abovementioned commentary on the Surah 113 of the Koran, that describes the magical practice of tying knots in a cord and then breathing and spitting on them, also recounts the story of how the prophet was bewitched by nine knots tied in a piece of string.52 Pliny noted the curative use of knots,53 and Isidore of Seville wrote against the “abominable” ties.54

49 See Karpenko, “Between Magic and Science”, pp. 124-125. Western tradition has associated the moon with the menstrual cycle and with childbirth. In Greek and Roman mythologies, the goddess of the moon (Artemis and Diana, respectively) was believed to protect women in labour. On Artemis as protector of childbirth see Helen King, “Bound to Bleed: Artemis and Greek Women”, in Laura K. McClure (ed.), Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World: Reading and Sources. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2002, pp. 77-101, especially on p. 89. 50 See Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 31. 51 See Daniel Sperber, Magic and Folklore in Rabbinic Literature. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Ilan University, 1994, p. 76. 52 See above note 24; and Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, p. 127.

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The most widespread use of ligatures, at least during the Middle Ages, was for amorous purposes. Knots were used to make people fall in love or to bind a person strongly to another. By means of the ligature, a person could be prevented from having sexual relations with anyone except the person creating the ligature.55 In one of Arnold ofVillanova’s treatises, written around 1300, he gave numerous remedies for impotence caused by magic ligatures.56 During the witch-hunts, a frequent accusation was that certain women had the capacity deliberately to make men impotent. Many women put on trial by the Inquisition under suspicion of practising magic admitted to having made ligatures at the request of other women, and even of men, so as to arouse love or to prevent a certain man or woman from having sexual relations with other people. It even seems that it was common practice during the Middle Ages to make a ligature to prevent the consummation of a marriage to which someone was opposed.57 The Book o f Women’s Love proposes for both men and women a series of ligatures, which it names using the Hebrew noun qesher (knot), the procedure being described with the verb of the same root, q-sh-r (to tie, to bind). The purpose of these is to arouse love or to prevent men and women from having sexual relations with others. But not all kinds of ligatures are made with knots. Some procedures consist in taking objects and/or substances that belong to or have been in contact with the person whom someone wants to bind, or the person who wants to bind someone. These must then be consumed by or come into contact with that person. For example, the nails and hair of someone in love, once processed and swallowed by die targeted person, will ensure that he or she returns the love.58 A piece of wool soaked in a man’s semen and hung from his neck will prevent him from lying with any woman who is not his wife. In this type of ligature the ingredients used are tremendously important, those which have the greatest magic power being substances from the body such as blood, semen, menstrual blood, as already mentioned, and women’s milk. Other magic practices found in the manuscript, such as the making and use of amulets to aid conception, ease childbirth, and those with contraceptive aims, have enjoyed great popularity for hundreds of years down to the 53 See Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. I, p. 398. 54 See Sperber, Magic and Folklore, p. 76. 55 See Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. I, pp. 394-395; Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, p. 127. 56 Se Juan Antonio Paniagua, “Estudios y notas sobre Amau de Vilanova”, in Archivos Iberoamericanos de Historia de la Medicina, XI (1959), pp. 308-419; and Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, p. 85. 57 See Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. I, pp. 394-395. 58 According to some authors, the use of hair and nails as ingredients in magic formulas enjoys a wide and long tradition. See Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. I, pp. 375-376; In the Book of Women’s Love a potion is made to which is added bodily hair and nails from the hands and feet of a man who wishes to arouse love. A similar procedure appears in the Sefer Hanisyonot and also in other treatises of German origin written in Hebrew. See Leibowitz and Marcus, Sefer Hanisyonot, p. 254, and Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, p. 129.

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present.59 According to Ann Ellis Hanson, the use of amulets for medical purposes in Greece and Egypt during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods was associated with women, who wore them attached to their bodies. It was also believed that men who used them showed a female type of behaviour. Periapta and periammata, as amulets were called, are mentioned in Greek medical texts as therapeutical procedures intended to treat and cure female diseases and conditions.60 As we can leam from the sources, many kinds of amulets exist, their form and workmanship depending on the purpose for which they are to be used. For example, the amulets related to fertility, that is, those used to aid conception, consist at times of parts of animals known for their fertility, or of those parts of their bodies related to generation. Many amulets carry inscriptions that are, in general, magic names and/or biblical verses, such as Deut. 7:12, for curing sterility. During the Middle Ages, the making of amulets for women in labour formed part of the knowledge of any midwife and they were always present in the female space in which childbirth took place.61 In sum, the magic practices contained in this book establish a connection between the goal they pursue and what have been historically considered women’s concerns, for they are related to their bodies and lives: menstruation, childbirth, contraception, love, etc. These practices show not only women’s concern about events that affect them physically but also the ways in which they dealt with the need to care for their bodies. For example, during the Hellenistic period, many Greek and Egyptian mothers used amulets and donated objects to the Temple of Artemis as a means to ease their daughters’ passage from childhood to adulthood, reducing the suffering produced by their first menses or their retention. On the other hand, part of the medical discourse advised coitus and pregnancy, which would widen the ducts through which the menstrual flow would be expelled.62 It is clear that there was a female way of considering the solution to a problem that concerns exclusively women’s bodies, a way that did not necessarily involve obligatory heterosexuality, but 59 See Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, pp. 46 and 62. 60 See Ann Ellis Hanson, “Uterine Amulets and Greek Uterine Medicine”, Medicina nei secoli, 7, num. 2 (1995), pp. 281-299, especially pp. 287-290. The Greek names periapta and periammata are derived from the verb periaptein, whose meaning (to tie something around something else) proves that they were attached to the body. Curiously enough, Greek women also bound to their bodies periapta with aphrodisiac purposes, which might be understood as a kind of ligature. 61 See Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages, pp. 46 and 62. 62 Ann Ellis Hanson, “Uterine Amulets”, p. 288. See also Rebecca Flemming and Ann Ellis Hanson, “Hippocrates’ Peri Parthenion (‘Diseases of Young Girls’): Text and Translation”, Early Science and Medicine, III, 3 (1998), pp. 241-252. This brief Hippocratic text about the diseases o f young girls criticizes women’s practices and states explicitly: “I urge, then, that whenever young girls suffer this kind of malady they should marry as quickly as possible. If they become pregnant, they become healthy. If not, either at the same moment as puberty, or a while later, she will be caught by this sickness, if not by another one”, p. 252.

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which saw the wellbeing of women as central. What I am suggesting, following this line of argument, is that historically many women have had recourse to magic not only in the search for solutions, protection and help in facing some aspects of, and events that occur in, their lives, and to achieve their desires, but also that they have done this in a way that places their interests, their needs and their desires centre stage. It is interesting to recall here that Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English have summed up the crimes of the so-called witches placing them in three categories: female sexuality, being organized, and having magic powers affecting health (they were often charged specifically with possessing medical and obstetrical skills).63 In my view, women’s recourse to magic formed part of the existential strategies - of life - that they had developed in each particular historic period. In this sense, I think that this first part of the Book o f Women’s Love includes or sets out problems of quality of life and female strategies for dealing with them. For instance, the long section devoted to erotic material places love and sexuality in a prominent place within the concerns of the potential female readers of the work. In it can be seen an attempt - specifically through magic to manipulate sexuality and to intervene in a relationship. The central role given to sexuality and love can be interpreted as what Milagros Rivera has significantly called women’s love of the bond, of being in a relationship for the pleasure of being in it.64 A historically proven liking for bonds, which has frequently been interpreted as an expression or sign of the weakness of women, on the contrary has to do with the fact that it is women - as Milagros Rivera states - who are the repositories of the memory that relationships are at the root of human civilization.

2.2. Sexuality and eroticism in the Book. The second section, the shortest of the three into which the Book o f Women’s Love is divided, is devoted to sexuality and contains various recipes to assist coitus and to copulate well. However, as has just been discussed, the content of the previous section is also, to a great extent, erotic and is intended to manipulate sexuality by intervening in human relationships through magic. It recommends some formulas for heightening sexual arousal in the woman and a desire for sexual intercourse, and others by which the man guaranteed the faithfulness of his partner by using, basically, substances with which he anointed his penis at the moment of intercourse. Although some of the recipes in the first section have the same objective as all those in the second, that is, to make possible the consummation of 63 See Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives and Nurses, p. 10. 64 See Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas, “Yo tambien soy una mujer maltratada” in Mujeres en Relacion. Feminismo 1970-2000. Barcelona: Icaria, 2001, pp. 31-40.

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heterosexual intercourse, the character of each group varies. The formulas of the first section possess magical overtones and introduce notions of an eroticism that are absent from those in the next section. In fact, the intention of the compiler in the second section appears to be slightly different from that in the rest of the book. First, most of the recipes in the book deal largely with therapeutic care and adornment of the female body. The second section, however, focuses on the stimulation of the sexual relationship based on coitus; in it there is a clear heterosexual orientation and a male-centred view of sexuality. The content of the small number of recipes given - which describe therapeutic measures for causing an erection and promoting sexual arousal - is similar to that in those treatises, or parts of treatises, that deal with generation and/or sexual hygiene. Secondly, although the compiler introduces this section by expressing his desire to offer “medicines and remedies tested in the Book o f W omens Love, that is, what women like and need for themselves”, he also states his intention of offering men, who are in fact the recipients of the proposed measures, aid with sexual intercourse.65 The concept of obligatory heterosexuality for women - devised and used by feminist researchers as a method for analysing society and history - has turned out to be a valid tool for making sense of the content of the aphrodisiac recipes in this book. According to some of these women thinkers, the practice and institution of obligatory heterosexuality expresses a compulsory cohabitation between men and women in conditions in which the male/female ratio is numerically balanced. But it also expresses the imposition on women of a pattern of reproductive sexuality, the compulsory nature of which is useful to the patriarchy.66 That is why one of the fundamental organizational structures of social relations in patriarchal societies is the heterosexual couple. This is also the case in Judaism, since normative sexuality in Jewish law is heterosexual and confined within marriage. Judaism, by insisting on male-female relationships as the only sanctified norm, elevated them within a procreative relationship.67 In all instances, the obligation to practise heterosexuality imposes not only a certain model of sexuality, but also a hierarchy: the husband’s dominion over 65 See edition and English translation, pp. 116-117. 66 See Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas, Nombrar el mundo en femenino. Pensamiento de las mujeres y teorla feminista. Barcelona: Icaria, 1994, pp. 74—77. 67 See Biale, Women and Jewish Law, p. 197; Ruth K. Westheimer and Jonathan Mark, Heavenly Sex. Sexuality in the Jewish Tradition. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company, 1996, p. 51. It has been argued that, while the Bible expressly prohibits male homosexuality, it does not mention female homosexuality, which, strictly speaking, makes it permissible. However, this supposed permissibility does not imply that heterosexuality is questioned as normative sexuality. In Rachel Biale’s words, “the male sexual experience of heterosexual intercourse is the standard for defining what is a sexual act, and thus what is a sexual transgression.” Precisely, if lesbianism is not considered a sexual transgression it is because it does not involve intercourse, which, in Jewish law, represents normative sexuality. See Rachel Biale, ibid., pp. 192-197.

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his wife. As Milagros Rivera states: “in the heterosexual relationship the male has introduced a form of violence against the female”.68 In the recipes in this section the male prevails over the female, imposing a form of sexuality linked to reproduction. Its expression centres attention on the erection, the common feature of western sexuality, which shows that the mental construct that controls it is alien to the female.69 This alienation of the female, this attention exclusively given to the male organ is revealed in the words which close the section. It ends with a eulogy to the male member that is named through a metaphor attributed to the rabbis, “principle of the body”. The compiler declares, “and since there is nothing better for women, and since they love their men because of it [...] I have put and mentioned it in the beginning of our magical remedies, because it is called by the Rabbis the principle of the body in all our books”.70 By these brief words the penis is converted into a phallus, an artefact, and the sexuality of women is defined as a “lack” by comparison with the only organ acknowledged as of worth.71 This organ, which Luce Irigaray calls “one”, converts the sex of the woman into a “non-sex”, in “an enveloping hole that is converted into a penis so as to rub the penis during intercourse”.72 In summary, the content of the recipes of this section relate the sexual act to physiology and reproduction. They illustrate the denial of female sexuality characteristic of patriarchal societies, a denial common to treatises dealing with generation and sexual hygiene, called by some authors “treatises on andrology”.73 This attitude is perfectly defined in the explanation given by Rachel Biale regarding Judaism, and already cited, that “the male sexual experience of heterosexual intercourse is the standard for defining what is a sexual act”.74 Nevertheless, in the magical remedies in the first section it is possible to see a connotation of eroticism and love non-existent in those of the second section. Some of the formulas recommend the use of ointments on the penis before penetration so as to increase sexual arousal. The objective of others is to stimulate the desire and passion of the woman in such a way that one of the

68 Rivera, Nombrar el mundo, p. 74. 69 See Luce Irigaray, Ese sexo que no es mo. Madrid, 1982, p. 24. (Original ed. Ce sexe qui n ’en pas un. Paris: Minuit, 1977). 70 See edition and English translation, pp. 118-119. 71 See Rivera Garretas, Textos y espacios de mujeres (Europa siglos IV - XV). Barcelona: Icaria, 1995 (1st ed. 1990), p. 126; Irigaray, Luce, Ese sexo, pp. 23-31. 72 See Irigary, Ese sexo, p. 23. 73 See Enrique Montero Cartelle (ed. and trans.), Constantini Liber de coitu: El tratado de andrologla de Constantino el Africano. Santiago de Compostela: Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Santiago, 1983; and idem, “Sobre nombres y funciones”. 74 See above note 67.

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recipes promises this result: “she will be very excited and will shake her whole body because of the heat [of her lust]”.75 Although the model of sexuality presented in this first section is also, as emerges from the recommended actions, decidedly heterosexual, in my view it is not exclusively so. The compiler suggests a series of formulas in which he gives instructions on how to provoke a quarrel between a man and his male friend. In them there is, I believe, a hint of a homosexual relationship, suggested by a number of factors inherent in the way in which they have been written and included in the book. The text proposes actions in which the sex of the protagonists - a man and his male friend - is indicated by the use of the grammatical masculine gender. The intention of these actions is to cause a rupture in the relationship, which the compiler says is one of “love”. This love relationship - I do not know if it is sexual - forms part, nevertheless, of an erotic context in which it is possible to read, for example, formulas by which a woman can “bind” her husband, or by which a man can arouse the desire for coitus in a woman. In addition, the last of the six formulas that make up this group (to provoke a quarrel) contains a procedure, similar to that of the others, for causing a breach between a man and a woman. In this case, the compiler also indicates clearly the gender of the actors, marking the sexual difference between the man and the woman, although providing his narrative with the same characteristics that he used for that on “a man and his friend”. In spite of the difficulty involved in uncovering the nature of the relationship to which the compiler refers, given the sparse information in the text, it is worth adding that male homosexuality was practised in Spanish Jewish communities under both Arab and Christian rule,76 although it was expressly forbidden by Jewish law (Lev. 18:22). In legal sources, several cases have been documented in which members of the Castilian and Aragonese Jewish communities (in Christian territories of the Iberian Peninsula) were tried for homosexual practices.77 Given what I have already explained about the diverse nature of the various recipes relating to sexuality contained in the book, it is reasonable to ask what factors produced such “diversity” in the idea of sexuality that the compiler of the work puts forward. It has been pointed out that the origin of the Ars erotica included in some works of medicine and natural philosophy

75 See edition and English translation, pp. 114-115. 76 About Jews and homosexuality in the Middle Ages, see Norman Roth, ‘“Deal Gently with the Young Man’. Love of Boys in Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Spain”, Speculum, 57 (1982), pp. 20-51; idem, “Fawn of my Delights: Boy-Love in Hebrew in Arabic Verse”, in Joyce Salisbury (ed.), Sex in the Middle Ages. New York: Garland Publishing, 1991, pp. 157-172; Jefim Schirmann, “The Ephebe in Medieval Hebrew Poetry”, Sefarad, 15 (1955), pp. 55-68: David Biale, Eros and the Jews from the Biblical Israel to Contemporary America. New York: Basic Books, 1992. 77 See Yom Tov Assis, “Sexual Behaviour in Medieval Hispano-Jewish Society”, Jewish History. Essays in honour o f Chimen Abramsky. London, 1988, pp. 25-59, especially pp. 50-51.

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produced in the Latin West is to be found in the influence exercised by treatises on sexuality of Arab origin.78 This way of understanding sexuality spread at an early date among Jewish communities, either as a result of direct contact with Arab culture and written texts, or through the translations of these works and/or those produced at the very heart of Jewish communities themselves. This was the case with the treatises on coitus that Maimonides composed in the twelfth century, in which he introduced an idea new to Latin works by establishing a connection between psychology and the mechanics of the body.79 On the other hand, the Jewish tradition’s view of sexuality must be taken into account. The Halakhah, or oral Jewish law, regulates sexuality, which is absolutely legitimate within the confines of matrimony.80 The duty to procreate (Gen. 1:28), from which women are explicitly exempt, is the basis of the opposition that the law shows toward celibacy and of the express prohibition of male homosexuality, which is considered an abhorrence (Lev. 18:22). In spite of the fact that in the Talmud, as in later legal works, a variety of attitudes are found regarding the legitimacy of certain heterosexual practices, in general most are permitted. Any practice that enhances sexual pleasure is accepted, always provided it is done within matrimony and there is no “destruction of seed”.81 The frequency of sexual relations, considered a husband’s duty to his wife, is regulated by the laws of Onah, while the laws of Niddah establish the periods of abstention during and after menstruation.82 The kabbalah, strongly linked to tradition, maintains a permissive and favourable attitude towards the pleasures of sex within marriage. During the Middle Ages some of its representatives echoed the theory, of great importance at the time, which postulated the need for both members of a couple to feel pleasure. Pleasure was essential for the emission of female and male semen, both indispensable for conception.83 In Jewish mystical thought, heterosexual intercourse came to signify the union of different aspects of God, being an imitation and a part of that process of unification. According to the kabbalah, the union of two sefirot or emanations of God, wisdom and understanding,

78 See Danielle Jacquart and Claude Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Polity, 1988, p. 120. (Original ed. Sexualite et savoir medical au Moyen Age. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1985). 79 Ibid. On the writings of this author on coitus, see Ferre, Maimonides. Obras medicos /, Cordoba: El Almendro, 1991, p. 18. 80 Biale, Women and Jewish Law, pp. 121-146. 81 Ibid., pp. 137-139. 82 Ibid., pp. 121-146. 83 See Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference in the Middle Ages. Medicine, Science and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 117-165; Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 81; and Gerrit Bos, “Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexuality and Sexual Dysfunction, and the mystery o f ‘Ubaid ibn ‘Ali ibn Juraja ibn Hillauf solved”, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, 19 (1995), pp. 250-266, on pp. 258-259.

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creates a third one, knowledge.84 “To know” is precisely the verb used in the Bible for heterosexual intercourse. The identification of knowledge with the sexual act is not exclusive to the Jewish tradition. On the contrary, this metaphor has been frequently used in western history, perhaps because, as Evelyn Fox Keller argues, “knowledge is a form of consummation, just as sex is a form of knowledge”.85 Christian mystical literature also uses the metaphor of the beloved who seeks and finds the spouse, derived from Song o f Songs, to represent the search for and union with God. However, in Christian mysticism this identification between divine love and human love does not go beyond a literary metaphor. The Jewish kabbalah elaborates and teaches a model of perfect sexual relationship, between husband and wife, legitimated by being the image and part of the divine process of unification of the sefirot. This legitimation of the sexual relationship allows it to be shown in images that are not disguised by euphemism or sparing of details.86 This way of understanding sexuality is represented by a short work on sexual morality, entitled 'Iggeret ha-Qodesh (Holy Letter), composed in Catalonia in the thirteenth century and attributed to Nahmanides, although some authors think that it could have been written by Abraham Chiquitilla (c. 1248-1325).87 In it is shown the perfect and pure carnal union between husband and wife, at two different levels of importance: on the one hand, the author reclaims the dignity of the organs of generation and the sanctity of the sexual union consummated according to rabbinical teachings; on the other, the book supports the thesis that the sexual union reflects the mystical union of spiritual forces, and at the same time attracts the Divine Presence. The composition and circulation of this work could mean that, despite the supposed exclusive and closed nature of kabbalistic circles, this knowledge circulated in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula around the thirteenth century. This would explain the allusions to the above-mentioned sefirot (wisdom, understanding and knowledge) in an amorous and magic context like that of the first section of the Book o f Women’s Love, in which the secret and obscure nature of the suggested formulas is highlighted by the compiler. In summary, the view of sexuality that appears in the work is neither unique nor homogeneous. Although the notion of heterosexual coitus dominates almost exclusively, I have been able to recognize certain differences among some of the ideas that appear in the first and second sections of the book, which I have briefly analysed. The extremely short second section, as already noted, shows a great similarity with the so-called treatises of andrology.

84 See above note 33. 85 See Evelyn Fox Keller, Reflections on Gender and Science. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1985, p. 18. 86 See Feliu, Lletra santa, p. 19. 87 Ibid.; and Biale, Women and Jewish Law, p. 140. See above note 33.

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2.2.1. Treatises dedicated to (hetero)sexuality and the Book o f Women’s Love . Constantine the African introduced to the Latin west, at the end of the eleventh century, a type of medical literature devoted to sexuality.88 With his translation-adaptation of a work by the North African physician Ibn al-Jazzar,89 he initiated a genre that was fed by Arab sources and focused, basically, on male sexuality. Nevertheless, some authors have remarked on the absence in western texts of the influence of the eroticism present in Arab works, especially the use of ointments applied to the penis in order to cause an erection.90 Medical literature written in Jewish communities also produced texts of this kind. Maimonides wrote in Arabic two treatises on sexual hygiene and aphrodisiacs. No translations into either Hebrew or Latin of the longer work have been preserved. The shorter one was translated into Hebrew three times: around 1277 by Zerayah ben Yishaq Hen or Gracian, with the title M a’amar ha-mishgal (Treatise on coitus); later, by an anonymous translator who gave it the title M a ’amar 'al rihuy ha-tashmish\ and a third time by an also unknown translator.91 It was also translated into Latin under the title Regimen coadiuvans ad coitum?2 The works of Maimonides, written in the Arab environment in which he lived, share the eroticism present in the literature of that culture. His view, which establishes a link between psychology and the sexual act, was to be transmitted to the literature of this genre produced in western Jewish communities, among which these treatises could have circulated from the end of the twelfth century.93 In the West, Latin texts on sexuality followed closely the model introduced by Constantine. Most researchers agree that all these works have a common denominator: the discussions on sexuality are based on a profoundly male-centred view and concentrate on heterosexual coitus, barely taking into account female sexuality.94 The recipes in the Book o f Women’s 88 Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu. 89 See Monica Green, “Female Sexuality in the Medieval West”, Trends o f History, vol. 4 (1990), pp. 127-158, especially p. 143; and Enrique Montero Cartelle, “Sobre el autor arabe del Liber de coitu y el modo de trabajar de Constantino el Africano”. Medizinhistorisches Journal. Bd. 23 (1988), pp. 213-223. 90 See Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, p. 120. 91 See Lola Ferre, Maimonides, p. 18; Suessmann Muntner, Sexual life (Hygiene andits Medical Treatment). Jerusalem: Geniza Publishing Corporation, 1965, pp. 19-20. [Hebrew]; and Tzvi Langermann, “Some New Medical Manuscripts from Moscow”, in The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages, essay VIII. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999, p. 55. 92 See Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 32. 93 See Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, p. 120. Onthe position of Arab authors regarding the influence of psychological factors on the stimulation of sexual desire see Gerrit Bos, “Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexuality”, pp. 252-253. 94 See Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 24; Monica Green, “Female Sexuality”, p.

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Love, whose objective is the consummation of heterosexual intercourse, do not escape this decidedly male-centred attitude. The five therapeutic remedies given in the second section of the compilation have to be administered in the form of electuary, potion, poultice and ointment. The intention is to stimulate sexual arousal in the male, cause an erection and generate semen by means of the preparations in these recipes. In one of them the assurance is given that its application will allow an old man of seventy to have intercourse as and when he wishes. In this short piece sources are not mentioned, and its content is not attributed, wholly or in part, to any author. Only in one of the recipes have I been able to find a parallel with the Sefer Hanisyonot.95 However, the ingredients and some parts of the procedures resemble those in other Arabic, Hebrew and Latin treatises; for example, the use of satyrion as an aphrodisiac, whose qualities for generating and expelling semen from the body were pointed out by Constantine in De coitu, following Dioscorides, who stated that if the root were simply held in the hand it would stimulate the sexual appetite.96 They also recommend eating the brains of birds or rubbing the area over the kidneys, measures common to medical literature devoted to human reproduction. These similarities could be explained by two factors which are not mutually exclusive: actual practice or experience, and the influence of Galenic medicine, which was transmitted via the translations of Arabic texts on sexual hygiene. On the one hand, the use of some ingredients, above all plants, could originate from the living practice, transmitted orally, which therefore reached written texts along a variety of routes. On the other, the choice of ingredients and notions of physiology are based on the Hippocratic-Galenic system of qualities. According to this system, which stems from analogical thought and gives order to the world, the ingredients that possess certain determined qualities generate these same qualities. Under this system, simples were selected which would generate the semen and necessary conditions for generation. Some of the ingredients commonly advocated are satyrion, ash, castoreum, cinnamon, etc.; also, following the same analogical criteria, the bull’s penis. The advice to eat brains (particularly those of birds) and the continual references to the lumbar region, to which sexual arousal was thought to be related, make sense in the light of Hippocratic-Galenic physiology. Constantine, accommodating Hippocratic, Galenic and Aristotelian ideas, stated that the semen, generated in the brain, travelled down through the veins behind 143; Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, p. 120. 95 See edition and English translation, pp. 116-117, and the commentary on the translation, note 22 (p. 182). 96 See Andres de Laguna, Pedacio Dioscorides Anazerbo, acerca de la materia medicinal, y de los venenos mortiferos, Traducido de la lengua griega, en vulgar castellana. (Salamanca: 1566), ed. Facsimil, Madrid 1968. Libro III, cap. 137\ and Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 26, and 150-151 (edition and Spanish translation).

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the ears, the spinal column and the kidneys to the testicles and, finally, the penis, which ejaculated it into the vagina.97 Logically, the organs involved in this process were particularly important when it came to increasing sexual arousal and guaranteeing the consummation of copulation. Although this section dedicated to sexuality is so brief, several characteristics can be observed that, in my view, give it an affinity with the type of treatises dealing with generation which Constantine the African initiated at the end of the eleventh century. In it can be noted similarities with other treatises or parts of treatises belonging to this genre and, as in them, the influence of Galenic physiology and therapeutics is remarkable.

2.3. The care of women’s health and beauty: cosmetics and gynaecology. The third section of the compilation is by far the longest of the three. In it the compiler has included therapeutic measures and recipes on cosmetics, gynaecology and obstetrics without making any distinction between these areas, passing seamlessly from one theme to another. In my opinion, the internal logic by which the cosmetic and gynaecological contents of the work are assembled and ordered from head to toe, expresses an all-embracing view of what the compiler calls “women’s matters” or “matters relating to women”. By this he means the care of the female body as a whole, a care whose aim is to beautify and maintain the health of a body of the female sex. Management of the body is not sexually neutral in the patriarchal order, which distinguishes between female bodies and male bodies. This distinction was to lead to different kinds of treatment and care for both sexes in medieval medicine of the Latin tradition.98 This section, like the rest of the compendium, is essentially prescriptive in character, lacking theoretical ideas, aside from a few brief notes on the aetiology, diagnostic and therapeutics of amenorrhoea and menorrhagia in the section on gynaecology. The content of the recipes is very diverse and they are organized, as is frequent in medieval medical literature, a capite ad pedem. On occasions the therapeutic measures suggested are intermingled with magic, including some of the elements already analysed, such as the use of amulets, the

97 See Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, p. 61; Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 81. 98 See Rivera Garretas, Nombrar el mundo, p. 42; Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 169— 188; Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni i la medicina medieval de tradicio llatina. Els tractas De omatu, De decorationibus mulierum atribuiits a Amau de Vilanova, Trdtula de mestre Joan, i Flos del tresor de beutat atribuit a Manuel Die? de Calatayud”. Ph. D. dissertation, Universidad de Barcelona, Col.leccio de tesis microfitxades num. 2794. Barcelona, 1994, p. 181.

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writing or declamation of words, magic names and psalms, and magic squares, etc" In order to illustrate the work’s all-encompassing approach to the care of the health and beauty of the female body and the matters relating to hygiene, cosmetics and the genital organs that this involves, I will briefly list the contents in the order in which they appear in the section: depilation of certain areas of the body, care of the hair on various parts of the body, the eradication of parasites, the treatment of wounds and scabs on the head, care of the face and the preparation of cosmetics, care of the teeth and gums, the elimination of sweat and bad body odour, the removal of warts, care of and improvement of the appearance of sagging and wrinkled breasts, remedies to make a woman’s milk flow and for halting it, methods whereby a man can discover what a woman has done and vice versa, ways of checking if a woman is a virgin and of restoring virginity to a woman who has lost it, methods to discover if a woman can become pregnant, remedies to facilitate pregnancy, recipes to ease childbirth, relieve pain in the uterus, and cure uterine suffocation, remedies to make the displaced womb return to its place, recipes for provoking or halting the menstrual flow preceded by a short theoretical digression, recipes to cause abortion, remedies for extracting the placenta, the relief of pain after childbirth, ways of avoiding miscarriage, the treatment of difficulties in childbirth and the prevention of pregnancy.

2.3.1. The adornment and decoration of female bodies. Female adornment, the beautifying of women’s bodies by their own direct intervention, is a controversial and recurrent theme in western literature and history. Medical literature of the Latin tradition understood that the procedures and techniques that today we group under the semantic field “cosmetics” constituted a fundamental part of the care of the female body.100 Historically, the importance of this has not always been acknowledged, since beauty treatment has often been considered a superfluous or secondary matter. Paradoxically, the question of adornment has aroused interest, caused debates and provoked conflicting attitudes, at times violent, such as that of the Church fathers, who believed that the decoration of the body was a form of disobedience to God. In many of their writings, they condemned the pride of women who attempted to amend and better the work of God the father and the shameless way in which they decorated their bodies in order to seduce men.101 99 See above, sub-section 2.1.3., dealing with magic contents. 100 See Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 181. 101 See Maria-Milagros Rivera Garretas, “Significados de la belleza del cuerpo. La cuestion del adomo femenino”, El cuerpo indispensable. Significados del cuerpo de mujer. Madrid: horas y HORAS, 1996, pp. 59-71, especially, pp. 63-64; eadem, Nombrar el mundo, p. 133; Rosemary

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At the end of the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, some women, educated according to what was advocated by the humanist plan for equality of access to education, spoke out publicly and expressed their views on the care and adornment of the female body. Although many rejected adornment and, taking up some of the arguments used by the Church fathers, proposed austerity and “neglect” of a body that interfered with their dedication to study,102 this was not the only position upheld by humanist women who, during this period, voiced publicly three different standpoints. Montserrat Cabre has studied these attitudes through the opinions, set out in their works, of three fifteenth century women writers who lived and wrote in the lay and courtesan environments of France and Italy: Christine de Pizan, Nicolosa Sanuti and Laura Cereta.103 Laura Cereta (Brescia, 1466-1499) declared in her writings her opposition to, and rejection of, adornment of the female body because she linked it with the institution of obligatory heterosexuality which subordinated women and gave them a social role dependent on men under the prevailing gender system of the society in which she lived. Laura considered that methods used by her female contemporaries to beautify themselves were a manifestation of “slavery”, a slavery that contrasted with the liberty she found in the search for knowledge.104 Nicolosa Sanuti (Bologna, fifteenth century), however, held a very different view. Unlike Cereta, she defended the right of adornment because she held it to be one of the prerogatives that women had in controlling their bodies. She wrote and sent to Cardinal Bessario an epistle entitled Ut matronis ornamenta restituantur, in which she expressed her disagreement with the sumptuary laws decreed by him, which regulated women’s external appearance in public and forbade adornment and sumptuous attire.105 In her work La Cite des Dames, Christine de Pizan (1365-C.1430) introduced a new perspective by freeing female adornment from the institution of obligatory heterosexuality. This French author asserted that not all women beautify their bodies with the aim of flirting with men. With this statement she destroyed the patriarchal interpretation that defined adornment as a feminine seduction strategy employed to please men. For Christine, who did not judge adornment in moral terms, it was permissible for both men and women to be concerned about their outward appearance and to attempt to improve it.106 Radford Ruether, “Misogynism and Virginal Feminism in the Fathers of the Church”, in Religion and Sexism. Images o f Women in the Jewish and Christian Traditions. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974, pp. 150-183, especially, p. 170. 102 See Rivera Garretas, “Significados de la belleza del cuerpo”, pp. 64-66; eadem, Nombrar el mundo, pp. 134-136. 103 See Cabr6 i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 122-183. 104 Ibid., pp. 167-178. 105 Ibid., pp. 155-166. 106 Ibid., pp. 137-154; Rivera Garretas, “Significados”, p. 67; eadem, Nombrar el mundo, p. 135.

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The importance of the public exposition of these three attitudes resides in the significant fact that the women to whom the treatises on the care of the female body were aimed in the final instance, were at the same time recipients, practitioners and originators of this knowledge, and it was they who openly expressed their views on the matter. As far as we know, Jewish women at this period did not publicly express their opinion regarding adornment. A number of complex factors, linked to the attachment of Jewish men and women to tradition as a form of social cohesion against the threat of acculturation, and to the internal situation within the Jewish communities of southern Europe, made public and individualized intervention by Jewish women on these and other matters very difficult. Even so, the interest of these women in the care and beautification of their bodies is similar to that of their Christian contemporaries, as frequent references to this matter in the sources confirm. A good example is the regulations regarding this taken from the Taqqanot of Valladolid of 1432. The fifth chapter of these Taqqanot or Ordinances, devised by and for the Jewish communities of the Crown of Castile, laid down a series of measures concerning dress.107 The rabbis blamed the exaggerated luxury with which Jews - especially the women - dressed and adorned themselves for awakening the envy of Christians, as well as for provoking the accusations and prohibitions to which Jews were subjected by the Christian authorities. The rabbis, therefore, regulated severely and meticulously the dress of men and women. In alluding to these accusations and prohibitions, the rabbis were most probably referring to the laws, stemming from the Lateran Council (1215), which decreed for Jews a distinctive dress and the use of a badge called “the wheel”, so as to establish and enforce social and cultural barriers between them and Christians.108 Subsequently, and although Pope Honorius III gave a dispensation in 1219 to the Jews of Castile, laws of this type were promulgated in 1228 by Jaime I and updated by Jaime II for the Jewish communities of the Crown of Aragon, and in 1283 by Pedro III for those of Valencia. However, the very kings who promulgated these laws granted special rights to people in the Jewish quarters and privileges to individual Jews so they could evade these restrictions.109 It has been said that the political and religious representatives of Jewish communities devised measures that regulated the external appearance - that is to say, public appearance - of their members with two main objectives in mind: 107 See Yolanda Moreno Koch, Fontes iudaeorum Regni Casteilae, V. De iure hispano-hebraico, las taqqanot de Valladolid de 1432. Un estatuto comunal renovador. Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 1987, pp. 92-97. 108 See Joseph Shatzmiller, “Soins de beaute, image et image de soi: le cas des juifs du Moyen Age”, en Les soins de beaute. Moyen Age debut des Temps Modernes. Actes du IHe Colloque International Grasse (1985), 1987, pp. 51-60. 109 See Yitzhak Baer, Studien zur geschichte der juden im Konigreich Aragonien wahrend des 13. Und 14.jahrhunderts. Berlin: Ebering, 1913, pp. 42-43.

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the guaranteeing of physical safety and the avoidance of certain tendencies towards acculturation.110 While agreeing in the main with this assertion, in my view, a third objective has been overlooked, an objective latent in the very way in which the fifth chapter of the Ordinances of Valladolid was redacted: the expropriation of women’s prerogative of control over their own bodies (an action condemned by Nicolosa Sanuti in Italy). The chapter begins by explaining that, due to the ubiquity of the harmful custom of women using exaggeratedly luxurious clothes and jewels, hatred and envy are aroused. In consequence, the (male) representatives of the communities see the need of decreeing measures to forbid women, except those marriageable or in their first year of marriage, the use of a long list of rich and ornate clothes and other adornments. And it is not until these have been extensively described that the Ordinance reads a brief statement forbidding men over fifteen from wearing silk and rich clothes, and gold or rich embroideries.111 Manifestly this edict is mainly aimed to regulate the external appearance of women, which is, after all, a way of taking away from them the control of their bodies. Curiously enough, the women who must look good in order to find a husband or to please their newly wed ones are exempt from the prohibition. This exemption points to the fact that female bodies and their adornment are regarded exclusively in relation to obligatory heterosexuality, which gives us some clues as to how this particular social group in this particular historical moment construct the contents of gender. Nevertheless, and despite the measures taken by the representatives of one or another social group to avoid acculturation, the sources provide evidence of the deep admiration that Jewish men and women had for the aesthetic values developed in the society surrounding them.112 Obviously, the close cohabitation 110 See Joseph Shatzmiller, “Soins de beaute”, pp. 51-53. 111 Porquanto en muchos qehil.lot, guardeles su Roca y su Salvador, ay reglas y costumbres deshonestas e daniosas en razon delos de las vestiduras delas mujeres y sus joyas, e son exageran mas de lo debido, e traen vestoduras de grandes cuantlas e de gran muestra [...], como que recreqe porello la envidia y el odio entre los pueblos [...], y sale de ello que son dictan decretos sobre nosotros de cuando en cuando por la dicha razon,[...]. Por eso promulgamos que mujer alguna que non fuera moqa por casar o novia en el ano de su matrimonio, non traya bestidura de suso de panio de oro nin [...]. Eso mismo, algun israelita de mas de quince anos non pueda traer ropa laguna de panio de oro [...]. Because in many communities, they will be guarded by their Rock and Savior, there are dishonest and harmful rules and customs due to women’s dress and jewels, since they greatly exaggerate and use very expensive and showy dresses [...], as for that, envy and hatred grow amongst the people [...], which lead to decrees against us from time to time, for this reason [...]. It is for that, that we promulgate that no woman, except for the marriageable girl and the one in her first year of marriage, would dress in golden cloth, neither [...]. For the same reason, no Israelite older than fifteen would dress in golden cloth [...] [my translation]. See, Yolanda Moreno, Fontes iudaeorum Regni Castellae, pp. 93-95. The difference in length of the listings of banned items for men and women is considerable. 112 See Shatzmiller, “Soins de beaute”.

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or coexistence of two or more peoples encourages imitation between them. The adornment and decoration of the female body formed part of a practical knowledge, a living practice and, as noted above regarding magic, the living practice is transmitted through relationships between women, and between women and men. Jewish women must, necessarily, have been influenced by the practices of women in the societies within which they lived and they in turn must have exercised their own influence. The question of adornment was not new for Jewesses and dated back to the very origins of Jewish culture. The Bible is replete with references to adornment, jewels, dresses, cosmetics and all kinds of beautifying procedures.113 As in other historical sources, adornment is not mentioned only in connection with women, although it is predominantly related to them. The Mishnah and the Talmud include, especially although not exclusively in the laws that regulate matrimony, an abundance of customs and mles on the question of adornment. When debating the economic conditions of the matrimonial contract, both works stipulate the husband’s obligation to hand over to his wife a certain quantity for her “box of cosmetics” (kuppah shel besamim).xu From a variety of other passages it is clear that it was considered women’s duty to make themselves attractive so as to give their husbands pleasure.115 During the Middle Ages, poetry, especially the secular SpanishHebrew poetry composed in al-Andalus whose authors had adopted the forms, motifs and style of Arabic poetry, reflected the customs relating to adornment and decoration.116 Although the themes used in this poetry tend to be stereotypes, in the case of adornment it is not exclusively a literary motif, as proved by the sources produced in the Jewish quarters of Christian territories, such as, for example, the ordinances referred to above, which give evidence of such practices being common.

2.3.1.1. The texts on cosmetics and the Book o f Women *s Love . During the Middle Ages, the production of texts devoted, totally or in part, to cosmetics and the adornment of the female body was certainly abundant. General medical treatises, compendia and antidotaries included in their contents information on these issues and described techniques and procedures for making perfumes and cosmetics.117 Many historians have drawn 113 Song 1,10-11; Ezek. 16,19; Rut 3,3; Judith 10,3-4; Esther 2,12, etc.; See also Michal DayagiMendels, Perfumes and Cosmetics in the Ancient World. Jerusalem: Israel Museum, 1989. 114 Ket. 6 ,4 and Ket. 66b. 115 Tosef. Ned. 7,1; Shab. 64b; MK 1,7, etc. 116 See Carmen Caballero Navas, “Women Images and Motifs in Hebrew Andalusian Poetry”, Proceedings o f the Eleventh World Congress of Jewish Studies. Division C, vol. III. Hebrew and Jewish Literature. Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 9-16. 117 See Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “Cosmetica y perfumeria en la Castilla bajomedieval”, in Luis

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on these texts - frequently catalogued as medical literature of minor interest without separating them from the idea of obligatory heterosexuality. From this perspective, this material has been evaluated only as a mere witness to the canons of beauty defined for women by the patriarchy at a certain period, and the measures that women took to fit in with them. This way of approaching the study of the genre has contributed to erasing women’s traces, to cancelling the female origin of some types of knowledge and practices which - when acknowledged - give new meaning to the care of the beauty of the female body, opening up a space of freedom, a space of love and awareness of self designed and practised by women, not for women by others.118 In the medical literature of the Latin tradition we find texts devoted to this theme in Latin and in vernacular languages. Possibly one of the most widely disseminated texts of the medieval period, and probably the first Latin text of this kind, is the treatise entitled De ornatu mulierum. An anonymous work originating in Salemo, it circulated independently in three different versions until, around the thirteenth century, it became part of the compendium of women’s medicine known in Europe as Trotula, attributed to the female physician and writer Trota of Salemo.119 This treatise, whether independently or as part of the compilation called Trotula, was frequently copied and translated into many vernacular languages.120 It may have been translated into Hebrew between 1197 and 1199 by the unknown translator of Provence to whom I have referred above on several occasions. This translator, in the prologue to his masterpiece, explains that he has translated a book called Sefer ha-seter that deals with knowledge relating to the secret parts of women and to cosmetics. Ron Barkai has identified a fragment containing the only known copy in Hebrew of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3, which, according to him, could be the Sefer ha-seter, of which the part that corresponds to the translation of De omatu has not been preserved.121

Garcia-Ballester (dir.) Historia de la ciencia y de la tecnica en la Corona de Castilla. Vol. II. Edad Media. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y Leon, 2002, pp.773-779. 118 See Rivera Garretas, “Significados”, p. 61; Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “El cabello en el hacer de las mujeres, siglos XIV-XV”, paper presented in the Conference Las mujeres y los simbolos, siglos IV-XVI. Madrid, 1997. I am grateful to Dr. Cabre for allowing me to use her unpublished work. 119 See Monica Green, “Estraendo Trota dal Trotula. Richerche su testi medievali di medicina salemitana”, Rassegna Storica Salemitana, XII, 2 (1995), pp. 31-53; eadem, “The Development of the Trotula”, Revue d ’Historie des Textes, 26 (1996), pp. 119-203; and The Trotula: a Medieval Compendium of Women’s Health. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001, especially p. 3. 120 See Monica Green, “A Handlist of Latin and Vernacular Manuscripts of the So-called Trotula Texts. Part II: the Vernacular Translations and Latin Rewritings”, Scriptorium LI (1997), num. 1, pp. 80-104. 121 See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 25 and 30.

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Some of the Latin texts dealing with cosmetics known during the late Middle Ages were attributed to authors connected with the estudia generalis. Two treatises entitled respectively De ornatu and De decoratione have been attributed to Arnold of Villanova.122 The vernacular languages were a common medium that ensured the circulation of texts of this type. In the last decade two treatises written in Catalan have been edited: Trdtula by the master Joan [de Reimbamaco], and Flos del tresor de beutat, attributed to Manuel Die*? de Calatayud.123 Recently a recipe book written in Castilian with the title Manual de mugeres en el qual se condemn muchas y diversas regeutas muy buenas, dating from the end of the fifteenth century or beginning of the sixteenth, has also been edited.124 With regard to the treatises of this genre written in Hebrew, to date only very few have been identified. However, it is not unusual for therapeutic general works to contain parts or sections on the care of the female body, which are discovered only when these works are edited. On occasion, the treatises slumber in archives camouflaged under titles that do not reveal their content or do not arouse the curiosity of historians. It must not be forgotten that, in general, historiography has shown no serious interest in what has been considered a minor genre. As a consequence of all these factors, the majority of texts devoted to this issue are discovered by chance. In my view, a systematic search would produce better results, a search for manuscripts that contained references to women or that dealt with gynaecology. A close reading of the third section of this book and a study of various treatises and recipe books in Latin and the vernacular, show that it shares most of the basic features of the literature on cosmetics. One of the most important of these is its highly practical nature and its prescriptive layout. The compiler has collected together a number of recipes and organized them a capite ad calcem, as can be seen in the description of the contents given at the beginning of this section. He does not always mention the origin of the recipes and, often, has recourse to empirical experience, following a criterion of effectiveness, to demonstrate the value of the measures advised. Using the rhetorical device of the first person, “I tried”, and phrases such as “it has been tried and tested” (an expression of non-Jewish origin, common in empirical treatises of whose rhetoric it is a part),125 the compiler seeks to give authority to the content of certain recipes whose effectiveness is guaranteed by experience.

122 Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 187-231 (edition of De ornatu)', 232-242 (edition of De decoratione). 123 Ibid., pp. 249-353 (edition of Trdtula)', and pp. 355-406 (edition Flos del tresor de beutat). 124 Alicia Martinez Crespo (ed.), Manual de mugeres en el qual se contienen muchas y diversas regeutas muy buenas. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1995. 125 See Trachtenberg, Jewish Magic, p. 115; Schrire, Hebrew Amulets, p. 14.

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Among the sources mentioned in this section of the work, those of anonymous, mainly collective, authorship occupy a prominent position. Many of these are of Arab origin: “the Ishmaelites”, “the Ishmael kings”, “the Land of Ishmael”, etc. On one occasion it is unequivocally female, “the women of the Ishmaelites”, to whom a recipe for a depilatory is attributed. This attribution is important for the explicit recognition that women are the origin of a certain type of knowledge, a recognition that is frequently avoided in written works. Among the quoted authors, the majority of the names are also Arabic such as al-Razi, Ibn Sma and al-Zahrawi, whose “Book o f Unguents ”, probably chapter 24 of al-Tasrif is cited.126 Also cited by name are Graeco-Latin and Jewish authors such as Dioscorides, Galen, Alexander, and Yishaq (Yisraeli). A Greek origin is ascribed to other anonymous authors, “the sages of Greece”, to whom certain recipes are attributed. Besides the numerous occasions when the Islamic authorship of a large part of the contents of this section is established, the great influence of Arabic cosmetics and perfumery on the techniques and methods of preparation of the products listed in the text can also be observed. This influence is also discerned in parts of the treatises written in Latin and in the vernacular to which I have referred previously.127 Among the techniques and procedures developed by the Arabs included in this section, most notable is the frequency with which distillation is used, the alembic being one of the instruments most often mentioned. In this section, various oils and balsams, prepared according to the Arabic tradition, are attributed to “the kings”, because of their quality and excellence.128 As to the content of the recipes, the preoccupations with hygiene and beauty that are to be found throughout the section are very similar to those in works written in other languages. Moreover, there exist parallels between the Book o f Women’s Love and some of these other treatises, in which advised ingredients as well as procedures are analogous. These parallels, noted in the commentary on the translation of the compilation when they are sufficiently substantial, demonstrate the common substratum, referred to on other occasions, that I attribute to living practice, which forms part of the collective experience that is often hidden behind written texts. However, in spite of the similarities, there are numerous differences of detail. According to some researchers, this could be the result of anonymous modifications introduced by

126 Sami Kalaf Hamameh and Glenn Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View o f Abulcasis alZahrawi in Moorish Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1963, pp. 41 and 75-76. Chapter 19 of this same work al-Tasrif was circulated separately in the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages as a treatise on cosmetics, see Sami Hamameh, “The First Known Independent Treatise on Cosmetology in Spain”, Bulletin o f the History o f Medicine, 39 (1965), pp. 309-325. 127 See Cabrd i Pairet, “Cosmdtica y perfumeria”, p. 774. 128 See Hamameh, “The First Known”; and Green, The Trotula, pp. 8-9.

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people who put the recipes into practice, adapting them to their preferences or to local customs, or of regional access to ingredients and questions of cost.129 Another feature common to this type of literature - which on occasions has created certain confusion in the historiography - is the tendency to masculinize the text. The compiler of the Book o f Women’s Love refers to himself in the masculine. The author of De ornatu, attributed to Trotula, also marks his gender with a masculine verbal form.130 The treatises in Catalan to which I have been referring in this section were also compiled by men, according to the manuscript copies preserved.131 However, as some historians have indicated regarding this genre - and as emerges from the content and characteristics of the Book o f Women's Love - these works, despite their masculinization, reflect women’s practices and female originality in elaborating the various kinds of knowledge required for the care of the health and beauty of the body.132

2.3.2. Women’s diseases: gynaecology and obstetrics. Latin medicine devised the care and treatment of the sanitary problems of men and of women according to sexual difference.133 In this respect, the Latin medical corpus circulating in western Europe, which paid considerable attention to the health of the female body, produced an abundant gynaecological literature, unlike that of the Arab tradition that, as some authors have noted, was principally dedicated to transmitting the traditions of antiquity.134 Regarding gynaecological literature produced and distributed in Europe during the Middle Ages, several different currents of thought were expressed in ideas about the physiology and the health of women during this long period. As I indicated in the first chapter, in the early Middle Ages the influence of two medical traditions of antiquity can be perceived. These

129 See Cabre i Pairet, “Cosmetica y perfumeria”, p. 774. 130 See Green, “The Development”, p. 139. 131 See above notes 122 and 123. 132 See Cabre i Pairet, “El cabello”. 133 See Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 169-188; Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 181. 134 See Gerrit Bos, Ibn Al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases and Their Treatment. A Critical Edition of Zad al-musafir wa-qiit al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary). London & New York: Kegan Paul International, p. 51. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten, as Monica Green states, that although “the few specialized gynaecological treatises known in Arabic all had an extremely limited circulation, much gynaecological knowledge could nevertheless be found in the relevant chapters of the large medical encyclopedias of Byzantine and Arabic origin”; see her “The De genecia Attributed to Constantine the African”, in Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, p. 305, note 22; and the 2nd Chapter of her “The Transmission of Ancient Theories of Female Physiology and Disease through the Early Middle Ages”. Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1985.

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traditions are seen in parts of the Hippocratic Corpus, especially in the translations and adaptations of Diseases o f women I and II, and the sections of the Aphorisms devoted to women and their illnesses; and in the works of Soranus of Ephesus (first century CE) through his commentators and Latin translators, especially the adaptation and translation of the Gynaikeia made by Muscio (fourth century CE), from which they eliminated to a great extent the technical vocabulary and Methodist concepts of Soranus.135 Soranus’ ascendancy was displaced, towards the end of the twelfth century, by a tradition of Salernitan origin, represented by the compendium of texts attributed to Trota or Trotula of Salemo. This compendium was translated (both as a whole and each of its three component parts individually) into the vernacular on numerous occasions.136 In it can be discerned the influence of practices and theories of the Arab tradition derived from others originating in Graeco-Roman antiquity, together with traditions developed locally in southern Italy. The earliest known translation of the work attributed to Trotula was that into Hebrew, during the years 1197-1199, when the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3, of which just one manuscript copy has been preserved, was translated.137 Recently, scholars have begun to pay attention to a group of practical compendia influenced by ideas developed at Salemo, written in Latin and the vernacular, and dedicated to the care of the health and beauty of the female body. Belonging to this genre, Montserrat Cabre has studied the Catalan treatise entitled Trdtula (different to the Italian compendium attributed to Trotula of Salemo), part of whose contents - the second section - is similar to the contents of the French treatise Des aides de la maire et de ses medicines.138 On the other hand, from the twelfth century, a misogynistic tradition arose in natural philosophy whose most representative work is the thirteenth century treatise entitled Secreta mulierum, attributed to Albertus Magnus and strongly influenced by Aristotelian concepts. In the works of this current of thought are collected types of knowledge devised by and for men - to whom they promise the secrets of women will be revealed. The texts deal with questions relating to conception, embryology, the determination of the sex of a foetus, and the nature of menstruation, which, obsessively, they define as harmful.139 This genre was 135 See Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 44-49; Green, “Female Sexuality”, pp. 142-143; eadem, The Trotula, pp. 14-17; and Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 39-53. 136 See Green, The Trotula, pp. 17-62; and eadem, “A Handlist”. 137 See Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 61-64, and 181-191 (edition and English translation). 138 See Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 252-353 (edition of the treatise “Trotula” attributed to Joan de Reimbamaco); eadem, “From a Master to a Laywoman”, pp. 384-386; and Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts: A Handlist”, in Women's Healthcare, p. 16. The relationship between these texts and the Book of Women’s Love has been already pointed out. 139 See Monica Green, “‘Traittie tout de Mesonges’. The Secres des Dames, ‘Trotula’, and the Attitudes toward Women’s Medicine in Fourteenth- and Early-Fifteenth-Century France”, in

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to appropriate the non-misogynistic gynaecological tradition associated with the group of texts attributed to Trotula. As a result of this appropriation, texts under the name of Trotula (or attributed to the woman physician of Salemo) were to become known, whose contents and orientation were similar to those of the Secreta mulierum, and, conversely, under the title of Secreta mulierum, texts in Latin or in French - were included whose therapeutic content derived from Salernitan influence.140 It seems that this same trend also occurred in Hebrew texts produced and circulating in the same context. Actually, the manuscript copy identified as the Hebrew translation of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3 appears to carry the title Sefer ha-seter (Book of the secret). In addition, and thanks to a thirteenth century treatise entitled ha-yosher, we know that a gynaecological work circulated during the Middle Ages under the title Sitrei nashim (Secrets of women), which has not, as yet, been identified. Indeed, this treatise might correspond either to a translation of the compilation attributed to Trota, or to a copy of one of the versions - Latin or French - of the Secreta mulierum.141 Nevertheless, it is possible that the author of the Sefer ha-yosher is simply using the title Secrets o f Women to label works or part of works on women’s healthcare. As I have argued in the previous chapter, this assumption is based on the fact that he attributes a book entitled Sitrei nashim to at least three different authors: his brother Jacob (perhaps Jacob ha-Qatan), to al-Razi and to Yishaq. By Yishaq he is in all probability alluding to Yishaq Yisraeli, the Jewish physician of the ninth and tenth centuries. As far as we know, Yisraeli never wrote a gynaecological work, but Latin and Hebrew traditions attribute to him his disciple Ibn al-Jazzar’s major work, Zad al-musafir. This medical encyclopaedia was translated into Latin by Constantine the African under the title Viaticum peregrinantis, and from the Latin into Hebrew in 1197-99, by the same anonymous translator who also rendered the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3. The translator explains in the prologue to his work that he rendered into Hebrew a book by Yishaq Yisraeli called Viatiq, which he entitled in Hebrew Sefer y a ’ir nativ.142 The sixth book of the Zad al-musafir is devoted to sexual diseases and dedicates numerous chapters to women’s ailments.143 Precisely there (in the chapter 13 of that sixth book, on ulcers in the utems), as

Marilynn Desmond (ed.), Christine de Pizan and the Categories o f Difference. Minneapolis, 1998, pp. 146-178 (reprint in Women's Healthcare, Essay VI); eadem, “Female Sexuality”, p. 145. 140 See Green, “‘Traittie tout de Me^onges’”, pp. 163-167. 141 See Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 4 and 32-33. 142 About this and other translations into Hebrew, either from the original Arabic and from the Latin, see Moritz Steinschneider, Die hebraischen Ubersetzungen des Mittlelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher, Berlin 1893 [repr. Graz 1956], pp. 703-704. For the English translation of the prologue, see Ron Barkai, History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 22-27. 143 See Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases; and idem, “Ibn Al-Jazzar on Women’s Diseases and their Treatment”, Medical History 37 (1993), pp. 296-312.

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well as in the Hebrew translation from the Latin, is to be found the therapeutical treatment attributed to Yishaq’s Sitrei nashim by the author of the Sefer hayosher.144 It seems thus that, at least in the case in which a Secrets o f Women is attributed to Yishaq, the author is using this title as a label, as a generic name to allude to women’s conditions. It has lost its misogynistic connotations, just as it did in some Latin and French texts. This usage is not altogether unexpected if we consider that women’s genitalia were often called “secrets” or “secret parts” {sitrei nashim or setareah in Hebrew) in literature on women’s healthcare. Therefore, the nomenclature is perfectly coherent with the double meaning that “secret” seems to have held in the Middle Ages: female genitals and sexuality, on the one hand, and what is secret, on the other. The “secret” has been interpreted by some as a male construction on which men built and sustained the medieval misogynistic tradition that considered female nature to be dangerous. According to this view, women have exploited this male fantasy to their advantage, having recourse to it when they have needed it to preserve a prerogative or tradition such as, for example, the care of women’s health that with the professionalization of medicine passed into men’s hands.145 However, another interpretation maintains that many women invest the secret with a wider meaning: women’s secret parts, and modesty as an argument for keeping them secret, becomes a strategy of resistance to the accessibility of women’s bodies by men. The secret, according to this interpretation, would preserve the “female spaces of relationship” that women have historically established.146

2.3.2.1. The Hebrew corpus on women’s healthcare. It seems that the medical literature devoted to gynaecology was much valued and widely disseminated among Jewish communities of the European Mediterranean. Ron Barkai has identified a total of fifteen treatises devoted wholly or in part to this subject, most of which were composed or translated in Christian territories of the north of the Iberian Peninsula, the south of France and Italy.147 Using his study of the major part of these texts as a basis, Barkai has suggested that the Latin adaptations of Soranus constitute the principal current of thought on which Hebrew gynaecology was based between the 144 See Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases, p. 283; and Sefer ya Hr nativ, Londres, MS British Library, Add. 18969, fol. 124r. 145 See Karma Lochrie, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Murderous Plots and Medieval Secrets”, GLQ. Journal o f Lesbian and Gay Studies, 1/4 (1995), pp. 405-417. 146 See Montserrat Cabre i Pairet and Fernando Salmdn, “Poder academico versus autoridad femenina: La Facultad de Medicina de Paris contra Jacoba Felicia (1322)”, Dynamis, 19 (1999), pp. 55-78. (reprint in Montserrat Cabre and Teresa Ortiz (eds,), Sanadoras, matronas y medicas en Europa, siglos XII-XX. Barcelona: Icaria, 200), pp. 55-75. 147 Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 2-5.

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twelfth and fifteenth centuries. According to him, although the first known translation of the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3, attributed to Trotula, was written in Hebrew, and despite some indications in other Hebrew texts that this Salernitan work (and, probably, the author) was not unknown in Jewish intellectual circles,148 nevertheless, the Hebrew literature on women’s healthcare barely noted the change which, at the end of the twelfth century, distanced the Latin medical tradition from Soranian influence, substituting it for a tradition emanating from Salemo. The known gynaecological treatises in Hebrew show, on the whole, the influence of the gynaecology of Soranus of Ephesus, and of the translation and adaptation that Muscio made of his Gynaikeia.149 However, in my view, no conclusion can be made about the medical current or currents on which Hebrew literature on women’s healthcare is based, until the results of research being undertaken on texts recently identified or waiting to be identified are published. In the last few years, the number of known texts that deal with or contain fragments on women’s conditions has increased and a systematic search in archives and libraries is likely to produce new works or fragments of works whose analysis would help to complete the picture that we now have of Hebrew medical literature devoted to women. To illustrate my conviction that the characterization of Jewish literature on women’s healthcare is an open subject on which much information remains to be found and analysed, a tentative taxonomy of texts is offered here. The list, with a brief description of each item, includes: the twelve treatises on whose content Ron Barkai has provided information, another three listed although not described by him, and some other recently identified texts. I have omitted Sitrei nashim (Secrets of women), attributed to Jacob by the author of the Sefer hayosher, because the work of which this is supposedly the title has not yet been identified. This list is limited to texts produced and/or circulated in Western Europe, especially in Italy, France, and the Iberian Peninsula. Sections devoted to women’s ailments in some major medical works have been included since, although as far as we know they did not circulate independently, it seems that they were widely acknowledged, bearing a significant influence on later works and playing an important role in the transmission and reception of ideas on female health and disease within Jewish learned circles. As for the form in which I present this list, I have largely followed the criteria established by Monica Green in her appendix “Medieval Gynaecological Texts: A Handlist”.1501 have also made use of her presentation of the twelve Hebrew texts described by Barkai, which she has included in the appendix. The criteria are: texts are identified by the author’s name, if known, 148 There is a fourteenth-century mention of a “book called Trotula”, see Barkai, ibid., p. 63. 149 Ibid., pp. 55-64. 150 Green, “Appendix: Medieval Gynaecological Texts: A Handlist”, in Women’s Healthcare.

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and by the title. Where no title is documented, the incipit is used as a title. A question mark (?) after an author’s name indicates that the attribution is not certain. This is followed by brief descriptions of the texts. Each item includes the edition [Ed.] where one exists, and any translation [Trans.] into a modem language has also been noted. I have listed manuscripts [MSS], together with incipit [Inc.] and explicit [Expl.] (both in Hebrew and in English), when they are unedited and I have personally examined either the manuscript or a microfilmed reproduction. The most recent scholarly literature is also given [Lit.]. Anonymous texts have been placed alphabetically under their titles. 1. Ha-ma ’amar be-toladah niqra ’ sod ha- ‘ibbur (TCpyn lit? Hip) rrrbira ir2Hior\ The treatise on generation called ‘Secret of conception’). Diagnosis and treatment of sterility in male and female; composed in the fourteenth century by a writer in (or from) the French town of Orange as a letter to his brother-in-law. Ed./Trans.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 212-22. Lit.: Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts: A Handlist”, in Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000, p. 14.

2. Maimonides, Liqutei Rabbenu Mosheh be-‘inyanei weset we-herayon (pnm ntn 'O’oyn nvyn nvn Maimonides’ Compilation on Menstruation and Pregnancy). Hebrew translation of gynaecological and obstetrical selections from Maimonides’s twelfth century Judaeo-Arabic writings on medicine. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 65-67 and 223; Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 19.

3. Malino ben Mosheh ben Qonsolo (?), le- ’Ishah she- ’einah yekolah le- taher ‘esmah me-ketamim (tPDTDD nmy nnob ntnrp rowy nwNb, For the woman who cannot purify herself from stains). A remedy intended to help a woman get rid of ketamim or stains. It most probably refers to the blood stains in the sheets or night-clothes, which may indicate either menstruation or an abnormal genital emission, and which are to be shown to the rabbi who will decide according to their colour and appearance; fourteenth century. MSS: Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 318/2, fol. 119; Microfilm inspection. Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts (Jerusalem) # 16300. Inc.: o^roD nmv ntro’ row rwn nml? [For the woman who sees that she cannot purify herself from stains]. Expl.: .twwip t o n\yo p y>n> nronrri .pro *m rm [And this has been tested. This has been written by the right (hand) of Malino Ben Mosheh Rabbi Qonsolo].

4. M ara’ot sheten ha-nashim (onyjn pivy H1N1D, Appearances of woman's urine). Fragment describing five different appearances of urine of healthy, sick and pregnant women. It is part of a larger treatise described in the catalogue of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts at Jerusalem as Liber M. Mauri de Urines Hebraice; fifteenth century. 85

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MSS: Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS h6b. 1116/4, fols. 332v-33r. Microfilm inspection. IMHM #15063. Inc.: Tvomn moo in m p i om iqd nidi tn o pb pivyn *jnwn .rw io n w 6 .o>\wn in\y r m io t> rm ...jrniyo wn\y Ml ‘proro [And this is for you, “Appearances of woman’s urine”. For a healthy woman: if as you see that the urine is very white and like a thin thread and has like tiny pieces of wool, you will know she is pregnant...] Expl.: rovyn twi “von t o d nim icb f rm> rm [And this is for you to keep for ever, remember and do not forget].

5. Mi-qoshi ha-ledah (rmbn *>\9lpn, On difficulties of birth). Chapter on difficult birth apparently extracted from a Hebrew medical compendium; accompanied by the 16foetus-in-utero figures from Muscio’s Gynaecia. Trans.: Barkai, “A Medieval Hebrew Treatise on Obstetrics”, Medical History, 33 (1989), pp. 96119. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 5 and 58-59; Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, pp. 20-21.

6. Natan ben Yo’el Falaqerah, Seder nashim mi-Sefer sori ha-guf (T>n n s noon u>m mo, Section on Women of the book ‘Balsam of the body’). Chapter on women of a compilation based on Arab authors. It was written in the thirteenth century, though this extant copy was produced in the fifteenth century. The author explicitly quotes Hippocrates, Galen, Ibn Sma and al-Razi, though many of the ideas discussed are reminiscent of al-Jazzar’s and alMajusl’s. The work deals with gynaecological problems: pain, abscesses and tumours in the womb, menstrual retention, uterine suffocation (due to retention of menstrual blood or semen, whose corrupted vapours ascend to the brain), and sterility. MSS: Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS h6b. 1122/6, fols. 42-46. Microfilm inspection. IMHM # 15066; London, British Library, MS Add. 19.943. Inc.: om n UNDt? t w [Decoction helpful for pain in the womb...] Expl.: qnn n s isvro o>\w t td obvw [Completed the section on women of the book ‘Balsam of the body’] Lit.: Barkai, Les infortunes de Dinah, ou la gynecologie juive au Moyen Age. Paris: Cerf, 1991. (translation into French of the Hebrew text by Michel Garel), p. 27; G. Margaliouth, Descriptive List o f the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts in the British Museum. London, 1965 [first ed. 1893], Part III, p. 76.

7. Sefer ’ahavat nashim or Sefer hanhagat ha-nashim (T£>t? in onto ranN “i£)0 ow ) n>ron, The book of women’s love or The book of the regimen of women). The text edited, translated and published in this book. 8. Sefer Dinah le-kol ‘inyan ha-rehem we-holayeha (omn yw bDb n)n 15V Dinah’s book on all that concerns the womb and its sicknesses). Translation into Judaeo-Arabic (Arabic in Hebrew characters) of Muscio’s Pessaria, probably written in Spain. Ed./Trans.: Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 97-108. Lit.: Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 29.

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9. Sefer ha- ’em ’el Galinus hu ’ ha-niqra ’ Gynias (mp)n Nin okh not? vw m , The book on the womb by Galen, which is called Gynaecia). Hebrew translation of De passionibus mulierum B, probably made between 1197 and 1199 by an anonymous translator in Provence. Ed./Trans.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological 7bc/s, pp.145-180. Lit.: Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 29.

10. Sefer ha-herayon we-ha-rehem le-’A buqrat (mptiNb omm 'pnnn Hippocrates’ book on pregnancy and the womb). A Hebrew translation (from the Arabic) of the Hippocratic On superfetation. Ed.: Mauro Zonta, “A Hebrew Translation of Hippocrates’ De superfoetatione: Historical Introduction and Critical Edition”, Aleph 3 (2003), pp. 97-143. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 53-55; Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 29.

11. Sefer ha-seter (nnt?n Book of the secret). Translated into Hebrew between 1197 and 1199 by an anonymous translator in southern France; perhaps to be identified with translation of Salernitan Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum 3. Ed./Trans.: Barkai, A History o f Hebrew Gynaecological Texts, pp. 181-91 Lit.: Green, “A Handlist of the Latin and Vernacular Manuscripts of the So-Called Trotula texts”, pp. 98-99; eadem, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 29.

12. Sefer ha-toledet (rrfrnnn not?, Book of generation). Hebrew translation of Muscio’s Gynaecia, probably made between 1197 and 1199 by an anonymous translator in southern France; it is presented as a dialogue between Dinah and her father Jacob. Ed./Trans.: Barkai and Garel, Les infortunes de Dinah. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 31-33, revised dating of the text; Monica Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, pp. 29-30.

13. Sefer ya ’ir nativ. Ha-sha (ar ha-shishi. (>\jwn "IVV9D .mm w not?, Book of the shining road. Sixth book). Sixth book of the Hebrew translation of Constantine the African’s medical encyclopaedia Viaticum peregrinantis. This was the Latin version of the Zad al-musafir, written by the Arabic author Ibn alJazzar. The Sefer y a ’ir nativ is the first of the two Hebrew translations made from the Latin version and was accomplished between 1197-99 in Provence. It was also translated into Hebrew from the original Arabic by Moshe ibn Tibbon in 1254. The large number of manuscripts preserved shows that it was a very popular work. The sixth book, dealing especially with sexual diseases, devotes eight of its twenty chapters to illnesses of male genitalia, and nine to women’s conditions. Those include diagnosis, aetiology and therapeutics of menstrual problems, displacement and suffocation of the womb, uterine tumours, pregnancy and childbirth. Its contents were profusely used in other Hebrew 87

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medical works, where sometimes it was quoted explicitly, especially attributed to Yishaq (Yisraeli). MSS: London, British Library, Add. 18969/1, fols. 114v-130r. As far as we know, this first translation has been preserved in five copies, the second translation from the Latin in one, and ibn Tibbon’s translation from Arabic in seven copies. Lit.: On the translations into Hebrew, both from Arabic and Latin, see Steinschneider, Die hebraischen Ubersetzungen, pp. 703-704; on the whole manuscript quoted see G. Margaliouth, Descriptive List o f the Hebrew and Samaritan Manuscripts, Part III, Item 1025; and on the section on women’s diseases see Carmen Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres: Transmision y reception de nociones sobre salud femenina en la production textual hebrea durante la Edad Media”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 52 (2003), pp. 133-160, on 138-139, and 141-143. Inc.: [...] ond np v m .did nbtrid .nmnn [...] 5>\ynn oiy’DD *iv\yn [The sixth book. On the lack of sexual intercourse [...] On menstruation; On the profusion of (menstrual) blood; On uterine suffocation [...]. Exp.: >ya\yn iy\yn .ri»yr> man \ya>vya>Nn mrvvyan 5m [All hot unguents and [plasters] are beneficial. The Seventh Book].

14. Sefer ye sirat ha- ‘ubar we-hanhagat ha-harot we-ha-noladim ( rrpm not? onbnrn nnnn mrum nmyn, Book on the Creation of the foetus and the Treatment o f Pregnant Women and Babies). Hebrew translation of Arib ibn Sa’id’s tenth century work. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 43 and 64; Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 30.

15. Sh a far ha-nashim (o'TOn nyvy, Chapter on Women). Fifteenth or sixteenth century manuscript copy of a short treatise on the aetiology and therapeutics of breast diseases, and pain and other ailments of the womb. It also deals with the promotion of conception, abortion and the expulsion of a dead foetus. It has been composed drawing from diverse sources, among them the Seferya’ir nativ and the Sefer ha-yosher. Ed./Trans.: Carmen Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres”, pp. 147-157. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 5.

16. Sha far be-sibat (aqarut ha-nashim (o*>vwn nnpy rata nyv?, Chapter on the cause of sterility of women). A fourteenth or fifteenth century fragment on the causes of sterility; it includes different ways of discovering who is the sterile one of a couple, and mentions a (magic) ligature as a cause of barrenness. The author uses notions such as: a woman who has given birth to many children is healthier than a barren woman; the face of a pregnant woman is nicer if she carries a boy; changes in the right side of the mother’s body mean she is carrying a boy, on the left side it means it is a girl. Gordo, probably Bernard of Gordon is quoted on one occasion. The copyist or translator includes in the last folio an excerpt from another source. MSS: Berlin 71.5 (MS Or. Qu. 544), fols. 54r-56v. Microfilm inspection. IMHM # 1702 Inc.: o>vwn rmpy nwDTi o’van nnpy ra m ivvy [Chapter on the cause of sterility of women and on the treatment for sterility of women]

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Expl.: ...t i n “iddo .nm irm *0 [I did not find more than this. From another book...] Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 5.

17. Sheshet Benveniste, Terufot le-herayon ha-niqra’ Magen ha-rosh (vmn pD Hp)T) ymnb morin, Medicaments for Pregnancy, called ‘The head’s shield’). Remedies for various gynaecological and obstetrical conditions, composed by Sheshet, head of the Jewish community of Barcelona in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Ed./Trans.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 192-211. Lit.: Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 30.

18. Tahalu’ei nashim min Sefer ha-yosher (nwr>n not? yo o>vjo ’Nibnn, Women’s diseases from the ‘Book of Perfection’). Well-organized, comprehensive section on women’s diseases, that contains diagnosis, aetiology and treatment of conditions such as retention and excess of menstrual blood, prolapse and displacement of the womb, apostemas and cancer in the womb, uterine suffocation, ailments of the pregnant woman, difficult childbirth, itching in the genitalia, barrenness (male and female), contraception and abortion, etc. The whole book was written in the thirteenth century by an unknown author in Provence drawing from diverse sources such as the Sefer y a 'ir nativ and the Sefer ha-seter. MSS: Oxford, Bodleian, MS Oppenheim 180 (cat. 2134), fols. 39v-51v. There are three more manuscripts that I have not read: Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS 1122, 2; Hamburg, MS 307 (Frgm.); and Vienna, Cat. 1,170. Inc.: w b n m v m xb T^Nnb y ns n>m£J nvyNb ipP3>vo [When women‘s flowers stop; here we need to go to some length on women’s diseases] Exc.: imN vtpd on o [om n pmb nvyp mn’b an p [due to excess of humours, it is difficult to dry (fistulae on the breasts) although we know the (remedy)]. Lit. : On the whole manuscript quoted, see Nebauer, Catalogue o f the Hebrew Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886; and Malachi Beit-Arie (dir.), Supplement of Addenda and Corrigenda to Vol. I o f Nebauer’s Catalogue, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. For this and the other manuscript copies, see M. Steinschneider, Die hebraischen Ubersetzungen, p. 842.

19. Terufot le-ishah she-tiqanes le-herayon (yrnn!? topnvy nmb morin Medicaments for a woman to get pregnant). An eleven sentence fragment with a recipe to facilitate pregnancy and the description of a method for learning if the woman will conceive. Manuscript from 1410. MSS: Cambridge, University Library, MS 33,4, fol. 11 lv. Microfilm inspection. IMHM # 15870. Inc.: *pnyrt om n n\yoi min\y NrobD nbn np [Take milk of black female dog and spread with it the orifice of the womb; you will impregnate your partner] Exp.: no fp y^v ionrp u>mn p i n>b*n bw *p >ranN ixn vmnb m (I wanted to reveal you this for I love you; perhaps you will succeed if heavens will show compassion and agree to grant you this]

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20. Vidal de Bourian, Merqahat mo ‘il le-qabel ha-herayon be-shem ha-rofe ’ Me. Vidal Debourian 0n>tq im NDnn own pnnn 'zip? tonD nnpTD, Electuary useful for Conception, attributed to the physician Master Vidal de Bourian). Collection of four Hebrew remedies to promote fertility, attributed to a fourteenth century physician in Arles. Lit.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, p. 82; Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 36.

21. Zikron ha-holayim ha-howim be-klei ha-herayon (omnn otoinn 'jrot ymnn 'ton, A record of the diseases occurring in the genital members). Hebrew text in two parts, one on diseases of the male organs, one on those of the female; probably written in Christian Spain in the latter half of twelfth century or early thirteenth. Ed./Trans.: Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 109-144. Lit.: Green, “Medieval Gynaecological Texts”, p. 36.

Of the twenty-one texts listed, four (5, 8, 9 and 12) - as Ron Barkai has shown - fall into the category of “Soranian works”. Three are translations from Arabic texts (2, 13 and 14) - if we consider Maimonides as an “Arab” author since he produced his scientific work in Arabic -, although one was made from the Latin version. The only translation of a Hippocratic text was also made from Arabic (10). There are six other texts which rely heavily on GraecoArabic medicine (1, 6, 15, 16, 18 y 21), that is, physiological and therapeutic ideas developed by Arab authors, such as Ibn al-Jazzar and al-MajusI, from the medical literature of the Hippocratic Corpus and Galen, which often arrived at the Hebrew production through the Latin translations. There is also the translation of Liber sinthomatibus mulierum 5(11), one of the three treatises of the Trotula ensemble. The text of this book (7) is a compilation with connections to both Graeco-Arabic medicine and a tradition of medical literature on women related to texts produced in Salemo. There is also a short therapeutic treatise (17), based at times upon magic, which seems to include mainly actual practice and local customs, whose effectiveness is often guaranteed by (female) empirical experience. Finally, there are four more texts (3, 4, 19 and 20), of different lengths and characteristics, which need further analysis before any definite conclusions can be reached. In short, most of these texts share, though in different measures, the influence of Galen’s theories such as his humoral pathology and the centrality of abnormal menstruation in women’s disease - adapted in many cases by Arab authors and afterwards translated into Latin. Some also share the use of the word “flowers” to signify “menstruation”, a term associated with the Trotula tradition and commonly used in vernacular languages during the Middle Ages which carried a positive connotation of the menses.

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2.3.2.2. Women’s health and the diseases of genital organs in the Book o f Women }s Love. The Book o f Women’s Love devotes a long part of its third section to the conditions and diseases of the female genital organs, and offers a series of therapeutic measures by means of which the health of the female body can be re-established and maintained. This part, as I have indicated with regard to the rest of the work, has an eminently prescriptive character, although, for the first and only time in the book, the compiler includes some short theoretical notions on the causes, symptoms and the possible consequences of the surplus or the retention of menstrual blood. The remedies and therapeutic measures advised in this part are not very different from those found in other Hebrew texts and in Latin gynaecological literature or that written in the vernacular. The sources cited throughout this section refer constantly to the tradition of Graeco-Arabic medicine, which constitutes the theoretic base from which the Latin corpus of medical literature is created and sustained. The authorship of recipes is attributed to Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Dioscorides, Galen, Alexander, Ibn Sma, al-Razi, al-Zahrawi, and to the Hebrew work known as Sefer Hanisyonot or The Book o f Medical Experiences (attributed elsewhere to Abraham ibn Ezra), although on numerous occasions the sources of the recipes are not mentioned. At times authorship is attributed in an anonymous, collective form - as in other sections of the book to the Greek sages and to the Ishmaelites and, on one occasion, the sex of an anonymous woman contributor is marked clearly with the feminine gender.151 In the order that the compiler has given to the book, the gynaecological contents have been placed immediately after the passages devoted to cosmetics, to which they have been linked, since to a group of remedies for beautifying the breasts and making them firm again follows a number of recipes on how to make milk flow, increase its quantity, and how to halt it. This is succeeded by some recipes based on divinatory magic whose aim is to discover what a woman, and a man too, has done in secret and which another person, supposedly the partner or lover, wishes to know. Then, continuing with the internal logic of the work (a logic that comprehends the different aspects of the female body as one whole), the compiler links the possibility assumed by these magic recipes that they can discover an adulterous affair (or perhaps some other forbidden sexual relationship) with a variety of ways of determining if a woman is a virgin, followed in turn by methods of restoring virginity. Some of the methods proposed for investigating the virginity of women are also presented as a valid form of determining if a woman can or cannot conceive.

151 See above the section devoted to the study of the sources in chapter I, especially pp. 23-26 and 38-40.

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Next, the compiler devotes a section of considerable length to remedies that enable a woman to become pregnant. He does not introduce any theoretical idea on generation with the recipes, but simply recommends therapeutic methods such as baths, dry baths, fumigation, syrups, electuaries, pessaries, poultices, etc. However, on some occasions, when he indicates the effect or the properties of a specific remedy, the compiler gives a glimpse of the conditions that prevent conception and, with them, the medical tradition to which he subscribes. For example, when he states that certain therapeutic measures clean the humidity or the pernicious humours of the uterus that prevent conception, he reveals a diagnosis based on the Galenic system of the humours and qualities. This system, elaborated by Hippocratic writers and adopted and re­ elaborated by Galen, presupposes the existence of the four bodily humours and four aligned qualities (moist, dry, warm and cold), which if unbalanced produce illness. Among many other Galenic theories, Arabic medicine adopted this idea of the imbalance of the humours and the qualities as an explanation for disease.152 On only one occasion the book proposes a recipe for selecting the sex of a foetus. This measure explicitly states that the sex of the child can be determined by the “sex” of a plant (a female or male coriola), whose seeds should be eaten, and is based on the principle of analogy. Also in only one instance it is suggested that the therapeutic remedy to facilitate conception has to be taken by both parties, the man and the woman. Some of the therapeutic measures proposed have to be administered in connection with the immersion, or ritual bath, by which Jewish women regain the ritual purity that they lose during and after menstruation, after childbirth, and as a result of other abnormal emissions.153 This timing is in perfect harmony with the opinion held by some sages who believed that the time of conception was near immersion, that is to say, seven (clean) days after menstruation has stopped, a moment which, in fact, is quite close to ovulation for those women with a normal cycle.154 The Laws of impurity (Lev. 11-15) define the state of ritual impurity for men and women, listing the factors that led to it. In the Bible, impurity is understood solely in terms of ritual, implying that an impure person or object cannot be in contact with the Temple. Niddah is the Hebrew term that signifies the status of the ritually impure woman, impurity caused by genital discharge, 152 See Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, pp. 48-49; Green, “The Transmission”, chapter II, passim; and Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar, p. 27. 153 See Biale, Women and Jewish Law, pp. 147-174; Raphael Posner, “Ablution”, Encyclopaedia Judaica, vol. II, pp. 81-86; Tirzah Meacham (leBeit Yoreh), “An Abbreviated History of the Development of the Jewish Menstrual Laws”, in Rahel Wasserfall (ed.), Women and Water. Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law. Hanover and London: Brandeis University Press, 1999, pp. 23-39. 154 See Tirzah Meacham, “An Abbreviated History”, p. 31; and Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law, p. 148.

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either menstrual blood or abnormal bleeding. Therefore, the Laws of niddah are the norms that regulate the lives of menstruating women. After the destruction of the Temple, the Laws of niddah preserved its relevance, although they were transformed and transferred to the sphere of sexual relations. Much has been written and discussed about this issue155 and, although this is not the place to elaborate upon it, it is nevertheless relevant to this work to point out that the Laws of niddah compel women to pay particular attention to the care and hygiene of their bodies. That is, its requirements, despite the restrictions, place control over their own bodies in the hands of women themselves, so that even the resumption of sexual relations interrupted by menstruation depends on the interest and diligence of women in performing the immersion.156 One of the recipes for facilitating conception recommends that a poultice be applied over the kidneys. This reflects a theory developed by ancient physiology to explain the origin of sperm (encephalogenesis); the semen produced in the brain passes through the kidneys on its way to the genital organs.157 In the sections of the compilation dedicated to magic and to sexuality, a number of recipes, as noted in the relevant chapter, are included that recommend rubbing the lumbar region so as to stimulate sexual arousal. By making a connection between sexual arousal and the application over the kidneys of a therapeutic measure to induce pregnancy, there is an implicit recognition of the female emission of semen. The existence of female semen and its generative properties was the subject of wide-ranging, polemical debates among natural philosophers during the Middle Ages. According to the tradition begun in the Hippocratic texts and adopted and re-elaborated by Galen, female semen is essential for conception, since the sperm of both the man and the woman is necessary for the formation of the embryo.158 For the emission of female semen (and that of the male) pleasure is a necessary requirement, with all the implications that this has for women’s sexuality.159

155 See above note 152; and Yedidya Dinary, “The Impurity Customs of the Menstruate Woman: Sources and Development”, Tarbiz, 49 (1980), pp. 302-324 [Hebrew]; Judith Baskin, “Women and Ritual Immersion in Medieval Ashkenaz: The Sexual Politics of Piety”, in Lawrence Fine (ed.), Judaism in Practice: From the Middle Ages through the Early Modern Period. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2001, pp. 131-142; Mordechai Friedman, “Menstrual Impurity and Sectarianism in the Writings of the Geonim and of Moses Maimonides and his Son Abraham according to the Documents from the Cairo Genizah”, in Arthur Hyman (ed.), Maimonidean Studies. New York: Yesiva U.P. 1, 1990, pp. 1-21 [Hebrew]. 156 See Biale, Women and Jewish Law, p. 167. 157 See Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, p. 61; Enrique Montero Cartelle, Constantini Liber de coitu, p. 81. 158 Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar, pp. 47-48; Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 117-165; and Helen King, Hippocrates’ Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece. London: Routledge, 1998, pp. 18, 134 and 232-233. 159 See Cadden, ibid.; Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, pp. 52-70.

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In a group of remedies for alleviating uterine suffocation, another, this time explicit, acknowledgement is made of the existence of female semen. The compiler states that when a woman has a “retention”, she requires a remedy that consists of holding a foul-smelling substance to, presumably, the mouth or nasal passages (although this is not expressed), while aromatic substances should be applied to the genitals at the same time as fragrant oils are inserted in the uterus. The result is that the retained semen will be drawn down. This procedure is reminiscent of Galen’s anecdote in De locis affectis in which a widow who suffered from uterine suffocation was cured when she expelled a great quantity of turbid semen after the application of remedies that made the uterus contract.160 The medical theory of the existence of female semen was very prevalent in the Middle Ages in Western Europe as a result of the wide circulation of certain medical works that included it. Among these were De mulierum affectibus, the Gynaecia of Muscio (who had introduced the idea when he translated Soranus’ work) and the Latin translation of the Zad almusafir of Ibn al-Jazzar, known as Viaticum. According to this tradition, uterine suffocation was caused by a problem of continence, which was solved by the expulsion of the retained semen (or menstrual blood).161 The group of recipes that follows is devoted to remedying the “displacement” of the uterus. Although the text does not explicitly set out the cause of this, the remedies to alleviate it and to return the matrix to its place indicate that the “movement” of the womb is the origin of the complaint. The Hippocratic Corpus bestowed on the utems the capacity of movement, which could seriously affect the health of the woman,162 and, although later authors rejected this idea as mistaken, they nevertheless accepted, at least in part, the therapy proposed by the Hippocratic writers. This was the case with Galen, who maintained that the womb was united to the organs that surround it by “fibrous and thin connexions”, and later with al-Majusi, who despite including in his work (whose Latin translation, known as Pantegni, had great influence in the West)163 Galen’s anatomical description of the uterus, paradoxically showed at the same time the influence of Hippocratic ideas by suggesting that the womb 160 Cf. De locis affectis, in Kuhn, C.G., Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, 20 vols. Leipzig, 1821-1833 (reprint Hildesheim, 1967), vol. 8, p. 417. See Green, “The Transmission”, pp. 51 y 106; Helen King, Hippocrates ’ Woman, p. 18; and Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar, pp. 47. 161 Ibid. 162 See Jacquart and Thomasset, Sexuality and Medicine, pp. 173-177; Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 15 and 19; and Helen King, Hippocrates ’ Woman, p. 36 and passim. 163 It was translated from Latin into Hebrew between 1197 and 1199 in the south of France by the same translator who translated the Viaticum and other works commented upon in this book. See Barkai, A History of Jewish Gynaecological Texts, pp. 24 and 29. With regard to other translations of al-Majusi’s work from Arabic into Hebrew and Judaeo-Arabic see Barkai, “The Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew Versions of the Kitab kamil as-sina”, in Charles Burnett and Danielle Jacquart (eds.), Constantine the African and ‘All ibn a l-’Abbas al-Magiisl The “Pantegni” and Related Texts. Leiden: Brill, 1994, pp. 57-70.

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has life and can move.164 Precisely those recipes recommended in this compilation for the “return of the womb to its place” are based on the odoriferous therapy, and combine the use of unpleasant smells for the genitals with that of hand-held aromatic substances (probably for inhalation through the mouth and nose), reversing the treatment used to alleviate uterine suffocation, which required aromatic substances in the genital area to draw the uterus (or the semen) down. Both therapies assume that there is a passage communicating the uterus with the mouth or nose.165 Soranus of Ephesus also advised the application of sweet-smelling substances to the nose for the treatment of a prolapsed uterus, although he believed that this had a relaxing effect.166 Other therapeutic procedures suggested by the compiler to alleviate suffocation and return the womb to its place include the application of cupping glasses, ointments, poultices and fumigations, and the oral administration of potions. As we have seen, the book explains these dysfunctions of the uterus through two different interpretations: its movement, and the retention of semen. Yet apparently no contradiction emerges. This same tension between two conflicting theories on uterine suffocation is also apparent, as Monica Green has shown, in the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum}61 Among the complaints of the matrix, the text mentions abscesses and hardness of the womb. In fact, an abscess is considered by the compiler to be one of the causes of menstrual retention. The parts of the compilation devoted to retention and to excessive menstrual flow are those which share great similarities and parallels with the Catalan treatise entitled Trdtula and the French Des aides de la maire et de ses medicines. Both parts begin by listing the causes that produce this dysfunction and suggest appropriate remedies thought out in accordance with the proper proportional balance between the qualities, which aim to re-establish a lost balance. The procedures proposed are based on the therapeutic principle contraria contrariis curantur, and recommend medical substances whose qualities are contrary to the cause of the ailment. Apart from age, which the compiler mentions first, the causes of menstrual retention are weakness of nature, an imbalance of the humours and qualities, abscesses, and psychological factors such as fear and anger.168 The

164 See Green, “The Transmission”, pp. 47-50 and 114. 165 This idea was suggested in the Hippocratic corpus and adopted by Galen. See De metodo medendi ad glaucomem in Kuhn, Claudii Galeni opera omnia XI, p. 54. 166 See Helen King, Hippocrates' Woman, p. 224; and Monica Green, The Trotula, p. 23, note 102. 167 See Monica Green, The Trotula, p. 26. 168 Ibn al-Jazzar, in the chapter 9 of the sixth book of his Zad al-musafir enumerates as factors of menstrual retention continuous sorrow, anxiety, or similar psychological affections, such as anger or fear. See Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar, p. 41, and 263 (English translation). Also the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum lists “ira uel motu uel metu” as causes for the retention of menses. See Green, The Trotula, p. 74.

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causes of heavy and/or prolonged menstruation were believed to be almost the same. Indications of some of these conditions could be observed in the urine of the sick woman. The text shows a particular preoccupation with women’s health, which manifests itself through therapeutic measures. In general, menstrual blood is not considered to be harmful, and the term most used for it - alternating with other terms of Hebrew usage - is “flowers” (women’s flowers), a metaphor from the Salernitan tradition originating in the Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum. This metaphor consists in the comparison between a woman and a tree, and uses the idea that just as a tree cannot produce fruit unless it first produces flowers, so a woman cannot conceive without having started to menstruate.169 It seems that “flowers” was a common vernacular term to designate the menses in most of the medieval western European languages, including Hebrew.170 On only one occasion in this work is menstrual blood considered to be a harmful substance. A recipe for halting the menstrual flow recommends that a piece of wool be inserted in the uterus so that it can soak up the blood, which will “not cause harm in any other place”. This negative attitude towards menstruation is of very ancient origin. During classical antiquity, Aristotle put forward the theory that a menstruating woman will cloud a mirror and Pliny wrote about the damaging effects of menstruation on the world. Later, Isidore of Seville used Pliny’s ideas on menstruation and developed them further. In the Middle Ages these would become commonplace in natural philosophy and misogynistic medical literature.171 This view may accord with the Hebrew tradition that identifies menstruation with a form of ritual impurity (Lev. 15:18), which we have briefly discussed above. During the Middle Ages, Jewish sages adopted classical theories, adding them to their own prejudices. This was the case with the kabbalist and Chief Rabbi of Barcelona, Nahmanides, who, basing himself on “the philosophers” and on the sages of the Talmud, went so far as to state that even a word spoken by a menstruating woman was dirty (Commentary on Gen. 31:35).172 However, and notwithstanding the negative connotations with which some sages seem to have regarded menstruation in medieval times, and the restrictions imposed on menstruating women, I do not think that medieval Jewish women had, necessarily, a detrimental view of it. Taking into account 169 “que uulgus appellat flores, quia sicut arbores non afferunt sine floribus fructus, sic mulieres sine suis floribus sue conceptionis officio defraudantur”. See Green, The Trotula, p. 72. 170 Ibid., p. 21. 171 See Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference, pp. 40-41 y 49; Fernando Salmon and Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “Fascinating Women: the Evil Eye in Medical Scholasticism”, in Roger French, Jon Arrizabalaga, Andrew Cunningham and Luis Garcia-Ballester (eds.), Medicine from the Black Death to the French Disease. Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998, pp. 53-84; Buckley and Gottlieb (eds.), Blood Magic. 172 See Biale, Women and Jewish Law, pp. 147-174, especially 171.

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the therapeutic content of the recipes in this compendium, it seems to me that the obligation that the Laws of niddah imposed on a woman to control her body defined her relationship with it and placed its hygiene and care in her hands. Among the remedies that the compiler advises to induce the flow of the retained menses are some recipes whose effect is to “expel a (dead) foetus”. This might indicate in some instances - as some historians have suggested - the use of emmenagogues or substances that provoke menstruation, so as to cause an abortion.173 Obviously, that does not mean that the purpose of all, or even a large part, of the recipes of this type is necessarily to induce “undercover” abortions. In any case, the compilation also devotes a large part of its recipes to contraceptive and abortive measures; measures, and techniques, which were not utterly unknown in medieval medical texts. According to Jewish Law, women are explicitly exempt from the obligation to procreate, while for men it is mandatory. This exemption opens the way for the possible use of contraceptives, a use discussed by the religious authorities in an effort to establish cases and circumstances when it could be legally permissible.174 The Talmud (Yebamot 65b) includes the story of Judith, the wife of Rabbi Hiyyah, who drank a “sterilizing potion” after a difficult birth. Judith herself asked if it was obligatory for women to procreate the race. The answer, that it was not, carried with it the implicit permission to avoid becoming pregnant. It is reasonable to think that before this interpretation of the Law was made there existed among women knowledge and practices for controlling fertility, because when Judith received “permission” to use a contraceptive she knew what to take, and she must have learned this from someone.175 Our interest lies not in the effectiveness of the practices but in the fact that they were carried out, before and during their written transmission, as has been suggested above with regard to magical practices. Contraception is extensively discussed in the Talmud and by later commentators. A passage repeated three times in the Talmud sets out the circumstances under which a woman can take a contraceptive measure, which consists in inserting in the vagina something like a cotton pessary, to block the cervix or absorb the semen, and prevent pregnancy. The use of this pessary is permitted to minors, pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding.176 During the Middle Ages, the commentators frequently debated if this should be used before or after coitus. In this compilation the contraceptive procedures recommended are largely amulets and other measures of a magic character, which have been discussed at greater length in the section dedicated to the study of magic in the compendium. 173 See Riddle, E ve’s Herbs, p. 26. 174 See Biale, Women and Jewish Law, pp. 198-218. 175 See Riddle, Contraception and Abortion, p. 61. 176 See Rachel Biale, Women and Jewish Law, p. 203

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Regarding abortion, the passage in Exodus 21 - which indicates that in biblical Law the foetus has the status of an object, not of a person - has been interpreted in such a way as to allow Jewish Law to accept an act of this kind within a legal framework. The Halakhah discusses the circumstances under which it is permitted, and reaches the consensus that it can be allowed when the life of the mother is threatened. However, in some passages in the Talmud where the foetus is considered to be a potential human being, abortion is prohibited.177 Some recipes in the compilation indicate that their purpose is to abort the foetus. In some it is specified that the effect will be to “expel the dead foetus”. The methods recommended here consist of potions, pessaries, fumigations, poultices, etc. One of the most notable events in the life of a woman, with regard to health, is childbirth. This subject, included in treatises or in parts of treatises, appears frequently in Jewish medical and gynaecological literature.178 The compiler of the Book o f Women’s Love devotes a part of the work to the difficulties of childbirth. Because of the practical nature of this section, he does not provide a typological study of childbirth according to the complications that can occur, but advises measures that will hasten it or alleviate the suffering caused by a difficult birth. A large number of the remedies are based upon magic, and they have been already discussed. To conclude this chapter, let us return to the words with which the compiler introduced this third, long section: “And now we are going to speak about matters relating to [women], with God’s help”. According to the diversity o f issues comprised in it and to how they have been assembled and ordered, this phrase - also conveyed in some other works - 179 expresses the all-embracing view of the compiler regarding women’s healthcare, to which he offers multiple ways of approach. Although organizing texts’ contents a capite ad pedem is a feature common to medieval medical literature, the Book o f Women’s Love does not make a distinction between its cosmetic, gynaecological and obstetrical remedies. On the contrary, it seems to regard them and, therefore, the care of the female body, as a whole, a care whose aim is to beautify it and maintain its health.

177 Ibid., pp. 219-238. 178 See Ron Barkai, “A Medieval Hebrew Treatise on Obstetrics”. 179 For example, the Sha ‘ar ha-nashim. See Carmen Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres”, p. 144.

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Part Two: Edition and Translation

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The manuscript

MS Florence, Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Pluteo 44.22/7. Fols. 94r94v; 66r-80v; 54r-58r. Microfilm number 17835, at the Institute for Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem. This manuscript is the only known copy of the Sefer ’ahavat nashim. It is all written by the same hand, in a late fifteenth century Sephardic semi­ cursive script. The copyist is unidentified; he most likely worked in Catalonia or Provence. Title: ow ) rnnN not? or romn (Book o f Women’s Love or Book o f Regimen o f Women). Incipit: ranN not? >nriN ovwn Norv n o rm not? on. The manuscript has 22 lines per page (except for fols. 1 to 13, which have 21 lines, and the folios that contain tables). It was bound in 1571, in red leather, when the Medicis’ private library was opened to the public. The quires were bound in the wrong order, the main consequence of this mistake being an alteration in the internal order of some of the treatises. The numbering of the folios, on the top left of the rectos following the direction of Hebrew writing, was added some time after the codex was bound. The codex was described, apparently for the first time, in 1757 by Antonio Bisconio in the Catalogus Bibliothecae Ehraicae Graecae Florentinae sive Bibliothecae Mediceo-Laurentianae, II. However, most of the descriptions in that catalogue are based on the hand­ written catalogue of Montfaucon, which Bisconio used. Probably Montfaucon is the author of the Latin notes written in some of the margins of the manuscript, which indicate the correct order of the quires. The notes appear as follows: • • • •

Fol. 94v, bottom: sequitur in p. 66. Fol. 66r, left top: Initium habetur in p. 94 ad calcem. Fol. 80v, bottom: sequitur in p. 54. Fol. 54r, left top: antecedentia desinunt in p. 80b et initium habent in p. 67b in fine.

The Book o f Women ’s Love

There are catchwords in the margin of the bottom left of the verso of some folios: fols. 94, 66-72, 79-80 and 54-56. The first word of each treatise is written in square script and is larger than the rest. Fols. 57v and 58r contain magic squares. Fol. 57v has two magic squares: the first, between lines 17 and 18, is a rectangular square divided into two rows and three columns; the second one, at the end of the text, is composed of three rows and three columns. Fol. 58r begins with a table of three rows and three columns, surrounded by Biblical verses. The codex bears the title rp\yyD nbnp nor? {Booko f Practical Kabbalah), and contains eight treatises: I.

Fols. 1-1 lr: Kabbalistic commentaries about the use of the eighteen blessings recited in daily prayers. II. Fol. 11 v: Table of seven numbers on seven plants. III. Fols. 38v, 13r-26v: Anonymous medical treatise,which contains several remedies for different conditions. IV. Fols. 58r-65, 39r-53v, 27r-28v: Treatise on the virtues of different oils. V. Fols. 28v-34v: Questions and answers on natural philosophy. VI. Fols. 35-38v: Treatise on the human body and its composition of the four elements, humours, bones and nerves. VII. Fols. 94r-94v, 66r-80v, 54r-58r: Book o f Women’s Love. VIII. Fols. 81r-94r: Sefer ha-segulot, therapeutic treatise in ten parts by Rahman son of Isaac.

On the edition and translation. From the standpoint of standard Hebrew grammar, the number of grammatical and syntactic irregularities of the surviving manuscript is striking. However, according to the internal logic of the text, they cannot be considered simply as mistakes but as a consequence of Hebrew usage at the end of the Middle Ages (see “linguistic analysis” on Chapter I, section 1.2). Since I consider the grammatical “deviations” of the manuscript as features of the Hebrew in which many scientific works in the later medieval period were written, I have decided not to correct them in the edition. By the same token, I have not homogenised the spelling of the words transliterated from other languages, most of which are pharmacological and medical terms. In my view, these transliterations reflect, on the one hand, vernacular usage, since vernacular languages have multiple spellings for many of them; and, on the other, the phonetic correspondence between Hebrew and the Romance languages as they were spoken or pronounced. I have corrected 102

Edition and translation

only obvious scribal errors that, in my view, do not correspond with the contemporary Hebrew usage. These errors have been indicated in the footnotes to the edition. Punctuation and division of paragraphs are editorial. Most of the manuscript abbreviations have been expanded without comments, except for numerals, some well-known and frequently used acronyms, and some units of measure. These units are: “drachm”, always represented in the Hebrew text as which could correspond indiscriminately to o m i (dirham) or cmiEmi (drachmas); and “pound”, which I have let stand as an abbreviation only when it has been represented in the text as ’nvrt?, in order to note the masculine gender. With regard to the English translation, I have corrected the grammatical irregularities for the sake of clarity, since the inconsistency in the use of grammatical gender and verbal persons is often contradictory. Nevertheless, I have not indicated or called attention to all of these grammatical disagreements in the notes in order to lighten the burden upon the reader. I have, however, discussed them extensively in the linguistic analysis. I have placed the notes at the end of the translation as a commentary in order to alleviate the density of the presentation. I have made an attempt to avoid historical anachronisms, favouring the use of outdated words rather than words of habitual use in modem English. For example, I have preferred “pessary” to “suppository” and “poultice” to “plaster”. For Biblical quotations I have used the New English Bible, Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, 1970. I have used italics to indicate unidentified materia medica and other medical terms, as well as those that have no adequate correspondence in English, such as compound substances. I normally indicate in the notes to the commentary the possible provenance of the transliterated words, using the term “Romance” when the linguistic homogeneity makes the differentiation of Romanic languages impossible. For transliteration from Hebrew, I have doubled consonants to indicate dagesh, although I have used v for fricative bet; besides I have used h for het, s for sade, t for tet, k for fcaf, sh for shin, s for sin (especially to indicate plurals in Romance), ’a for ’aleph and ‘a for ‘ayin. I have not indicated long vowels, unless the word contains vowels in the original. I have not transliterated names and terms that have been integrated into English, for example, Nahmanides.

103

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Abbreviations and SIGLA

[] [...] // 0 (fol.)

editorial additions of words or letters lack of a word; hiatus interlinear additions in the manuscript explanatory remarks beginning of a folio in the original manuscript, followed by the number and by r for recto, and v for verso.

Ar. (Med.) Lat. (O.) Cat. (O.) Fr. (O.) Sp. Occ. Rom.

Arabic (Middle) Latin (Old) Catalan (Old) French (Old) Spanish Occitan Romance

Corriente

Corriente, Federico, Diccionario arabe-espanol. Madrid, 1977. Corominas, Joan and Pascual, J.A., Diccionario crltico etimologico castellano e hispanico. 6 vols. Madrid, 1996 (4th ed.). Alcover, Antoni M. and Moll, Francesc, Diccionari catala—Valencia—balear, 10 vols. Palma de Mallorca: Editorial Moll, 1968 (2nd edition). Herrera, Maria Teresa, Diccionario espanol de textos medicos antiguos. 2 vols. Madrid: Arco Libros S.L., 1996. Font Quer, Pio, Plantas medicinales. El Dioscorides renovado. Barcelona, 1995 (15th ed.) Hunt, Tony, Plant Names o f Medieval England. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 1989. Bernard of Gordon, Lilio de medicina. Un manual basico de medicina medieval: Edicion critica de

DCECH

DCVB

DETEMA

Font Quer Hunt Lilio de medicina

105

The Book o f Women’s Love

Magdalena

Meyerhof

Dioscorides

Sefer Hanisyonot

Simonet

Tabula Antidotarii

The Midwives Book

The Trotula

Vocabulista in Arabico

la version espahola, Sevilla 1495, eds. John Cull and Brian Dutton. Madison, 1991. Jose Ramon Magdalena Nom de Deu, Un glosario hebraicoaljamiado trilingiie y doce “aqrabadin” de origen Catalan (siglo XV). Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 1993. Meyerhof, Max (ed.), Maimonides. Sharh asma’ a l-‘uqqar. Cairo, 1940. English translation from Meyerhofs French edition by Fred Rosner. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1979. Andres de Laguna, Pedacio Dioscorides Anazerbo, acerca de la materia medicinal, y de los venenos mortiferos, Traducido de la lengua griega, en vulgar castellana. (Salamanca: 1566), ed. Facsimil, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1968. Leibowitz, J.O. and Marcus, S. (eds.), Sefer Hanisyonot. The Book o f Medical Experiences Attributed to Abraham Ibn Ezra. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984. Simonet, Francisco Javier, Glosario de voces ibericas y latinas usadas entre los mozarabes. Madrid, 1888 [Amsterdam: Oriental Press, 1967] Mcvaugh, Michael and Ferre, Lola, The Tabula Antidotarii o f Armengaud Blaise and its Hebrew Translation. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2000. Jane Sharp, The Midwives Book. Or the Whole Art o f Midwifry Discovered. Ed. Elaine Hobby. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Green, Monica (ed. and trans.), The Trotula. A Medieval Compendium o f Women's Medicine. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001 . Pedro de Alcala, Vocabulista in Arabico. AraboLatino, II vols. Pubblicato per la prima volta sopra un codice della Biblioteca Riccardiana de Firenze da S. Schiaparelli. Firenze, 1871.

106

Hebrew Text and English Translation

Book of Women’s Love Or Book of Regimen o f Women (fol. 94r, 1. 20) I will commence the Book o f Women ’s Love even though it leads one to sin and bear guilt.1 A love formula that comes from the town of Rhodes2 that is so strong that she will run after you: write [the formula], and also the name of the man who makes it, on an apple however you like but take care that the letters are clear and identifiable. You must know that any man (fol. 94v) who wishes to arouse love has to write this by himself and not someone else on his behalf. Write this: ’end de pari qareqor qaratom pe logenan peripotiyesh mi dageran. This is the love formula. Give [the apple] to the woman to eat, and she without a doubt will immediately do everything you wish. The sages of Roses3 also said that even if the woman just smells the apple, the man who gave it will be loved passionately [by her]. To weaken this love [aroused] after she eats it, take the herb whose name is q y tw flA and touch her [while] saying: qureg’a t ’an shona’ babe’dr. Say it three times and her original state will return to her. And now I will begin to write the love formulas of the sages of Roses,5 which are easier to make than the above-mentioned formula but must be made with wisdom and knowledge. They are not to be revealed to inferior people, but rather to wise people who have knowledge and understanding. A love formula that has been tested, has no equal and is invaluable: on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of the month bleed from whatever place you wish. Take an egg and extract all that is inside through the tiniest hole you are able to make. Afterwards, take the blood of the bleeding, put it into the egg and close the hole well. You will have a brooding hen ready. Put the egg under the hen together with other eggs, if you want to, during three whole weeks, like the other eggs. Then take the egg; you will observe that the upper shell has begun to break in the way the other eggshells have; if you don’t find it broken, break it yourself softly. You will find inside a worm­ like human figure that has a little life; take it, dry it and make a powder of it. Give it to eat or to drink to the person whom you want to love you passionately.6 If you wish to prepare from your semen what I have written about your blood, do so and you will obtain a result similar to what I have written except for one difference: the former figure was red and the last one 108

O’VW JOHN 1DD IN o ’ vwn r p r m ~id d

.ownd Non> id n f)N onyi ranN nao b>nnN (fol. 94r, 1. 20) m an bv Dinan -pDnN pnnvy nv dno npin n th w m npn nNiw nanN irnyiyn odn bw o\yi omvynD o td o i onnino nnnwn i>n> in nmnw iod inN Nbi imvD Nin Dmnvy Tnu im v dtinoo (fol. 94v) odn bDb\y im i y p . p . 'p ^ 'P i s n s p jib 'a nitapp n'pnp "is h )p n Dina rm ididvd idon 0 1 .nD pa v i’N ronn 711m bD nvyyn d>oi biDNb nwNb ini mnNn ind .my dddn nb ninivy Ninn vm n ddn> mann n nn n m n ib>aN\y vmn ’m n jsp N JT ip don’i m yin Nbaivnp nn\y\y D\yy np nbDNvn nanNn manbi .nnv/NDDD nny mm w i omya b Dim ni “ilJJDp Nlitr niriNQ onnyyb mbp nnn yny vnn man niDnNn Dinah b>nnN nnyi o n n oTYina o’ vm b onibib Nbvn n v m nnann puynnb 7n s i nnann ,ni>Di nyn p m n o P ’avmb p p n v n n b V’o in n " n n d ’v o ,nb -pv i>ni n n m a t>n n n m nnnNb bainvy p p Dpi 7m namnvy n o bD N>mm n u n n p m n n iy o ip o n m n Nmi na> Dpm o m o i n o n m nnn Nbm n n a n n m p n o n n p i d nnN mwyb nniN n n n n n a tin n m a n o>vn o t i d d n n w y b nmn\y n b m n n 700b p i n in i o n n N o o a n io d m oPvy mynvy b n m n o n o n n N o n n o y n b m n n o n a n 7ddd ma\yb b w i n n m b y n n a P p m y niNisoni nyn> n m nnn n p n o d n p n n n n a in a N so m n n n nniN mnvyn nmn\y n iN so n Nb o n i ,o n n N in biDNb in i d d n myyi n v n o n n n p m nwn o y o ib vm n y b in 10a Nim n o n o i n iv d to mvyyb n m n o n i .n p nDnN 7nnN‘> n m n w m b nm \yb n o m n n v n a n v» pn manavy n o b ao n o n n 7b Nmi nvyyn 7010 mnnavy

109

The Book o f Women’s Love

white. The white one is stronger than the former. Drink and give to the wise and he will become even wiser. Another [formula]: take the blood of a black cock and of a black or white hen and write with the blood both your name and hers on a virgin parchment. Touch her flesh with the parchment and she will love7 you; it has been tried and tested. If you have an enemy, write his name and yours on (fol. 66r) the above-mentioned parchment with both the bloods mixed together and your enemy also, because of the parchment, will bow before you and do as you wish. Another formula: take the milk of a woman and her daughter; take flour from the back of a mill; take some of the hair that covers your body and some of your finger- and toenails, and pulverize all this. Knead everything with the milk. Give this only to the woman, not to the man; this is enough for him who has understanding.8 Another formula: Take a small piece of your shirt and of her shirt; take a live spider and put it inside these shirts; take a new needle and put it through everything while saying: “as this has been pierced so so-and-so will be crossed by my love, and as this is stuck so so-and-so’s love will be stuck to mine.” Leave everything in a hidden place and all the time it remains there the two people will be bound9 by love. When you wish to weaken it, take the figure and the needle and say: “I destroy this in the name of so-and-so”, and throw everything into the river. Another formula: Take in the name of the woman you want the leftovers of bread that have remained after her meal; bind them in a pale blue cloth and dry them in smoke. Her body will dry in the quest for your love. Another formula: Take snail’s antennae in the name of the woman and put them into wax. Put it in your mouth and kiss the woman you want and she will love you. Another formula: Take the right eye of a calf, bum it and knead the ashes with olive oil; he must anoint his penis [with it] when he has sexual intercourse. Another formula: Take a hair from her head and bind it round your foot with your right hand and say: “may my love be bound in soand-so’s heart.” Leave it bound during nine days and, on the ninth, remove it and say to her: “take your hair”; it has been tried and tested. Another formula: Take a red apple and write on it with blood from your thigh: “hermosa:”;10 give it to her to eat and immediately your love will be plunged into her heart and nobody will be able to extinguish it. Another formula: Take a man’s and a woman’s blood, and put both of them together in a pigeon’s eggshell; write his and her name on the egg with the blood, and close the hole in the egg with virgin wax. Then bury the egg in the earth she usually passes over and they will love each other all the time it remains there. Another formula: Take a bat, cut it open with [a piece of] glass and put its blood into an eggshell. Mix the blood with virgin wax, put it in your 110

Edition and translation

nnwNino n p m inn nn bn nmi n n b

nom

n ^’ nnwNin

mom

.INK) o i n o o o n b p i n n w m 7 0 W o > m n o n ir o m n n b in m in w n b m im n n w b im n 0 1 n p l i y Nnw o iw w’ 7b o n i .i"n 7 3nN’i 7bpn m o m u m y n n b w n 7bp by n o w i

pp p

o m i y o nm w o n i o n o r n n n n oon (fo l. 66r) by 7 0 0 1 lo w m n in nwN ib n n p in N p iy / p o n b i nwyn n in n w ’ 7bpn p -pN iw o n i n ’ b m t> i n f ^ m o y o 7>byw n n y w b i o n p i o ^ n n n m nN O n o p n p i n r a i .b”n w’Nb Nbi nwNb p nw yi n u n ib n n o y *m> b in vyipi n y m P a nwyi ■yin n o ’wi m n w’n y n p i nbw p ib n o i p ib n n o y o n p in N p iy p m i p n o n w 1 0 1 io n j i i p i m y n i w in o n o n p i o n i o n o ’p ibnn Pr> o ’w m w i n N i s " ia n in N p m p p irn ntw 1 0 11 w i n N i o " is ip -p n m n w n o m r a m iw p n in N n m m ow n w p i P) yms o i p o i t m b in 7’b w ni s " i m b s ow b m o u n o n i o n w o n o n n p i n io t n n p n m n b

pv

Pn

.inn mwpi nnb’iN m N b m m o nwNn own inwiw no n o w np nnn piy o*ip np inN piy .ironN n n N nso P win p y b win woo n b m i m win piy .7inNn n m n w nwNn pwn 7m o’wi m y w i o o ’wi nwNn own bibiw 710’ w ’o w n n y w n nn p w i n y n nyi win 71101 biy bw po’ py np inN ,73 i o N m ^cra 7b n m o imwpi nwNio inN iy’w np inn piy .wrat noNi o w o nnp 'o orai O’O’'o n w p innon ,i"n ibi n m w p w i n N Nnn "NwioiN" 7m m oio i’by i m u oiin n u n np inn piy .i"i 7’iyw ’np P piy .ninNn nnib ib m Nbi 2nibi nyipn 7ninN Nnn P 01 biiNb nb pi p n m n n w mr a bw m m i w i o’oi On o ’W ’i nwNi w ’n bw 0 1 np inN reran i m p inNi nb wi m y w o mran ’i o w o n nowi low n^ on by o m np w n piy .ow m m w pi bn onow n n N ’i i’on mby nwNn m y ’w ypipa m y w oy o m m y n n^’i bw 3niDiDwn 101 bnpi n’Dimn win omwi 7boy

1. 2. 3.

MS: "TinNnV’ after pn’i. The word has been marked as incorrect by the copyist. My emendation. MS: *]nbi. My emendation. MS: >mm£>Yn.

Ill

The Book o f Women’s Love

mouth and kiss or touch the person whom you want and he will love you; it has been tried and tested, (fol. 66v) Or take the aforementioned blood, bum it to ashes and touch her flesh with it or give it to her to eat. Another formula: Take a baby bird from its nest before it has touched the earth. Take its heart and liver and bum them to ashes inside an earthen vessel - be careful that the vessel does not touch the earth - and prepare a cake from the ashes. If both of them eat of it they will never leave each other; it has been tried and tested. Another formula: Write on a deer’s skin these names: V g’ or ’wgy; touch [with it] anyone you want and he will do as you wish. Another formula: Anoint your penis with hare’s gall and love will never depart [from you].11 Another proven formula: Take a hoopoe and dry it; take its bones, throw them into a vessel full of fresh water and you will find that all the bones sink and go down into the water. Afterwards you will observe how a bone rises little by little until the whole of it is seen afloat on the water’s surface. Take this bone and touch [with it] anyone you want and he will love you passionately. Another formula that Rachel gave to Jacob and has been proved: Take pigeon’s blood and write these names on a parchment, on the hairy side; wipe [them] out with clean water and give it to drink to the person whom you want. These are [the names]: qwrsy pwwly y q y ’ny y q r ’ty y ’tynw yqlp ’ nkh. Do this on the third day of the month and you will be successful. For the woman whose husband hates her and wants to leave her: She must go to the needle restorer and say to him: “restore a needle for me”, and she should call the needle by the name of her husband; she must take care not to stick it in any cloth, [but rather] take a small piece of cloth from the crotch of his trousers, stick the needle into it and bend its end through its eye, and say: “As long as this is the case, my husband will not leave me”, and she must carry it with her; all the time this is done, he will not leave her. To bind a woman so that she cannot lie with any other man: Take a young pigeon’s heart, [put it] into a clean cloth and hang it from your arm; she will always love you. Another formula: If you anoint [your privates] with the blood of a young pigeon when you have intercourse, no other man will lie with her. Another formula: If you dry a young cock’s testicles, pound them well and soak the powder in vinegar, and anoint your privates with this when you wish to copulate, she will love you passionately and will not love any other man.12 (fol. 67r) Another formula: Anoint your privates with the gall of a suckling lamb mixed with wine and lie with her; no other man will be able to come to her. Another formula: If the male anoints his privates with turtledove’s blood at the time of intercourse, no other man will lie with her even after her husband’s death. 112

Edition and translation

d id np in (fol. 66v) .i"i -pnN’i m nno >m yi in pon p>oi o>oi nPm i nnoN ipno fin np inN piy .Pi3NP nP in in m o n yn io n noyi n o n yp nPo m in i tn n ’P n ioyP 71-101 m m iPn npi 'pNp yn o cm p mN inN io y .V'i oPiyP n i 3> nPi onoo iPino n y n o nxiy noyi 'pNp ’Pin .•jniNU noyo m nno ’ O P n yn ’ JIN IN N)1N m oon iPn m n y Py u n i np ntnio ir»N y iy .oPiyP ninNn m o’ nPi n m N m o o tp> n oo inN piy P io nsojti o»n O’ O nPo Poo 7111 7’Pom mo^yn npi in o i’on n o n n n npyop o yo 7P’ inN o iy n m n 7 1 mN nooP nPo o ’ on 7m iypo> mo^yn P i yjm onyn m npm noiyo o’ on py n m i iPn Nmo iy lo iy o oyo inN .my nnnN 7inN’i n n i w no

py moon iPn u n ii nm on np pni Nini ip y’P Pm noyo inN piy ’D“iip on iPni mnno ’OP mnoP ini o»p) o’o i pinoi n o n mP qpp honP .n’pym o m i n noym ro) xsVp’ U’riN’ ’n*op’ o s ’p’ ’bus ono t> ipn 1P noNm ponon ipno Pn 7Pn nnonP mon nNio nPyao o’tm ono npi m i 0101 nniN pym nPo noom nPyi 00 onoP mpm niiN 7m nypiy 71011 n i’nn nniNi onon \>y)i mop n i’nn mny mo 1P0 n P o»p mo 101 Pi mpy niNom >Pyi omn n P o»p mo 101 Pi noNm .mno> mPm >p) m u nm p ip np inN o >n oy 110P ’Pun nPo noN mopp nm p o n o ’oon nyi noon on mN ioy .moo 7ninN n o n nPi 7yimi io>n inpnom mm Pi inn om om n on ion ioy .noy inN o’n n o ’ n P npin ninN 7inNn PioP n n r n nyi 7nny 11 nooi ’(Oini piNn m om in y o iPn nPo m o i 7miy noo mN ioy (fol. 67r) .inN o ’n inNn nPi imiy n m noo’ on *inN ioy .mPy n i P io n o ’n Pm n Pi noy 1101 p n .nPyi nmo inN iP’on noy mN o ’n 110’ n P nn o n Pioon nyi

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To arouse the woman’s desire for sexual intercourse: take a squirrel’s13 foot, hold it in your hand and place your hands under the woman’s kidneys; she will be very excited and will shake her whole body because of the heat [of her lust]. Another formula: take onion peels, place them over the glans head and penetrate [her] womb; the woman will desire her husband like a virgin. Another formula that has been tried and tested: put trifera magnau and some pepper on some cotton wool and then into the womb; the woman will desire [intercourse] feverishly. To bind a man so that he cannot lie with any other woman besides his wife: The woman must take some of his semen during intercourse and pour it on some wool; she must embrace her husband and put the cotton wool into a necklace while saying: “may my husband be bound.” All the time the necklace is closed, her husband will not be able to copulate with any other woman. Another formula: Take seven coloured silk [threads], tie a knot in each colour while saying over each knot, “I bind so-and-so so that he cannot copulate with any woman in the world besides me and [if he does] may his strength be taken from him.” Afterwards bind the seven colours together with seven knots and over every knot say: “may the above-mentioned man be like a single man.” Then take a frog and bind it with seven knots, and say over each one: “may the above-mentioned man be like a single man”; bury all this in the earth and he will be bound all the time it is buried there. You can make this ligature in order to set any man free: bum everything while saying, “I set so-and-so free.” Another formula: She must knead a cake with her menstrual blood and give it to him to eat.15 Another formula: she must take a burning coal from the oak called quina16 and put it out with her urine after her husband has lain with her. All the time she keeps this he will be bound [to her]; and if she wants to loose him she must throw it into the river. For [the man] who cannot lie with his wife for whatever reason; this has been tested: Take the tooth of a dead man and hang it from his neck, he will do as he wishes straight away; or make a fumigation of [the tooth]. To provoke a quarrel between a man and his friend: Go to the market when the moon is waning, buy a comb in the name of both of them and keep it two or three days. [Then] split it in two while saying: “as I split this comb so will be split (fol. 67v) and withdrawn so-and-so’s love.” Throw one of the halves onto the gentiles’ tombs, and the other one onto Israel’s tombs; and say while throwing each half: “so they will hate each other.” Another formula: Take an egg laid on Thursday,17 boil it in a new earthen vessel until it is hard and peel it. Then take a thread and split [the egg] in two while saying: “as I split this egg, so will so-and-so’s love be withdrawn from soand-so.” Then give one half to eat to a dog and the other to a cat and say: “as 114

Edition and translation

m> onyni n>i o'vyni PimpvyNn Pn np oijovmP n w n n nvmnvy mvyyp ini< y i y .ninmnn maya aNn nan Pa yiyim aNO niNnn nvyNn nvPa nnn idk nvyNn niNm om n 71m ooam naoyn vyNa Py o'vyi P^a nnpp np 7m oy ooym oya PaPa oy N«n Nano i"a anN io y .nPman ina nPya .aNn nvyNn niNnn o m n 71m lyain nvyNn np ,invyN nPn m nN nvyN oy aavyp Pan NPvy v m aivypp >pya w 7a i m n i void 71x1 7ian onn npyi panni 71m o>vyi vy>nvyn nyvya anN p iy .m nN nvyN oy vyavyp nPya Pap nP auo inian Nnoy ini Pdi nivyp Pdt> NPvy a"aa avyip on avyp Pdd dioni yas Paa avyp nvyyi >vya oiyas a np o p a s an aivyp 70 anNi 000 ina atno my pa oPiyavy nvyN oivy oy vynvyp a n’Py aivypo yaam o>vy> 70 anNi P>yP Pima a«N> avyp Paai onvyp a an> ini Pa aivyp n>no ypapa Pan Va/iapo Po>P Pim a aoN> avyp Paai onvyp on aoNO Pian iwy Nin o n P o p 01 iP y oPw> Nbw po>i» n m bi b>nnb n m n on in N in b w i n n w p i p o m i im o p n b i nwNn in w w i ow n >wn bw b w i n p m b s n n n m m 'i n m b s bN p w o nwyw d"i d iw ip m n n n w p n n y i m w yb bNynw> Nbi m Nbi >nn> Nb o b iy iw hwni w>n oiw b in Nbi °|w n n n , i n i p i n b b m w i n b n p n n w m in b iN m in i " i i b p n n b i p w n oiw in N in in N iw p >wnn n w p i i n m p m » nynw n m n n b m a n by in N n i m> n t n w y n w n i i m n n m N n o y a b m 'w in o m y a 'i nw yn p i i i m n n .n n n m poo m b n " y i bm nN n n y i .m n n b in p in b n r m o i m b iy a n m m n n y i y m i m i TinmN o>wmw n n b "i o>wi ra n N n o by m tm n m b n o i n iN i n n om bN N iib b iv w m b iw o*>wi m n N m o m N ip i p byi (fol.68r) inb . n o n m -yin iiN sn n n N in n n iN b n n n iw p in w i o > a n in b w>w 0P 111 o P n m in n p o i n i na> wnwbi biwnn pinb ni>piN 'n i u i n i o>w *Ti i n m p n *ji m i n i P 12 o>wni nvpiN ' i bpw n p o m p w m m o>wn o P n m m im w n w n w i P i n o ’wm n n P i n o in o i Tin nw ’WNn b w in p m n p p i w n w i ot> 'b im y m nnpiN 'n n o w p inw in - p m o ’wji in m P i n by b p y n n w n n p i n m y > n n ion> i y o m Nbn n i l p iN i p N n o n m p i n n p P n n n p m m b n o nnpin .mwyb N P m nnN n n r n r a m n n p i m p p y pw b ’n ’i i n N b i n p o m N n p iN i /p iN /p N n

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cardamom, ginger, clove,27 couch-grass,28 pepper and spikenard, a drachm of each; one ounce of cinnamon; ten drachms of fresh ginger; garden balsam29 and mustard seeds, a drachm of each; dates, fruits of the terebinth, pistachios and roasted hazelnuts, five ounces of each; musk, pine,30 ambergris, half a drachm of each; vetch preserve,31 aromatized rind of citron, roman parsnip32 preserve, satyrion preserve, half an ounce of each; and as much honey as needed. He must make an opiate and eat this electuary constantly, because it will strengthen and warm him up, and even if he is seventy years old he will be able to do all he wishes. A good beverage to warm [him] up and add potency: Take three ounces o f sweet flag and the outer bark of cinnamon; half an ounce of spikenard; galingale,33 mace, cubeb, cardamom, a drachm and a half of each; two drachms of clove; half an ounce of fine sandalwood;34 one and a half drachms of aloe wood; musk, pine and ambergris, one scruple35 of each; grana tintorum36 balm and nutmeg leaves, a drachm of each; herb bennet powder, dried citron rind and cinnamon flower, a drachm and a half of each; and one ounce of cinnamon flower. He must pound this to a powder, take fine red wine and three pounds of sugar and make a beverage, which he should always drink, for it will enable [him] to copulate well; he should also make his habit to eat birds’ brains and powdered dried bull’s penis, and drink and eat every morning goat’s milk and young pigeons, (fol. 68v) A poultice to strengthen the kidneys and enable coitus: Take a pound of satyrion root, wash it, pound it and boil it with wine; add three or four dates and one ounce of ash seed. He must place this poultice over the kidneys and eat half an ounce of the fish called sturgeon37 together with the abovementioned electuary. To enhance sexual intercourse: Take turtle’s fat and anoint the penis, it will cause an erection, as will hedgehog’s fat. And since there is nothing better for women, and since they love their men because of it - can you look around, and it will be gone? - 381 have put and mentioned it in the beginning of our magical remedies, because it is called by the Rabbis the principle of the body39 in all our books. And now we are going to speak about matters relating to [women],40 with God’s help. To remove hair and prevent it from ever growing again: Take bat’s blood, powder of the cinnamon herb, ants’ eggs and black poppy, mix them together and anoint the place; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take a laurel leaf and make ashes of it; [mix it with] cabbage ashes, lime, oil and vinegar and anoint. Another remedy according to the custom of the women of the Ishmaelites: Take some herons,41 cut off their heads and put these together with the skin, the blood and the feathers in a glass alembic, and put clean water in [this] glass vessel; when necessary, take 118

Edition and translation

' t t '■>pn> Pont mpw iimp m i m Pon n u p o o k >PoPo ‘o t j >Ponn Pon ompp omp opmooo ouoo onnn T t TnK Pon >ono mmuPo yot o o h k miomoip T t o n TnK Pon Ktm k to ik po pom nppiK 'n TnK o n mK Pon im no Komoip mnn k m o o ’o Komoip npnn m m noPp mnnmi inptmi it nnpon PiokP Pnmi k o k o i k noy> ipiom n o o t mpiK /o m Po noyn mo 'y p Km iP’om nvpiK ’> nn>py noPpn iimpi nip np no> ptnPi onnP am npon 'o P o n u on i ’n mK ton mimnp o>oip mn miPi mpiK o n nm pnoK Pon m m KTonK pa pom oni "tt >kiPk nP mpiK o n uPom P tio "it P o k 'tt mK Pan KTpom tiiK Py KoPn Pyi ynmm kiktj PionpoK mK mpiK ’k Kpnp m a om 'tt TnK Pan Kpnp m o om m m noPp mrPonn nnon npon n oyi hiktoP T m pioi oion o h k p npi nm p o k noy> nnon omn mon tu pom onion nm PidnP Pmm no-> ptmi onon omn Pionn pinPi mPon pinP noianJi (fol. 68v) .nm no Pomi ty oPn npo Poo p loino o>oi p o inPoom iniK pnm mamm k toP ionon pmmoo np pmpo vm p Pomi mPon Py noionn noyn mpiK py poPm o n n n 't ik KnoTio poio np Pion TTiyP .moon nnponn oy mpw o n pmpuooK .Tio’pn p w noiy p mo >oip miy> nm n nwnn

•po pynn omoiK nioniK m moyoi imn 010 tot Po pk o’oiPo >oPi okt 11’tiiot iniKTp 0 0 Py >o w nPooo nPnn immomi imnno u m i 10 .imoo Poo mum f^Poy o t np oPiyP nan> kPo nyon monP .n”yo p^y miyn t o t i nnyi piy .V'o oipnn nom Tm ooyi mno miooi oPm 001 mPnp ooy pom tpk piy riwni •pini pooi t o ono noyi noy noyi non nPy np TnK 10 om m myo onon o o k t fnm oony np oPKynom >01 uni t o k o •joon nypi moiomPoo oyum o>oin omm moioi Po p o n p K fin o to iio

6. My emendation. MS:

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some wool, soak it in this water, and wash with it the place from which you want to remove the hair three or four times a day up to four days. This will remove [the hair] with its very root and it will never grow again; it has been tried and tested several times. And I tried on a woman who had hair [growing] on her forehead since she was bom the remedy of a great sage who tried this: Take some mice and put them into a vessel; take a sponge and sew every one of them at the back; put some more sponges in the vessel and feed them oils, perfumes and spices in order to make them very thirsty, and then give them water to drink. 42 Afterwards squeeze the sponge and anoint the chosen place with the water that flows out; [the hair] will never grow again. Another remedy: Take half an ounce of orpiment;43 socotrine aloe44 and cumin, a drachm of each; take one and a half ounces of quicklime and make a powder of it; take four ounces of water and boil all this until it becomes blue. When you take it off the fire (fol. 69r), add one and a half drachms of euphorbia and mix everything together. Wash whatever spot you want with hot water and then anoint the spot with this unguent - but first soften the unguent with hot water - and immediately apply henbane oil on the top of it. An unguent to prevent [the hair] from growing ever again: Take Greek tar45 and gum arabic, an ounce of each; antales and dentales,46 a pound of each; one pound and a quarter of natron salt; and henbane oil and wax, six pounds of each. Make a powder of these chugs; take the oil and the wax, melt them in a frying pan on a fire and add all the powders. Make an unguent with the oil and the wax and pound all this together and anoint. To make hair grow anywhere: Take an owl, cut off its head and tail, and boil it in water; wash [with this water] the bald spot and much hair will grow there. Another remedy: Bum pigeon’s excrement to ashes, make a cleanser47 from it and wash the head. Another remedy: Make a cleanser from marshmallow root and wash the head. It is also good to mb bran all over the head. Another remedy: Bum small green frogs, make a cleanser [from the ashes] and wash the head 48 Another remedy: [Mix] goat’s excrement with dill oil and spread it all over the head, according to the Book o f Galen. Another remedy: Boil parsley juice and pig’s blood with white wine and filter it with water; take the fat that floats, mix it with honey and anoint the head; the hair will grow.49 Another remedy: Boil oak bark in water and always wash his head [with this]. Another remedy: Take raw honey, anoint the bald spot [with this] and then sprinkle over it burnt ashes of green liquorice; [the hair] will grow; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take a skink, kill it and anoint the bald spot with its blood; it is good [to use it] at the beginning of a skin disease, according to the Book o f Dioscorides50 And he said:51 If one takes barley bread with salt and gander’s fat and makes of all this a kind of poultice, after it has been cmmbled and applied on the 120

Edition and translation

oy aynyn amnb nmnw oipnn p a i onatin omn "pro biawi 710 wyn np i"n nn obiyb n w Nbi wmwn oamn t o 'a ay on baa 'a in omya ’1 "jinn oam nrmb 01m mayw nnnaa by nb nmw nwNa m>on nm .omya hod anN ba asm nao npi ’boa oniN o>w mm onaay np m non aNn bni omwai onnw bm b on!? p i onnN omao >ban p ro o>wi amNb anm naon oino anm ninwb om p b p i nbiai urn p b nm>w na omo oinmaiN np mu piy .obiyb t o > Nbi nmnw oipnn nwn owmm omnni nwyi nmi npiN m am n p 'aa anN ban pna paoipm nobN npiN nm nban yan aw ay aom iairo ban bwam om rmpiN 'a npi ntn paN p a m ban any> >pi ’aa oaiaN iama omn (fol. 69r) WNn byn 7amnwai oaip nnmnn nnnm it nnmna oipnn nwn anNi omn oma nmm oipnn np obiyb n n m Nbw n n m n m^pwv pw i>by omn p m omn oma 8Nao>b anN ban w>boiNm w’boiN npiN anN ban poaN Nnn nwnabip paN nwy 10niNao>b ’1 anN ban mywi m»pwr> pw y>aai 9Na\nb non nbn opaNn ba omn WNn by nanna oamni mywm pwn npi onatin omonn .nwm am ban winai mywm pwn oy nnmn nwyi nmani naiti nwNa "jinm nnwm np nmw oipn n m a aym nmnnb nay nwy onn nNiu anN p y .aiab mayw ia inmn onnin oipn p m oma p m nNiw>b nnn nwyi mibn wmw anN iny .WNnn p a n nmw’b nwy> mm opn> onop o>yanas anN p y .WNnnn pnniin paiob p 01 3101 WNnn nwm won p w oy ty jiniu ann pay .WNnn p a n nNiwP nwyn omaw p b p n bwan ann oa oy bona p a anN piy .omb> naon WNnn by natn .mnywn irnnn WNnn nwmi waan oy aayn p n p w n npn o>na innon an waa np ann piy .iwNa amn p a ? p m oma bwai pbN na>bp ann piy piy .i"a imrnn paw pia> oaNtib aaN nby nan anm wamn oipn nwnn nyaan nbnnn bN aiwi wamn oipn man nwm imN 11am omn np anN bann nwyi tiiN p iw i nbn oy omyw na npibn anNi .onm pom a aaon

7. My emendation. MS: TPnuvyD. 8. My emendation. MS: 'oit?. 9. Ibidem. 10. Ibidem.

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chosen spot, the hair will grow. Another remedy: Take coltsfoot,52 dry it until it becomes a powder, knead it with pitch and make an unguent. Another remedy: Bum a fox’s head with its lips, add a green liquorice head and boil [everything] together with oil during a whole day; make an unguent and anoint. Another remedy: (fol. 69v) [If] he washes his head with dog’s urine, [the hair] will grow. And the emdite F ltyry53 said: Take aloe and olive tree root, the same quantity of each, and lupin flour; pound all this with strong vinegar, make an unguent and anoint; it has been tried and tested. To dye the hair blond: Make a cleanser from the ashes and bark of white ivy wood; wash your head [with it] two or three times a day during three months. Another [remedy]: Anoint your head with ginger oil and [the hair] will turn blond. Another remedy: Boil large nettles in red vinegar and add a full bowl of water once they are cooked; wash your hair with this during nine days, and not with anything else. Another remedy: Take a fresh pumpkin and perforate it; pour salt and some iron shavings into the orifice and gold-like water will flow [from it]. Another remedy: Take burning water;54 dry false ginger to a powder and put it in a glass vessel with the mentioned water during one or two nights, and [then] wash the hair; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take vine shoot ashes, put them into a cauldron filled with rainwater and boil over the fire until one half of it [is left]. Then take the clean water out of the cauldron, put [it] on the fire [together with] cmshed hard white natron and boil it until it has been reduced by half. Add some saffron if you wish; when it first boils, pour into the cauldron two peshi tin 55 of cumin bound in a cloth; wash your head with this soap and after being washed your hair will be like gold.56 Against lice in any place: Take gazelle’s powders,57 mix them with wine and drink it. Another remedy: Take stavesacre with vinegar, orpiment and oil, and make an unguent. To cast out the lice called trps:58 Take one pound of meadow-saffron,59 pound it well, add olive oil and make an unguent; anoint the place where the lice are and they will fall off. Another remedy: Take willow juice and sulphur and anoint [the place]. Another remedy: He must anoint [the place] with rue juice and lupin powder, it is good. Another remedy: Take a monitor lizard, olive oil, vinegar, litharge and white lead and prepare an unguent; anoint [the place] and they will never come back; it has been tried and tested. For scabs and ulcers on the head, Alexander60 said: He must take camomile boiled with vinegar and water and wash [his head] with this, it has been proved that it has no equal. And Yishaq61 said: He must anoint [his

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np anN p y .niaywn inao’ manw oipon by nnm papw anN nwiann mo byiw wNa anN p y -nn’wo nwyi nm oy n w pan bN wan NPbap nP pn nrnwo nwyi pw oy obw op in ’ bwan pin’ o’nnb WNa npi pnaw oy oann io n .nmn wNnn noo p a ’ aba inw (fol. 69v) anN p y .nwoi oy ban “ nppp o’aib nopi mwa anN bao nn ^y wnwi ’NibN np ’1’oba .V’a nwoi nn’wo nwyi pm p i n iwNn tnT i ma’bpoi pb ntt’n ib’N naNo nN’w’b nwy ny’wn amanb p y aanan WNnn nwo’ Nnamo pw my .o’wan a ay oi>a o’oya ’> in 'a nnyp n o’w’ biw’an nnnNm oiin p in a obwa’ mbiam Nnonw anN nnb nyba np anN p y anN aaaa Nbi om’ ’o mo iminyw p m om nN’bo .omm o’oa pnn bna na’bpo oyoi nbo o’w nn’ann oipoai nain aiann o’on oy maiai >ba jin paNb inwan aioo •na’oi o’ainw o’o np anN p y onai bw aaN np anN ioy .ra aywn ’(nan oow in nnN nb’b mnon onaon 10 o’biban o’on np p anNi ’ann wNa nmnn noo >o oy nn’ip tip o’wi m an oni ’anb aiw ay mnam wma nwp pb am wnh by o’wm nanpn 7in voip po’wa 'a nanpn am o’wn nnwNa nnmnai oiaaa oyo la o’w .amb parr pmiyw nm oia’an anN iwNa p a ’ nman moi aiwp oioaoo np anN p y .innwn p oy inaayn n a ’paN np oipo baa onab ,waao paipw ooan b’anb .nrnwo nwyi pwi oo’aniNi p i n oy Namoow nwoi nn’wo nwyi nn iow npi aom ipin winan 12Nno’b \>boaionN np mo anN p y .ipin nwon n’nai oy naay np anN p y .iban oman oipo nNono’bi p irn nn pw i na np anN p y .aioi nwo’ o’oiomn paNi Naia .i"a ny iNa> Nbi nwoi nmwo nwyi Noin’oi moi p i n oy nbwiao Nb’oop npibn inaio’bN aoN wNan »yjn pmb piw oy wma’ naiowi (fol. 70r) np pna> aoN .imoa i’N yina ,mo p a n

11. My emendation. MS: npiT. 12. My emendation. MS: Vfr.

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head] (fol. 70r) with garden cress62 kneaded with the fat of a gander. And he further said: If he washes [his head] with boiled soup of pulses it will cure any ulcer or head disease, or any other [ailment]; it has been tried and tested. And he also said: He must take tartar6j and litharge, which have been soaked the whole night in vinegar, and anoint [his head]. And Alexander said: He must apply wormwood to his head. He further said: He must take bitter almonds which have been cleansed with hot water, and anoint his head [with them] after having passed a razor over it; it has been tried and tested. And he also said: Take black resin and soak it in water for one night; next day add vinegar, arsenic, charcoal of the quina tree and ammoniacum with wine; [then] he must shave his head and anoint [it]. And al-RazI64 said: He must shave all his hair; he must take sage, salt and strong vinegar and mix them until they become a thick [paste]; he must apply it on his head in a poultice once a day. And Almanzor63 said: Take tar oil and anoint the head [with it], it will cure any scab, old or new. And he further said: If he must wash [his head] with quicklime, wine and oil until the blood flows, it will cure [him]. Another remedy: He must put red cabbage to soak in spring water, boil [it] and wash [with the liquid]. And P y tr dLwq’66 said: Take three drachms of Yemenite67 white hellebore, two drachms of salt and prepare an unguent with strong vinegar; it is good. Another remedy: He must put on the scab [a piece of] unsalted pig’s liver and this will cure [it]. An unguent for a dry inveterate scab that has grown old, taken from a recipe from al-ZahrawT’s Book on unguents:68 Take twelve measures of laudanum; saffron-coloured sulphur, y n n n t,69 myrtle seeds, frankincense and natron, three shekels of each; five measures of turpentine, equal quantity of red poterium,70 and sufficient oil. To whiten the face and for women’s cosmetics: Take two drachms of camphor; sarcocolla, yellow amber,71 tragacanth and mastic, an ounce of each; white incense,72 sapphire, white coral or rock salt, and natron, two drachms of each; half an ounce of bull’s penis; one ounce of umbilicos marinos;73 two ounces of porcelain; g ly ’n tl1A of white marble and cuttlefish bone, half an ounce of each; two ounces of serpentine;75 one ounce of starch; one and a half ounces of vitriol wynwysyl ’;lb three ounces of rice; one and a half ounces of wormwood;77 lupin and alum de pluma ,78 one ounce of each; and half a pound of white lead. Everything must be pounded and sifted. Indeed all the porcelain must be put into a vessel filled with lemon (fol. 70v) juice, and left there soaking in the lemon juice until it is dissolved. Then, all the powders must be used to thicken the porcelain and lemon juice in order to make small bread roll(s) of it, which will be dried in the sun. When necessary, take one of them and rub the face well and then wash it with warm water. Water to remove spots from the face and to whiten it: Take a 124

Edition and translation

bDi vn bD n d t lion p m o ’bwiion on ivim p in n v io n i .nwnn iiin ■pin ov n N m o’bi 0 1 10 10 npibn n v io n i .i'P nihw b in in WNinn nbnn np don HVi n iw iN WNnn bv o>w’ n iitob N io n i .nwnn nb’bn bD m w HVi .V’d p n nwnn iw n i bv iv n i a v ' o>on o p ov o>pnn o n n on p w ■join p i n m u m o ’w> m nobi nnN nb>b o p d m w i m inw nai np io n nvw bD nbi’ m io n i .nwon wnih nbm p ov p n o p in i Ni”p ^vn o n m nnN dvd iw ni bv w nni dv n>n>w iv n v n pm p m nbo nNnbw npn p i pro bD Nam wnid 1300 nwon povbN p w np imiobN io n i .o in inN p v .Nam o m Nnow iv p m p w i p ov m im n v io n i .win in y n n ’bN np Npibl i o n io n i . p m bwnn p v o p ov m w n o iin dud idd inN p b iiw i pm p i n ov nn’wn nwv’ ' n 'n nbo ' n '3 nbN n o’bN io n q o nnpib niw’oow nwa> poib nn>wo .Nam pnin bv o ’w> bon m n o m v n 030i>N o p id id n n a i o ’bpwo T~> m b np nin’won m o o m m p w m oo n oiiN N i’o o ’bpwo 'n n i p i p i i o o ’bpw b inN bDO n o n ninb .ipiD’o n NONbp Nbippio m 'n niidod nipb onnn p n o n b i ooan yabnb n o n no” nbo in p b b’N ip mao p b p i o mpiN inN bDO p p u n p m nnpiN p p b m ia mpiN Nino wpbnoN mpiN n n n w i m ’n ’1 mN bDO i i ’ ON ni’ piN P NinDibip npiN nn mN bDO nd’w ohv p b 10 10 0 boiN’ bi n’ aib nm mpiN 13oi>odn nvpiN b wn nm mpiN Nb’ onin biNnon mpiN oinv> *p inNi bin p m Nio>b nn noit>o mpiN mN bDO Noiba n oibN wno’b (fol. 70v) m o m im i m v p i no’bw own Ni’bmian oion .nan ov o’ piNn bD iouvjv inNi nioonw iv ow n n vm p n ’bn mn mwn p o 'n np f i n n nvbi wowb warn p p onb 110 iwvn po>bn p i NiP^nan p o d 1’ onb o p .onwia o p ov ooan p i id inNi onan na’ p a w i

13. My emendation. MS: vm’un.

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pound o f white wine vinegar and boil it with two ounces of litharge; pound well, filter it and keep it in a glass vessel. Another [water]: Boil crushed glass in water, or rock salt, or salt until dissolved; filter it and keep in a glass vessel. When necessary, mix these two waters and it (the face) will become like milk. To whiten the face and make it gleam: if you take a honeycomb, squeeze it hard into water and extract the honey carefully, and make hydromel o f it by means of an alembic placed on a low fire; this same water will remove freckles from the face. If you put it back into the alembic [on the fire], it will turn the face red; and if you put it into the alembic a third time, then it will dye everything yellow like the colour of gold. To make sacred water: Take golden litharge, boil it in strong vinegar and then pour it into a silver glass. Put one end of a white woollen cloth in the water and [keep] the other end out, and put a glass beneath it. The water will drip through the cloth into the second glass. Keep this water. Afterwards take alum and liquorice and boil them separately. Keep each one of [these waters] separately and when you want to make use [of the sacred water], take a mixture of both and anoint [the face] and it will turn white. Another remedy tried and tested: Take gold filings,79 put them in honey and then into an alembic. This distillation is marvellous and excellent to whiten the face, and should be applied with half the gold filings. A fine water to whiten the face: In the month of May take some eggs, boil them and cut the whites with a knife into the finest pieces you can manage; take some white goat’s milk, mix it with the egg whites and put everything together into an alembic. This water is excellent and praiseworthy. Another fine and laudable water that has no equal: Take a capon and fatten it up with barley that has been boiled in goat’s milk; when it is fat, put it with its feathers into an alembic, and extract water. This water is good (fol. 71r) to whiten the face and make it gleam, even if there are black [spots] on the skin of the face; it has been tried and tested. Now I will write on the kings’ oils80 and on the so-called oil of myrrh, that in the Land of Ishmael is made like this: Take four ounces of red myrrh and make small pastilles with some white wine, each one weighing one drachm, until they are seven. Then, pound them and put them in a glass vessel in the sun; add a pound of sweet almond oil; and oil made of pumpkin seed and of oak seed, one and a half ounces of each. Mix all together and leave it in the sun for forty days. Then, pour it into a silver vessel that is placed in a cauldron with water until the myrrh goes down and the oil goes up. Then, put it in the sun for three days. Afterwards, filter it, take out the oil with a silver spoon and pour it into small glasses. This oil is good to whiten the face and make it gleam, to remove freckles and to make wrinkles smooth, and even if the woman were ninety years old, she would look like 126

Edition and translation

pmw n w rw P nvpw 'a iama n>m m NawP pb p ^mn np o n b n o n a n maiai pinw iama nman om np’ aiyi .maiai Pa/a/ ^y/i/an miN pwn na’ P n any piiin nybi maim Pan yisin pwn oamn ay nbn in no” nbn in .nbn inn aw ’i rnnwn nw “ pni om im puna 1!/o/inn wna my’ npn o n n a m P i o n a n pnbnb raw’ om oniN winn p p WNn panbNn wan om imNn nwyi ra m N’sim o n i onan wnN’ p/’/anbNa om p i n nnnn o n i onan oninn ownyn o p m w yb .am yaa ina nan bn in’mn in p’nnbNn wPw oya onnnn 70a man mnw 7a anNi pin 7mnn nnw bwm nmw nN’ rw P np o w r t p win winn owi pnb nnN WNni own anN WNn nmn pb a n wyn owi 7a anN .nnnwnb in own piNi nwn Pan 7111 ann 17h ’ by mao bian anN mnnwm nab anN ba ram aab o»pi own mbwni NS’Nbn o P n np np Va anN piy 18.pbb ian>i nwm am onnw aay np nbiya mwyb onan pnbnb npn Pam n s iv ii p’nnbNn owi wnnn own nnm 19wman’b on*n n p i’Nn wnnn o n a n pabn b m a w o m 20.wnnnPnn am nna o w nnb iy abn npi bain awN baa mpa mnninb pawn pam pibn npi obwni .naiob onaan onp’ omn omNi p’anbNn ban ow i o n n p p oy aayi omyw oy mmwm wnw binan np p w n pN mnnwm m a w m anN o m Nmm pnobN 7m nnwi mran oy unp pw now anNi ty abna oPwinn nn P ’ 3N1 onsraPi onan pnbnb (fol. 71r) maw omn P n o i om iwn a"a omya mmnw p pwiy bNynw’ >pNni amn pw Napn o ’nbnnn 21o n n w n n n y amaNi nnN ba pb p’ /wyn/ oy mmp p n mny nwyi m’piN 'a nmaN Nam np owm wnwn maiai Pa 7m owm miN pnn anNi '1 nnw ay 'aa bpwn p n pbN yam nwy pwi Nap yam nwy pwi o’pinn onpw pw NawP nama 70a Pa 7m own anNi on 'n wnwn nnym ban aaym nra mpiN anN ban own 7a anNi nbynb pwm nwnb Nn’ Namnw ay om bw aiaa 7m warn mwwN 7ina owm 70a 7a oy pwn m n iraw 7a anNi ow’ b wnwb pPnnbi owayn awnbi orafram onan pnbnb aw pwn nn mwp .7a na ma annn 'n na mnn P ’ 3N1 pwn’pn

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.

MS: yns>, with a 3 over the i in order to correct it. MS: mnoi, with a o over the n in order to correct it. My emendation. MS: pH >D. My emendation. MS: *p 'jy. My emendation. MS: nvyon “[Dnn. My emendation. MS: vyTiKP^. Ibidem. My emendation. MS: cmm>n.

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twenty. In the Kingdom of France they make it in a different way: Take oil made of pumpkin seed and of sweet almonds, half a pound of each; then, take three ounces of myrrh, two drachms of sublimate silver; white gum dragant, gum arabic, camphor and borax, a drachm of each. Put all this together in a glass and keep it there for twelve days in the sun’s rays. After twelve days, take the glass and put it in a pot full of water. The glass must be full. Put the pot that has the glass inside over a gentle charcoal fire and leave it there until the oil in the glass thickens. Afterwards, put the glass in strong sunlight during six days. Then, you will find it clean and refined like gold. After it has cooled for a day, filter it into another glass in order to keep it clean and to get rid of dirt. Afterwards, take peeled beans and bran and soak them for a night; in the morning wash the face with this water and then, after some rest, anoint it with [the oil]. This oil will remove every ulcer and spot on the face; it has been tried and tested. And now I will write about the myrrh water the kings in the Land of Ishmael are accustomed to use: Take one ounce of fine myrrh; sarcocolla, gum dragant, gum arabic and mastic, half an ounce of each; antales, dentales, white coral, rock crystal, sea porcelain81 and borax (fol. 71v), two drachms of each; cuckoo-pint82 root, serpentine root and white ginger, two ounces o f each; one ounce of cloves; the whites of one hundred boiled eggs; root of Solomon’s seal, pumpkin seed and oak seed, one and a half ounces of each; pound everything together. Take burning water and dates, half a pound of each; three ounces of hard and well-boiled honey, and one ounce of sublimate silver; make of this a dough and put it to soak with a measure of wine and of briony juice; and also juice of serpentine grapes, water made from rosebuds83 and lemon juice or the water of bean flowers, four ounces of each; and rice flour soaked in half a pound of rose water. Leave it there three days. Then, pour it all into a glass alembic. Add a scruple of ambergris to the glass into which the water from the alembic is poured until it reaches the middle [of the glass]. They use this water in the same way they use the above-mentioned oil: it is useful for women’s cosmetics and makes the face gleam; it has been tried and tested, and it has no equal. There are kings who make myrrh [water] in a different way: Take the whites o f a hundred eggs boiled in water; then take a pound of red myrrh, two pounds of burning water of that simple kind that is separated from the fine one, and one pound of fine white wine. Put the egg whites and the myrrh in the simple water and the white wine until everything is crumbled; then take two ounces of white ginger, one and a half ounces of clove, and one and a half drachms of camphor. Afterwards, take three ounces of vinegar and put these three spices into it and leave them in the vinegar for three days. Also the egg whites and the myrrh will remain in the simple water and the white wine for three days. After the three days, take all this, put it into an alembic 128

Edition and translation

o n p o p o i N ip v t o > iw p o n p o n n N o o a a o ’o iv n a n a m a h o n ' t t 'a o io ib io p a m ’pTN b n t o n p i d in K n t o P ” *n TnN b a o o ’p in o o ’o o Tm m ba p r m ' t t 'n ’p oo o m a NTiaop p ’3 t n N on nn 'p p n N nn n o ’ONn n p o w a"’n t o n t o o o n p a o b O’O’ a"’ t i o v ’t n o ’ON pin ban t o n m n p n O’O’ i m i nN’b o n t n o ’ONm o ’o nN’b o m n p 71m o ’o i T iro o p o n n a v m o t v ONn 'py m o v m no o n a o ONn 'py n a m a n o ’ONn to d ppiTO >po W Nao’ anN O’O’ 't p m 000b n o ’ONn O’O’ anNi n o ’ONn N o n im p b o n ’po t n o ’o nD m n N n o ’ONa p o ’ ’n oy> m p m o anNT d o t o o a n '(n T TpDii JinN nb’b m o ’i p a in n p i o ’a b ip o p b ia n p i d p n t bai v o bD t o ’ p o n n n o o a n n o o ’ o v n n m o p n t i d t o n t o n n o ’o a .Y’a o o a n o ottd t o n>piN n p bN voo’ p N a o o b o n o o n o t o n n o n >o am aN r o w n ’piN ’^ n m N b a o p ’o a o p ’dtn n o t poo n N o n N bippno n p i n o bDO (fol. 71v) O’TD NT’TO NT’baTD b’OO’Tp p b bN T p \>bOTN’T 'pbOTN N b a n n ro ’piN '2 TnN bDO p b b’a m Ni’o a T a o t o t o n ” o t o ' t t ’a TnN v t NTp v t m o b o o m n o t o o m a b n n p o n p o ’b o ia o o ’a a ’p n ’piN TnN b a o o n o n o ’d t o o>o n p i Tn>a bDn p n r o ’am n ’piN t o n bDO pbN to d n o v m n ’piN o io ’b io p a n i’piN b n o p i n a ’ b o ia o o d t n t o P ’a n n o o v ’o o v t Ni’o a m a o o w v ’o o v t nNOTNna y> m o o v m o m p a a n m o o 'pn n o p m ’pT N 't t o n b a o o ’bia m a ’o tn p o ’b ’o t o ’t t p i o i a o b o p ’aobN a ban o ’o n i d nnNi 00 p o ’ b T iovm n t o P ’a n o h t ’o a P’aibN no o ’Nai’ o ’o n o n o ’ONn pin n o t n i t o n ’a n p o ’N o ’o m n ’Diat p o n n o iv o n o ba p o iv o ’o n P n o t n o ’ONn vaoN a n o b n Nno n a in a .iniOD p n o P a o o a n p ’n a o i o ’o m ’p n o n b b’v io N ino i a n n 0P 0120 o ’a a 'p o p a b n n n p o » tttn o o a a n o n p o ’o tv o o ’Dbo 00 o ’D’b o o o n o io n o ’aT O o ’o n t o P o o t t n n t o n p i d nnNi o ’o a o ’o ’ p b p m o ’o to o ’o a i NTO’b a io n p b p ’ mNTO’b 'a n a io n n o ’b a m m ’pTN 'a p b n a m n n p p t i n t ban p a v o t v n t o o t o m a b n n b n P n iDina o ’o t m ’pTN b p i n n p i d nnNT ’a m ’m N m aip ’a m m piN o ’o a t t o v ’ N T o m o m a b n n o t O’O’ b p i n n pin n o v o n b v o b o o m o a tn n ’DTDio p ’aobN p n o ’o t m ba n p O’O’ b n nnNi o ’o ’ b p b p ’m o ’o io n

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of glass or of other material if you can’t find a glass one, and extract as much water as possible. This water has been proved to eliminate any ulcer from the face and to whiten it. To remove the spots and freckles of the face: Take three ounces of lizard’s excrement; dried briony powder, cuckoo-pint root, myrrh and hare’s blood, one ounce of each; candy84 sugar and honey, half an ounce of each; and sufficient lemon juice or bean water. Make pastilles,85 take one of them and rub the face well with bean water; in seven days you will not find any spots on the face; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take a quarter of a pound of cetrine unguent,86 one ounce of hare’s blood and ten drachms o f lizards’ excrement; make pastilles, soften [one of them] in the palm of your hand with juice of serpentine grapes and wash (fol. 72r) your face; leave it to settle overnight and in the morning wash your face with bran water, violet water and water of elder87 flower; it is very good for this. Balsam oil, according to the Ishmaelite kings’ custom, is good to eliminate any bad ulcer and any bad spot due to freckles or a bad pustule, or indeed, for any [bad] thing in the world; if you anoint [your face] with a small drop o f this oil, it will eliminate them in no more than three days: Take four and a half pounds of turpentine; one pound of pure frankincense; half a pound of aloe wood; mastic, clove, galingale, cinnamon, storax calamita, nutmeg and cubeb, thirty-two drachms of each; two pounds of gum elemi;88 and balsam tree fruit and bark,89 six and a half ounces of each. Pound everything and mix it with the turpentine; extract water [from it] in a glass alembic; the first water is white, like spring water, and light; the second is saffron-coloured and golden; the third flows like honey. Pour them into another vessel. These three concoctions are good, they possess all the virtues of fine balsam and curdle the milk. If you wish to test it, it causes a flame like the fine balsam; and if you take a vessel full of hot milk and pour into it a drop, it will curdle the milk immediately. And try further: Take a drop and pour it into water, it will sink in the water; after one hour it will rise to the top and dissolve. The first and second [waters] are called balsam water, the third is called balsam ’n trpsyly90 or natural, because it is natural and works like fine balsam. The first and the second are good, but the third is better than gold, and superior to all the others. And, finally, add this test: this oil has several other good properties, and if you take a drop of it and anoint the forehead and temples, it will cure any headache; apply as well a drop to the nostrils o f the one who has fainted and he will come round immediately; it is good also to use a little of it for any cold gout, for naqrah,91 and also it is good to anoint all bad ulcers [with it] because it will cure them. In short, it is as good and beneficial as the fine balsam.

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yn ba monb mono o’on ibNi bai’Wno ba o’o nhi’i m o ’ Nb on mN •Ol’lbObl 0030 on’iin’h p in nvpw 'i nNobn bit np ooan ’W7yi o’onin n>onb mN bao n ip Nnpm mpiN mN bao ju h n on Nmo wim \yn\yi own 7wawi ino 'n npi Npmmo nwy ipiao n pbia ’o in iio’b >0 mpiN nn m # piy .i"a o>i3i ion o m oiw m o ’ Nb d>o> ’171m pbia >0 oy na’ oosn nwy 'tt "> nNobn bat mpiN m nN 01 Nio’b y o i in o ’o oi’iin np nb’b mm ooan (fol. 72r) 7011 p n by Ni’oam* uiy >01 nnoi ’pm m o .ino ntb 110 pnow n*i3 >01 w’biN’i >01 p n o >0 oy “703 7m npin yi oro bn y-i yn ba monb mivn o’bNyow’ oobo pinuw ’owbi iew lown mo mop na’oo nwoi obiyiw n n bio in yi pnwn in o’wryo on mb Nio’b nn nnib ’m i niNio’b ’t Ni’oim o np m b o’o’ ’1 7m iimon 111N NO’obp pmowN ’moi’o biibi Nbaimi p’o m Nio’b nn ’NibN ib’w lowba imp niNio’b '1 00’bN noh 'tt i"b mN bio n m p Nipoio o’o nwyi Ni’oionon oy myo bio pin nwy »mi nopiN ’i mN bio lowbi o>owm nibpi i»yo >0 101 001b ooiwni o’om m in i bw p’aobNi ’in ibN bn mN ’baa bom w n 101 o’biy o»w’bwni onion o » o n n oni abnn N’apoi n o n ’owban nwiyw mbnon bi nwiyi o m o on o’biwi on ibno Nbo ’ba npn oni n o n ’owban 101 nmb nwiy Nin inioib m m om 71m o’wi n3w np moib n y mo ibnn N’ap’ nao o’wn ibnn 711111 o’on .000 Nini nbyob nbiy Nin nyw mNi o’on 71111 noob ypiw nioi ’bnioi in >b’03ioiN ’owbi im p o’W’bwni ’owbi ’o pup o’owni ooiwni o’lio o’owm yiwNm ,non ’oobm 101 nbiya nwiyi bNnoi Ninw ow by nnmNn by Nin moib 7’oim .ibno m i’ o’biyoi im o o n io o’W’bwni nwoo 000 nnN nao npn onw m no mmN mbno n o i ib w’ m iowbi oipo o’mmn 7m 000 nao o’w banb 01 wni i n i bi Nam o’y-rmi m on yi yo bi mwob 110 0 1000 oyo mwob mpib m p noh bib 110 01 .mo .non lowbin 101 b’yioi 110 Nin m 710 Nam

22. My emendation. MS: troa.

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To remove warts:92 Take pigeon’s blood and add to it pulses the same quantity of each, lizard’s excrement and figs’ milk;93 make an unguent and anoint the place. Then take skinks, salt them and wash (fol. 72v) the place well with the distilled water; it will remove them. Another remedy: Take two ounces o f marking nut honey,94 half an ounce of tar and an egg yolk, and make an unguent like that mentioned above. For toothache: [First] check if [the teeth] have holes, or are black or green. For the black ones: give him hieralogodion95 or hierapigra Galieni96 to eat, and at night give [them] to him to drink with some wine to rinse [his mouth] three or four times. Then take henbane root, serpentine root and ground ivy, half an ounce of each; two drachms of swallowwort root; maidenhair fern,97 garlic,98 spikenard, mastic and date kernels, half a drachm of each. Boil all this in strong vinegar and filter it; then add two glasses of honey and cook it; finally, wash his teeth with it and it will relieve the pain immediately. For toothache, only if [the tooth] has no hole: Take the root of a walnut tree that has never bom fruit and extract its juice; pour it into the ear on the opposite side [to the aching tooth] and it will relieve the pain immediately. Another remedy: Extract the juice from a Florentine iris root, pour a drop [of it] on the nose and let much phlegm out; it will cure [him] immediately.99 Another remedy: Take strongly burning water, take fresh wool and soak it in it and apply it to the outside of the aching tooth and then on the inside. Take three kinds of pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg, half a drachm of each; laurel root, berries and root of ground ivy,100 and mastic, half a drachm of each; cook them with a fistful of honey101 powder and a part of vinegar and, then, sieve [the result] in a fine cloth. He must clean his teeth with this. To kill worms in the teeth: Take nine grains of pepper, burnt garlic root and henbane, and make something like pastilles from this with pure frankincense; make a fumigation of this and the worms will fall out; you will see the proof on the water. Another remedy for toothache: Take yellow amber102 and put it into the fire and then extinguish it with burning water; lead the smoke through a tube into the teeth and it will cure [the pain] immediately. Another remedy: take the [whole] peel of a pomegranate and put in it sage, pennyroyal, zedoary,103 galingale, ginger and mastic, a drachm of each; then add juice of bitter pomegranate and boil the above-mentioned ingredients; [also] add some old wine. Then he must rinse his teeth with this, and it will cure [the pain] immediately; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take a colocynth apple (fol. 73r) and pour good wine into it; then add black pepper and pellitory104 and, after it has been cooked, add some more wine and, then, he must rinse his teeth with it. And make this gargle:105 Take boiled sweet wine, dyamoron106 and oxymel of squills,107 one ounce of 132

Edition and translation

nNobn nNi3i nwa inN bao ooivn nm nm 01 np w n monb o w i onboo owom np 73 inN oipon nwoi nnwo novi o o n h abni ’3 m piN 7ibm np inN piv .omon nai oipon (fol. 72v) p o 7m oiN3ivi .b>vb 1303 nnwo novi nan o iw mpiN om ymv nvpw baNb in n m n o b mpii> in n m n o in p maipi on nNin o o w n aNab in l N3n nbiba p o vo o v m n ob1b p i Nimbi N in a n io in iiNnnb n io P o N o o n o n i ’ N N iw aio* o i w i io»poii o i w np 7 3 inNi o ’ ova ’1 o n o n nioav pW 3 o m i bN n w b ia ’n ’2 nNOiioio v n w mpiN om inN iam a o w n 7 3 inNi p o n 7 3 inNi pin 70 1m boan ni P ’n om inN bao o o w n aNab . t o 13N3 t o o io w 13 7 m 7 3 inNi miN boam 0 3 1 m oia ’3 pNn 7m o ’ wm 7 10 1 Nonm n a n oi Nbo io n 0 1 1 0 np ,api na pno i a P i n ao o w m 7 >on Nonm o i n t n o i w np inN p iv p o 13N3 t o o 7 ann bv npi 33 i i o o > a iw o>o np in # piv t o N am n n n nmb Nonm ooinn bv o o a a o ni o w n inNi 7 inao naNian ion bv o w m o w a m o m nnb 1 0 3 o ’ N i o p i n a b i o n ’i i om inN bao N ip o io io n Nbop o>baba ooa ’1 np bN’ o la v o 7111N Nbo o v ni boom n om inN bao 7 10 3 0 w o n w o i T N i .low 13 7 3 m p i i >33 in m v n inNi io in o in N pbm 7 110 o>ow 0 H 0 1 baba o n m 'o np o o w a o oivbmn nionb iban n o p n ovn m oi nai nnab o vo o v n m v ioa novo ionpoio o w m [ii 3 N]pp np o o w n 3 N3b inN piv .oion p o nNim noob oivbmn Nano o o w n 7 1m bann bapn m a ia o a i o i a i w 0 10 o v moan inNi ON3 bnbi “ bNioo bNn obi a nNobo iama o w m p o n naibp np inN p iv t o io n i noun iama boao 7ion pon 10 np 7 3 inNi ’n m N bao pW 3 0 n a o o m an np inN p iv .fa t o N aio io w 13 730 1 7 3 inNi 101 pi iama o w u n o baba iama o w in m 3 10 pi iama bnam (fol. 73r) N iw rp b ip ni n o vi io w 13 730 1 inNi inN pi iama o w n boiao m n w ai no>biai mpiN m N bao N w ib p o N b io w p w i p n o N in boiao pm o pi np m o r o n

23. My emendation. MS:

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each, and mix all together; take white ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, pellitory, caper spurge,108 mastic and roman galingale,109 one and a half drachms; and take three ounces of mustard, boil it with half a pound of strong vinegar and leave it soaking over three days; then boil [all of] them [together] and gargle. If he feels heat in the teeth, take vervain and sage and boil them in strong vinegar; take slags, heat them and pour them into the vinegar; the smoke must go into his mouth. If his cheeks are swollen, make these bags: Take cumin, mint, henbane oil and mustard,110 equal quantities of each; red roses, citron leaf, myrtle leaves, pigeon seed111 and white poppy seed, a drachm of each; make small bags and boil [them] with white wine; [then] put them on the spot and the swelling will disappear. Another remedy for toothache: It would be good for him to wash his teeth once a month with spurge112 juice and good wine; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Make a pastille of salt and flour, bum it to ashes and spread it over the teeth. Another remedy: He must pour the juice of the ground ivy herb into the ear on the opposite side to the aching tooth; if it hurts, some of this will in the end [relieve the pain] in most cases. Another remedy: The juice of the sweet flag113 herb dripped into the nostrils will cure [the tooth]. Another remedy: Put henbane seed on burning coals and fumigate the teeth with this; it will kill the worms, if there are any inside, and relieve the pain. Another remedy: Take black cumin flour and spread it over the teeth with caries and cavities, it will cure [them]. Another remedy: He must apply powder of burnt date kernels to the teeth and it will cure [them]. Another remedy: He must fill the cavities in the teeth with turnip root and [also] mb them [with it], it will cure [them]. And he further said: If someone takes the root of the herb horsetail114 and he hangs it from his neck, he will never feel the toothache; it has been tried and tested. And he also said: He must boil dyaltea115 with wine and apply it to his teeth, it will cure [them]. Another remedy: Take five ivy berries and boil them with rose water in a [whole] pomegranate peel [placed] on burning coals, that is, very hot ashes (fol. 73v), and anoint with this soup the aching tooth. I, the writer, tried this and it was very beneficial for me, but I added [rose] oil instead of [rose] water. Another remedy: He must apply dwarf elder root to the aching tooth and it will fall out by itself. And the sage said: Heat henbane root until it is very hot and put it on the aching tooth, it will fall out in tiny pieces; [but] be careful not to touch the healthy ones [with this], because they would all fall out. And Ibn Slha said: If he takes red coral and places it in the cavity in the tooth, it will be cured immediately. And he further said: If one hangs celery root from one’s neck, [the tooth] will not hurt any longer.116 Another remedy: Take eyebright wood and sharpen one end, heat it in a fire until it is very hot and scorch with it the aching tooth, and [then] apply theriac [to it]. 134

Edition and translation

P'onn 'awo’bN Nbnp ainw baba p b b'am npi m oy m aaym pm '{nin Namb nm oy bwam baan ni'piN '? npi w 'tt n o n nan? .o n m nwym oniN bwan anNi o'm ’? nawni npi pm p i n a oniN bwai nN'ibw w » n : np on'wa omm ib nap' oni niroaj o»nbn oni .in 71m p y n bapi '(mnn -fin pbwm Dnnm btaa i n mwa mN ban w'anwi 'n»pwi' inw Nwnn pna np o'pwn ibN nwy o'pw nw yn’aa mN ban p b anaa yat oni' yai o m 'by nanN nby n m m am o'l'w n aNab anN piy .nain a’ on oipnn by o'wn p b p’a bwan onop nnpi nbn mN pay ,i"a am p' oy o’ o awy p n n wana mN oya imw '(innb n t t ' n awy p n mN piy .on'wn by m m paNb b'yim iwn by o'wi aNn WNa onn 'm 'pwi' waiw oann a»Ni .1'bNn bian naNian Ni't? pN a»Ni .obia iba' 'a niN'aaa yv Nbw amwm nia'nnb biam naNian nbn' ' 3 N waiw my a»Ni .am Naa' on'wn am ym o’ wi o m b"aip npibn WNa innnnn iwNaa an inwyn Nuna ^y np anN piy .aiy a'Na' Nbi m m .NpN'ao i'by o'wn naNian iw by nn nnn nna nwyi aNn

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The sages of Greece said: If he rubs the aching tooth with the tooth of the fish called dolphin, it will cure [him] immediately. And they further said: If he cuts three branches of a virgin date palm that has never borne fruit and touches his teeth with it, it will cure [him] immediately; it has been tried and tested. The sages of Babylon said: If someone takes a heron’s beak and hangs it from his neck, no pain or ailment will ever occur in his teeth. They said: If someone takes the big tooth that all hares have and rubs with it the aching tooth, it will be cured immediately. They said: Divide in four parts the tooth of a wolf and with the fourth part touch all the teeth, they will never hurt; it is also beneficial if you carry it, and the same holds good for the tooth of a dead man. For the teeth: Take [a piece of] parchment that is ritually fit and write on it, “pwlt mh qysh Iwgyh”; take a white linen cloth and put it over the letters and bind them inside the cloth; he must put the knot into the ear on the side that aches, cover his head completely and sleep; it will cure [him]. In the country of Greece they tried this [remedy] and found it true: Immediately when you hear [from] a man that he suffers from toothache, tell him to stay in front of you for a while. Take a sharp instrument or a knife and engrave on a stone or wall these three names: “gpytw s m tygrytw s 1sprytw s”. Use the same instrument with which you engraved [the names] to forcefully touch the first letter until a hole is made in it; while touching it, ask the patient: “do you feel a stabbing pain?” If he answers yes, do the same with the second letter and ask him the same question as the first time, and so with all the three names’ letters. Before you have finished doing this with all the three names’ letters (fol. 74r), the affected [person] will say that he does not fell a pain at all; then you will say to him: “go in peace.” To whiten the teeth: Take cuttlefish bone that has been melted with burning coal of willow [wood], pound it to powder, make pastilles of it with egg white, and then mix one [of the pastilles] with white wine; then he must clean his teeth with this. Another remedy: [Take] burnt deer’s antler, mastic, red roses and henbane seeds, the same quantity of each, and mucilage117 of terebinth trees;118 pound [all this] to powder and rub the teeth [with it]. Another remedy: Take the same [quantity] of sulphur and of salt, put [them] inside a woollen cloth and rub the teeth with it. The sages of Greece said: If one takes asta marina119 and cuttlefish bone, three drachms of each; spodium,120 pomegranate,121 sumach and myrtle seed or leaves, half a drachm o f each; deer’s antler burnt in the fire, coral and alum, a drachm of each; red bricks and saffron, half a drachm; pounds [all this] to powder, makes pastilles with egg white and, when they are dry, takes one of them and soaks it in good white wine or rose water and [then] he rubs the teeth with a red cloth, it will whiten the teeth and they will be white like snow; it 136

Edition and translation

,my n m o t o Nam pabn 24Nnpin in iwo niNian w nmon p’roan n o w t o Nam inwi pn yin obiyo na n w i Nbw bmi non "po o w i w b nmnn .V'n

i n i o w ib n’t Nb n N m nbnn wwiNn o w m npibn b n ’p in n o w iw 1 1 non ibm w nbim ninN iw npibn n»Ni .obiyb o n w i ’bin o w i bi yn ’ynn pbnoi o’pbn ’nb in i bw iw pbn inpNi .t o Nan’ niNian mmip ooip pnoN maoN [ 'tt] b i t i n bin oN’ ooibi pm nmbp non .VT on’on '(mm piNb bon 01m ’t t ipn boo ’NibN mb

imaoi mo y n mibi nan nn monbi oini monbi O’linni my pibnb inbp nnn nmo n’piN inN bon Noono ntpn bNon nbn n»mN np onnn 26n’ym p’om ’tt inN bin onN pm o ym >\yn3 ’I’oup ’I’owin ns’bp np *p ioni om o’nya in '(mn mo pn m bi bom 'tt T ion bin Nbono Nipom NbN> np monb .oonnni on’on mm no noy Nbo ion ’piooa nmbp mriN nmbp om ’by nnn nmo ’tt nn t o bin ’on bnbi T t o bin miNnip ovtn mi pb oin>tn 'tt ’NibN mb t t ’in t o bin onbioi n’piN (fol. 74v) oioint nnpm pin ’ini ’tt t NO’bn ’by 'tt noy’ ’im n’piN nip m p u m’piN '1 pym Nbi o’pini nnobi '(’bniN omo in oion ’n inN piy .on’o iy n n t o o’oi NO’bn ’n oy ’bibn .onN biiNb bom mnn p’om oiyb’ mN piy .mi pin’ onmo noy in n’by o’oi NonpbN npi '(mnb ib pm bin nyn nn monb [...] in pibn ym oy pm bi pyaon tip pmo oyi NO’bnm Niinnn pin Ni’01 n’n’o oipn n m n onii nn nb o ’o noNb npo pN in n .p n n pm b nm p’ion o’bpo ’n oi’n ’in t o ’Nn o m i 27o’oi/io/pb pm in o’om nm o noy noyi o’m [o’bpo] ’n pinn ooip o’bpo ’1 Nmn o’bpo .i t pmpi nip n m mo nn 010 bi nnn 0 1 np mpmi on on mop imoybi mbvnn “ nm ti popnb mnm pb Nim oninn Nin pmn non nbn Nin pbobN piNi o’ono minn

to n

26. My emendation. MS: uy>ix 27. MS: tpvnnp^, with the syllabe 28. My emendation. MS: nnon.

id

over *n in order to correct it.

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The Book o f Women’s Love

flour; make a poultice [of this] with nettle juice and apply it to the breasts. Then, take a fine lamina of lead and put it on [the breasts]; she must always wash [them] with nettle juice and myrtle oil. Almanzor133 wrote: Pound a stone used for sharpening knives, mix it with rose water and anoint [the breasts]. Hailstone is excellent for this. Another remedy: Take mud and fresh oak gall, pound [them] and knead with honey; spread [over the breasts] and let it remain [there] for a day; then wash with water. Repeat this many times. Another remedy: Take the same quantity of natron and stavesacre, and knead them with henbane water and myrtle oil; anoint [the breasts] with this, it prevents lice from proliferating and armpit hair from growing. Another remedy: Take cumin, grind it, knead it with water and cover [the breasts with it]; put on this poultice a cloth soaked in vinegar and water, bind it [round the breasts] and do not remove it for three days. Do so three times a month; it has been tried and tested. To make a woman’s milk flow: She should always eat the breasts of cows and goats that are breast-feeding. Another remedy: Take satyrion oil, skinned aniseed and fennel seed, one ounce of each, and pound them to a powder. Let her eat this powder regularly with a dish (fol. 75r) in which intestines134 have been boiled. The sages of Greece said: Take skinned pistachios, parsnip, white radish seed, and garlic and onion seed, equal [quantity] of each; fennel and aniseed, an ounce of each; and two ounces of chickpea135 oil; and prepare an electuary with half honey and half sugar. Let her eat it with aromatized wine; and let her always eat a dish of pulses cooked with goat’s milk, and then drink of the milk itself. And they said further: To drink ground pearl with ass’s milk is very good; it is also good to drink the juice of the herb vervain; [this is good] even for expelling the placenta. Another remedy: Make an unguent of mustard oil and chickpea oil, equal [quantities] of each; she must anoint herself with it behind her shoulders. To increase [the quantity] of milk from a woman: Take me leaves and clean branches of vine shoots and boil them in goat’s milk; she must drink it regularly, [for them] it will be helpful. Another remedy: Write on the right breast “bswsyh yrwkswsyh”, and on the left breast, “The famine was still severe in the country”.136 To stop the milk: Take basil seed, chaste tree,137 savin and dried me; make pastilles with basil water and mb on the breast. Another remedy: Take chaste tree powder, savin, dried me and mint; make a powder [of them] and let her drink. The sages of Greece use this poultice, which has been tried and tested: Take chaste tree, horsemint,138 mint and basil, an equal [quantity] of each; and flour of pulses; make a poultice with basil water and apply [it] to the breasts. They also use this electuary: Take rosemary139 preserve, satyrion 140

Edition and translation

o o n p id nnN n m n by o ’wi Na’om N -p a o y n w in n n nw y i p b ia n n p i 2,niao»bN aa ia i .o n n in w i Na’om N > m m a n ^ > 1 1’by o ’wi p n m m y m b fn an o ’aDNni o m b y m m - n i >0 id nny n p a o n in p n n n o w p N p in w n w nnn bnai w m ai nb 'p y i p o n p n m u pay .m b d n o ny m n m w a m n n n p m N pay , n m o ’n y a p nw yi o ’n n Njmn i d nnN i 'n o p nam N’o n m y aw N ini id m m t r m ia w i ’a ” p w i’ ’a n inbnai p b n a p b n NnanawNi nna m u n i ’a n bnai p in w i p m n p d o n pay . m o s b a ’n w n ny’wi b n ab a o ’aDn p o> m ’a ny m m n n Nbi n w p i o ’m ^ m n n b n w d id m o m by p n o n ’by .i”d w in bDD o ’n y a ’a n w y n

law np nnN pay .nip’aa nnyi am 9 h i man ’baNn nwNb abn N’anb pDNn m mann pdn nwy’ mpiN nnN bao nmw ym npiao oon y m ’m ow o ’iod np p> ’m n moNi .wano id ibWDna iw n (fol. 75r) b’ WDn oy biaNb o ’in nmw ym mwo nnN ban o ’bsni o’ mw ymi pas ymi waaowm o ’pian ’ami wnn ’am oy nnpnn nwyi m’p w 'd wmm’ w iawi mpiN nn.N bon iy Dbn oy bwinn omym b’ WDn -pan baNm owinn p’ oy baNm Nnpio Dio paiN Dbn oy pmw n b ran n” nw my imaNi .insy nbnnn nnw 7a nnNi nn’ wn nwy nnN pay .N’bwn b’ Qnb oa nNn dio Na’nnn Dwy 'pa n” nwi tn o mannb .mana nnN ma nwan niwa nnN baa wmm’ w iawi bnnn iaw a nb’ an ntoii ony nbnn obwai o ’am p a nbibi N in ’by np nwNb abn aynni bNnw ttd i "n’oioDim m oioa" p a ’ nna nma nnN pay .b’yin mnwb .’PND "TDD

nwyi nwD’ Ntm nphw wiowp 10 ymn Nip’bin np abnn p’ oanb Ni’iw wiowp 10 pdn np nnN pay .onnn by mo’i ip’bin ’ a oy Npanamo np V’d Nini nwiannn m mama p> ’ oani .nnwi pdn nwyn Noam nwa’ Nmn nwyi omym nop niwa ton bao ip’bia Noa’ a Nnowoaai wiowp 10 lamwaip np ainpnon m mama oa .onnn by o’ wi ip’bia ’a oy nwunn

29. My emendation. MS.:

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preserve, balm preserve and borage preserve, one ounce of each; chickpea oil, pistachio seed, and bread [made] of toasted almond grains, two ounces of each; aniseed and fennel seed, half an ounce of each; cinnamon flowers, white ginger and clove, half a drachm of each; three grains of musk, seven grains of amber, and sufficient honey and sugar; make a medicinal powder.140 She should take [this] at any time she wishes. To discover all that a woman has done, and also a man:141 Take the tongue of a goose and put it on their breasts while they are sleeping and they will tell you all they have done. Another remedy: Take three leaves of a walnut tree that has never borne fruit and write on each one of them these three names, ‘n f ‘n f ‘nfi then, put the [leaves] on her heart while she is sleeping and she will confess whatever she has done; it has been tried and tested. The sages of Greece said (fol. 75v): Also if you put the lodestone, that is called magnet,142 under her head and if she has committed adultery, she will be afraid and fall out of the bed; if not, she will embrace her husband tight. They further said: [Take] chicory root that has been collected during the night of the summer solstice,143 put it on her heart [and] she will tell you all that she has done. And they said about this: if one takes a bird called gurab, 144 and in foreign language comella145 - which I have heard is a small raven - takes out its heart and puts it between her breasts while she is sleeping, she will confess everything. To know and find out if a woman is a virgin: Take a pine nut146 and open it, pour into it tar and put it on burning coals; take a tube and put one end over the burning coals, and the other end in her womb in order to make the smoke go into it. If the smoke reaches her mouth and is bitter, she is not a virgin; if it does not, she is a virgin. You could do the same to a barren woman: if the smoke goes up to her mouth and is bitter, you will know that she is barren; if not, she is closed but not barren.147 To find out if she is a virgin: Take zyyrm and let her drink it unknowingly with wine; if she is not a virgin, she will urinate immediately. Another remedy: Take lupin and put it on the fire while the girl stands in front of it. If she is not a virgin, she will need to urinate immediately; if she is a virgin, she will not urinate. The sages of Greece do this experiment: the girl must urinate over marshmallows in the evening, and bring them in the morning; if they are still fresh she is modest and good, if not, she is not. To restore a woman’s virginity: Take myrtle leaves and boil them well with water until only a third part remains; then, take nettles without prickles and boil them in this water until a third remains. She must wash her secret parts with this water in the morning and at bedtime, up to nine days. Another 142

Edition and translation

b a o m m a N a a n y n p m > t»a N a a n y n p p n o m

rr>piN t o

N a a n y n p w io in

y a i p o n y a i n n p iN ' i a n N b a o o n p v y n v b p o n b i o o o a y a i o r n n y i o w ' t t o m a n N b a o ’b a i a o p b b > a m N b o p b a b a N ’i

7ia n b N

n w y i i p i a o n i n p ip i w a a

naa m p iN o m a n N b a o a o iw oooni ’i N a o N oooni b p o i o

.ma>\y ny\y in w a m in a o n y i

n o in

pw b n p

worn

oj

nwNn nnvyw

no

ba nibib

obiyo na n w i Nbw t o n ^y >by b np anN piy .wyw no ba 7b n on oo\y> NP\ya nab by ony 7a anNi 7iy nm nn\yy o n i nmiwNao n n n nniN o’Wi 0010 paipw naNiwn nNmpn \ym\y 7iy PONi .niaa nbya pann wb o n i noon byo biam ana 1’by poni .nnvyyw no ba 7b non nab by onyi non naipn b’ba 30/o/pbin onyi iab np pp any Ninw myowi Nbboaip 32iybai 31aai Napin py npibn .ban m m mvy> Npwa n m pa o ’w i n a i i a m a o n y i i n n n a n i p > n a n p om n

7i n a

nbma nwNn o n a>anbi nyab

a n N WNai o ’b n m b y a n N WNa o n y m n a a i a w n p i o ’b n i n b y

o n i n b m a n n N n a o m n o n>a n p w y a n a o n m n n>a

7in b

7i n a

p y n nby> o n i n a i n a p y n oia> \y n a

p y n nby> o n n a p y b n v y y n p i n b m a n p iN b

nbma n p o n nyab . m p y anN piy t o p n w n n b m a n n N

nb in i a m n p

N bi n o m o n p iN b o n i n a p y

N nab n p

o n i p> o y n n y n > m b a n m w b

on i pnw nb

7a o a n

a m n b m a n n N o n w n o n a b n a y in n p m

a a y w n b o b y n a y in p n w n

p>oin ni onyiy p> mam .p n w n

WNa o n y i

Nb n b m a

np

.iNb iN b o n i n a i o i n y n s n p m n b i n o n o n i N o N > a n a p a a i a n N vn b w b n i n n y

ay o > o a no> b w a i n a n nby n p mbmia nwN annnb ay o m a nnam i m p n b p N \y N n o a iN n p 7a

o n n o m n o ^ n a n w ’b w n

30. MS: nptttn, with the letter o over n in order to correct it. 31. My emendation. MS: lit. 32. My emendation. MS: lybn.

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remedy: If she dissolves white alum in hot water and washes her secret parts [with it], it will restore her to her previous state. Another remedy: Take nutmeg and grind [it] to a powder; put it in that place and [her virginity] will be restored immediately, and this is a secret. To be like a virgin: Take ‘y rmn t 149 and bum it to ashes; put the ashes in that place and she will be like a virgin. To make a wife please her husband: Take bwbyt150 gall and salt, pound [them] and put it in that place; she will be like a virgin that same night. To find out if a woman will conceive or not: Take an oak gall (fol. 76r) that has no holes and wrap it in a new clean white cloth. Then, insert it into her womb, after having been purified of her menstruation, and leave it there over three days. Then, break the oak gall. If you find inside a black worm she will never conceive; if it is red, she will conceive thanks to drugs and medicaments. To find out whether a man or his wife is infertile: Take two vessels and put into each one some oats together with some rubbish. He must urinate in one of them, and she in the other. Leave the oats within these vessels with the aforementioned things during nine days. The vessel in which no oats can be found belongs to the sterile one.151 To terminate a pregnancy: She must drink cold water after intercourse. To conceive, you must ripen [her] nature with this syrup: Take pellitory, fennel, crocus, asparagus, cinquefoil, couch-grass, oregano, marshmallow, fresh rosemary, sage, lavender, greater and lesser madder, pomegranate, pennyroyal, dwarf elder root, elder, radish, wood sage,152 sea coral and sea bramble,153 a bunch of each; violet, senna and polypody, four ounces of each; anise, fennel,154 dyamace,155 borage flowers, dodder,156 French lavender,157 two kinds of sweet flag, galingales, saxifrage, gromwell,158 bistort root and cinquefoil seed, one ounce of each; camel’s hay,159 spikenard, Celtic nard, asarabacca160 and cassia wood, half an ounce of each; and six pounds of honey. Make a syrup of this with good-smelling white wine. After the nature has ripened, she has to be washed with this: Take two drachms of condito;161 meadow-saffron and vegetable turpeth, two scruples of each, and half a drachm of leafy spurge.162 All this should be kneaded together to make pills; after the washing she should conduct herself properly for three days;163 on the fourth day she must have a sweet water bath in which marshmallow and rosemary flowers were boiled. When she gets out of the bath, give her three drachms of trifera magna together with a decoction of mandrake and bistort root, one ounce of each. She should take this bath [every day] for three days and each day she will have trifera magna before going to bed at night. Afterwards you will come to her; she must drink wine in the morning and in the evening. When she is in the bath, she 144

Edition and translation

o’nn o>m pb oPn 70m on nnN p p . o’m ’w oy noowm npoo mono o’wi oqn nwyi Nopwin ion np nnN p p .nmmpii monm mono ^nom o’wi noyb pnwi umo’n np nbmao nonb .oiw Nini o’n io’wo oipn miNo n’soy biw nbya o p a in Niaob WKb .nbmoo mnm oipn miNo noynn .nbP nniNO nbmoo rwim oipn miNo o’wm pnni nbm moion moan nmpi mow (fol. 76r) NbNj np nnn Nb in n o n nvwb pnnnb omyo nmoon nnnnw nnN nnnoo inmw 70 nnN pb win ’pi -nao miN obpb noynn Nb mnw nybm no N*nn o n NbNin now 70 i o n i o’m '3 ow N’n o n inwNb W’N pa pnanb .niNiooi oomw n> by noynn o i o n o n i Nini nowN wyn oy byiw nbiow onN boo o’wi 0P0 '0 np ,Nin i n nnpy 'w noon oy noon Poo nbiown mm onN Poo pnwn N’m nnN Poo pnw’ onp o’n nnwn p p n n boob .npy Nin oPown iNum Nb low Pom o’m .nnbiyo nnN onno Pipoo Pwnw’9 mpb ,710’WNn mo yown nbnn bwia> ppnb Nbnnb nN’Pw nb pnn win nN’wbN opoin ’O’nni pb’9 nwio oodwn ’oiwoo’N non pionw wPioin wnw bN’n obio ’wwibo mwpi nbrn nN’oio ’o nnN bon moPio o’WPino nniN nnN bon Ninn Pionw onn »Ninp mpN o’n '0 wiop’wwN ’wipwip oomo nno onnNO nwon ’won ni’piN wppwN mpiN nnN bon pbnwio ym ’woiwwn wnw Piwb’n onowpw no’w n won mpiN otn nnN bon oP N’wp ionon Np’wbw pnwN om pnwN mo wmo’ yown bwonn nnNi nnn oiw pb p> oy “ pmwN nwy’ 'nwP nn NbioN bianpwN ’0 nnN bon wnmw wPpio innN ’nn ’o Nwmo mpb ’n 01m oNno o’m 0 inmn wnnn nnNi wbibn inn iwyo bon omy> ’nn ^nnnnn nnNsm omn mo nN’wbN 10 imbwonw o’pinn o’no ^nnno too’ wmww’o wmwi Nbirmn wnw iN’wipn oy nbm ONin Nonw 'nn 0 nb in’ noow nyo Nnonwn bopn 01’ booi o’m 0 ^non m ^nnnoi .n’piN nnN bon ^nnno nni’noi .onyoi p’ nnwn npooi mby Non nnNi nb’bo

33. My emendation. MS: vyD.

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must wash all her secret parts with the bath water in which were boiled laurel leaves, savin leaves, and galingale leaves, marshmallow, calamint, oregano and pennyroyal, (fol. 76v) When she gets out of the bath, she must take the trifera with water of mandrake root in the above-mentioned dose, and then make a fumigation. She must apply [this fumigation] to the orifice: An ounce of laudanum, half an ounce of storax calamita; myrrh, frankincense, mastic, musk cassia,164 liquid alipta,165 storax and madder, three drachms of each; [all this] must be ground to a powder and kneaded in the shape of an apple of amber. She must take three drachms of it, put it over burning coals and make a fumigation from below. Then, she must put in the orifice a drachm of calamint pounded and kneaded with honey, and leave it there for three days. After doing this for three days, she must stop using the above-mentioned things, be bled from both the saphenous veins and get used to [taking] this electuary at any time, because it has been tried and is good. To become pregnant: Take bistort root, ginger, clove, mace, nutmeg, grated elephant [tusk],166 cinnamon and galingale, an ounce of each; pistachios, pastilles of dyarrhodon,167 dyanison,168 long and white pepper, half an ounce of each; white and red ben,169 spikenard, sweet flag and balsam fruit, three drachms of each; spodium, pomegranate, rosemary, roses and myrtle, two ounces of each; citron rind, balm, aloe wood, French musk, musk alipta and storax calamita, one and a half ounces of each; cinnamon, cumin, musk, amber and balsam, two scruples of each; and five pounds of sugar. The above-mentioned bath must be had together with the abovementioned concoction an equal number of times - half in drops, half in the bath - and she must do all that is mentioned above. Another variant, helpful for pregnancy, from the Book o f al-Zahrawv. take a bunch of marshmallow, four ounces of rosemary and one ounce of bistort root. Pound all together; it must be boiled in fragrant pure wine until it is reduced by a third.170 Make a concoction of up to four pounds. She must drink a full glass of the concoction in the morning and in the evening. After having done this for ten days, she must take three drachms of trifera magna and horsemint171 mixed with the decoction before going to bed at night. She must do this during a whole month until the end of her menstruation. Afterwards, she must take a bath in which rosemary, marshmallow, calamint and oregano were boiled; she should bathe in it for two or three days. Then, she must take some of the calamint mixed with honey, make pills [of it] the size of a walnut and wrap them in a fine linen cloth that should be put (fol. 77r) in the orifice, where it should remain for two days and two nights. After having done that, she must lie with her husband. She must do this several times a year until she conceives. For pregnancy: Take aloe wood and thyme, half an ounce of each, and a drachm of amberseed. She must pound the aloe wood and the amber, mix 146

Edition and translation

o n ’o 7 n n s ’o >7v Ni’iiw >7v i n * ’7v i7wi2’i 't r n r n ’02 n n n o 72 'j m n ’o o v N2i 2’2o n n p t m o n n o o n iq i (fol. 76v) ,7n3’2 ’7 is o in iN o in 7 p 1327 i p n o ’wm pw ’V 72 20n nw vm n7vo7 022110 111022 N7132210 woiw N 2p010 ’’Wp p ’OHO ’3’2’7lN N2’0 O’pIN >20 ’0 ’0 7 p pOIOWN O’pIN o n n N n o v n ip 22 ip2W> ’t t ’3 t o n 720 nN ’212 poiowN n ’p ’7 n o q ’7n noo!? iiw’v nw vm o P r n n !?v o ’wi ’22 '3 n p m o i n 220n m a n 2N02 iom v’ OW ’3 OWIIOVO 2p12 O’WI W22 OV 021V01 W102 W3’ 07p 0 '22 O’WO20N1

7’ 32ni W3’ ’£> pOON’2 -|1212N’2 ’p 2 ’2120 ’p10W3 O’pIN 2PN 720 7 l7 l W 0 3 ’0 7’SO 0 ” O102N ’0 7 p ’223 p ’SWN OVTN1 p 7 "|N2 O’pIN ’2 n 2nN 720 712N1 p 7 ’2 20N 7 2 0 0 2 0 W’112 W103N ’N’OOl72 ’213WN ’22 ’3 20N 720 ’OW72 122p N2p o io n o 2’7 n N2N p o io n ’73 ’n i 7 n 0 ’7 ’W’7 o 3120N n s ’7 p n i’piN ’0 0 7 2 N220N pP10 O’Op ’OIOI’O ’2ni O’pIN 20N 720 ’0 ’0 7 p pOIOW’N 22130 71W2 OV 22130 O12’20 n p l ’1 01N2W’7 'O DNpIO 7l912pWN '2 2nN 720 020N N0O13 .07V07 22130 72 OWV’1 11W2N ’H02 IN 20 ’3*n2 01W2 O’OVS W21W 01’plN '2 -)’20112 nnN 0213N 0N’ o 7 n nip 7 ’2201 2200 11’207 7’VIO ow vm W’7W0 072’ 2V 7W12’ n ’20 210 71 1” 21 720 W102 O’pIN ’ONOW’2 ’’ o t 2’o n ’w onNi 7 iw ’2 o n io n 7 o 012 n p n 22V12 p 2i 'n o ’7 '2 2V iiN’v ip 2 0 0 2 7 2 o 7’72 1N’H1p 20 01 OV 03110 NO’OW721 N30 N2£3’20 '22 '3 npO O’O’ 12 17W2W 7n 202 0320 72 2nN 1 .0001 p ’OD’W 2V O W n 2’ OWVO 011 22W7 n p ’ 72 2nN 1 O’Q’ '3 IN ’2 OW 7m m ’33’21N 03’0 7 p 0N’O7N 1’20112 2322 OI 712201 113N 01027 W’7l7’3 010 OWVOI W22 OV 221VO 0 3 0 7 p 0 0 01 OWVO ’2nN1 Ol7’7 '21 O W ’2 OW NO’I 2p32 (fol. 77r) OWI’1 p2 10W2 .200W2V 03W7 O’OVa OWVOOil 07V2 OV 22WO ’ 3’ 7o 213’1 ’22 N220V V21 O’pIN ’ 3*0 20N 720 WO ’Nl7N ’ 3’7 Op ,|1’207

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them with the thyme and make pastilles of it, that should be placed on burning coals. She must receive the smoke through a tube in that place, but first [the place] should be washed with condito, theodoricon euporiston, 172 and more of the other [things] if it is necessary. A version of preparation for a compact powder: take two ounces of savin, one ounce of dried pennyroyal and rue leaves; rocket,173 caraway and savin, half an ounce of each; take a walnut-sized measure of this in the morning and in the evening. A pessary to warm up the womb:174 take clove, mace, cinnamon, balsam fruit, me, spikenard, sweet flag and frankincense, a drachm of each; alum, ywdq ’ry, 175 q w s t’bw176 ammonia, myrrh and stavesacre, half a drachm of each; all this should be mixed and ground to a powder. She must make a pessary and insert it into the womb. An electuary good for conception: Take ginger, cinnamon, long pepper, clove, mace and galingale, one and a half ounces of each; sweet flag, nutmeg, sarquina nut,177 cinnamon flower, balsam tree bark and fmit, and spikenard, two drachms of each; scabious and myrtle oil, a drachm of each; one pound of date and pine kernels, and sufficient musk honey. A bath178 good for this: Take spikenard, pistachio, pennyroyal, clove, mace, cinnamon, sarquina nut, sweet flag and frankincense, a drachm of each; costus, honey, myrrh and stavesacre, half a drachm of each. Pound to a powder and boil on a fire. Also add dill oil and elder oil, a drachm of each, and half an ounce of turpentine; put all this into a pot placed over burning coals. She must receive the steam from below. Then, boil mint, calamint, mugwort and rosemary flowers with fine white wine and make a fumigation from below. An excellent paregoric,179 good for her: take gum arabic, tragacanth, mastic and incense, half an ounce of each; pomegranate, gTrw,m yellow amber181 two ounces of each; sealed earth, sebesten,182 one ounce of each; clove, cinnamon, mace, spikenard and aloe wood, two drachms of each (fol. 77v); half a quarter of laudanum, one ounce of galbanum, and sufficient liquorice stick; make the paregoric [of it]. All this has been copied from the Book o f the sages o f Greece and is very effective. Poultice for pregnancy that strengthens the womb: Take galbanum, laurel, storax calamita, myrrh, musk alipta, 183 spikenard and sweet flag, two and a half drachms of each; rosemary flowers and lavender flowers, half an ounce of each; good shlgytym m roses, half an ounce of each; citron rind, pennyroyal and mastic, a drachm of each; musk, pine and amber, half a scruple of each; half an ounce of white185 turpentine, and red wax with red sandalwood. Make two poultices, [put] one around the upper part [of the body] and another over the kidneys. A good beverage to help conception: Take mugwort, savin, pennyroyal, balm, oregano, horsemint, horehound, calamint and rosemary flowers, two fists of each. Boil [all this] well in half a pound of white wine and, then, add some sugar. She must drink [this] in the 148

Edition and translation

bipm o’bmm bv miio mo ’pmmio nwvm ’on? ov aivn NianNni ’NibN o v i pom iNoai p m m oaian nbnro i n oipo imra maiawa iwvn m’piN '3 n io w npp pin navb n p i nco .p io n ’ o n onnNn in nmn pp’iaN non npi n’piN om inN ban n io w ’Nnp ’o n n’piN N in ’bvi wa’ Ni’bia .ION 0103 31V1 3p3 H U p ’ aWN N i n 1QOb3 la ip ’OIOI’O 0 ’0 0 ’b a il’} nip!? ON3 Ottnb pIJO N l’O OIOIN 12NOW1p ’I N p lI ’ OlbN '11 IflN b30 ’13’bN 0 ” 0101N 10bp

.oni3 ooom im nwvo p in non nwvo anv’ 'n om mN ban Nim’aowN ban bnbi ’ono ’!?3iio inN n a’a ’oionpo m o o np lavnnb 210 nnpin ib’w ’oioi’o ma Ni’p io ion Nipoio ion opoioin iobp omi n’piN mN ban o m iow nN>3NpoN 3o 3iwn pb p ov bwa’ 13 inNi noo wmo p’oun 01m pm N noo np nb 2101 nbivo piiNOia .noo p n pw’v ouin iin nopiN ’3 io n b3n mNpp rab i ’Nooiba n>piN om inN b3o inN b30 ’NibN o’b m i p’awN o’on ’omi’o ’b a m n’piN inN b30 N’wpn nwv’ ipiao n ’if’ip ’i o3V n’piN ’n iiNibi v o i om mb ’n (fol. 77v) ’3 •11N113

n3io n3Nbom yi’ ’03n ia o n pmon ni b3 Ni’o ’O’obp pnowN om b ymbi np onh pm»i imnb nwiann on n m a omi 'n '3 inN b30 o ” o i o i n ’nbp m i p’awN Nipoio Noa’b n’piN ’^n inN b3o 012101 o’oobw o m i n’piN om i o n b3o Nbmab m s ’iin mN b3n N120N pa poio 'n inN bao p’onn o ’bia n o ’o os’ou p nwvi o i i n ’buo ov noiiN mvw n’piN ’iin N3bN Ni’o iaio ’anpwN np lavnnb 310 npwo .m’ban bv inNi nbvobo an o mN oow nwiann m a oi’nbp o”3iio now oio o p i i n NW’bn bNPi N’bia n io w n p o w i n iama o’w 73 inNi pb i” Nio’b oma na’ bwai o ’a n i N '3 inN ban onn .in o

34. My em endation. MS: ' t t ' 1 'tt.

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morning and in the evening for fifteen days. After fifteen days, give her a dyatozoritonm electuary together with two drachms of cinnamon; she must not eat any pulses. After three days of eating this electuary, she must take a dry bath to make her sweat, prepared in this way: Take pennyroyal, calamint, horsemint, savin and incense, and pound them to a powder. Then, boil them in a cauldron and place under her a pierced vessel to receive the fumigation; she must cover herself well so as not to let the vapour out. Afterwards she must copulate. She should eat fat meat with boiled wheat and roasted eggs; and, after her ritual immersion, she should have condito187 of satyrion, fresh ginger and appropriate electuaries. And now I will speak of magical and tested remedies proven to be true concerning pregnancy: take the urine of boys and girls and some barley water, honey, ass’s milk and some rose oil, and distil this four or five times. Ibn STna said that the fumigation with anise cleanses the superfluous moisture of the womb. Description of a powder that retains semen, eliminates foul odours and closes the mouth of the womb: Take one and a half ounces of myrtle leaves, half an ounce of cassia wood; clove and mastic, three drachms of each, and one ounce of burnt deer’s skin. Apply all this in that place but, first, wash it with balm water and elecampane.188 Description of a fumigation (fol. 78r) good for [women]: She must take black unguent189 and make the fumigation before going to bed at night. Then, she must take oil made of nutmeg and use it together with trifera magna as a pessary an hour before intercourse. Alexander said: To take cinnamon powder in white wine and water is good. He also said: Take rosemary flowers, make a paste of them and knead them with musk oil; add hot hepatica to the above-mentioned beverage.190 Galen wrote: If she drinks horehound water together with betony water for forty consecutive days, [she will conceive].191 The sages of Greece wrote: If he takes female bear’s fat and anoints his genitalia with this and she her genitalia, and then copulates, she will conceive. They also wrote: Take raven’s eggs and rye, knead them together and make a pastille. She must have this bath: Take mugwort, pennyroyal and calamint, an equal quantity of each; dwarf elder, southernwood and rosemary, five fists of each; calamint, oregano, horsemint, horehound, the herb violet and white rose,192 seven fists of each, and boil them well. She should bathe [in this] for three [consecutive] days and, then, eat the pastille. Then, [when] she copulates she will conceive even though she is barren; it has been tried and tested. If the woman can not receive the semen: Take deer’s skin and bum it to ashes. She must take a sponge and wash her genitalia and, then, spread the ashes into her womb. She must do this for three days before having sexual intercourse. A poultice of round galbanum: Put it on the navel ten days before her ritual immersion and it will work wonders. 150

Edition and translation

nnpin nb in o w Von nnNi ow> Vo ip n n v nnom Kipio ovn biKno o w b inKi nnop o w PiKn Kbi Kbnp ' t t ’i ov iiomnoKH wnnbp bNn >nbiQ np movn nn vnnb oi> '{mo nwvb n m v nnpinn P i nmnn o w i m m b oi 71 inNi piNb winn i p t o k p io n o o o in biKm onon 71 -iron pnb p v n ki> id i o w noinm popn bipb ipun m m ym w on wpnnp P injii ombi o p h o P o n n ow n ov nmo 101 .nnbno inN nnw n mnpinn/n/i pn> in onv? p o np p in n p v bv o»noK mmon nibnon i i t k nnvi .T ik o w v d b innbpni Tn p o ovn imK P n o n o n w w ovm nnvi i w n o piKn iNn .omn p nnPn npm o > iki nopn >1 nj>o p N p k i n n mb k w p nni n’piK m n b y np ,omn >3 tiiiii iim on nwm vim w i k i o w mm n’piK 7110 m nv ' t t b t i i k bin pwon mpiK (fol. 78r) n o p n inji .Kiaip 35KbmKi KoPn w i oipnn nnn m ipi oipn np 71 nnK n n io n on p nbPi n o p nov Kim yiKwaip np on!? iw n o n p nnK nvo 71m owm k t w Kiano o v Kipoin niKn nov pw .owonn PV ioki .iw ow /ov/i p 1? v? ov npiwn Kbnp npibn >ttioPn ioni 7m on w in o w 7 1 mKi nPom p o ov wibi nop novi nnn m 3 np o w n ow> 'n Kunoi w ov n n n w nnwn o o P i m u .mnn nponn omn 7 1 nnKi kwi Kin nnvn nom n m p w npibn yi> p i n n n n .inn np p n novm nnv novi in? oPi iidwi 36m v n n np 11m tivi mvnn 'n mK bin p m m >ikoi/i/ik obiiK n w i nw oiwbp bKn nbn kiw oik ’1 inK bin Kmbw mi k o Pik i iovi n n n noom nmiK vnwbp vdiiik inni onon 7 1 inKi nnvn biKn 7 1 inKi op? b 7mm io vi obon pm iK piKb 71101 b^K n v np vitn bipb bun Nb noNn oni .i"i mpv kh? P ’ dk o n p ow> b novn p i nnm i piKn mm 7 1 inKi nnnv p n kihdok npi novn nnbno onp ow> *> onnon bv ow bnv mbs nonnn .onono

.ninm

35. My emendation. MS: t&wm. 36. My emendation. MS: ‘piy.

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To impregnate a woman, it has been proven: He must mix together the milk o f a female dog and a female bear, anoint her womb [with this] and copulate. He must repeat it three consecutive days and she will certainly conceive. To impregnate a barren woman: He must take a hare’s stomach and a fish swallowed inside another fish, and put them on a fire in a frying pan. He must pound them to a fine powder together with flour and mix this powder and the flour with water. She must drink [it] in the morning and in the evening during eight days. Then, she must have intercourse and she will conceive. The sages of Greece tried this remedy on a barren woman: Take fifteen or twenty lambs’ heads and boil them in a cauldron with water; she should bathe nine [consecutive] days in this water. Then, take a raven’s tongue and mix it with ashes, knead [it] with raven’s eggs and make a cake. She must eat this nine consecutive days and will conceive without a doubt; it has been tried and tested. Aristotle (fol. 78v) wrote: The fumigation of spikenard, Celtic nard, rosemary flowers, calamint, clove leaves and a little cassia wood is beneficial for women [to conceive]. He also wrote: if she takes civet193 and puts a little bit into the womb, it will clean it and will be very useful for pregnancy.194 A fumigation that removes and reduces [bad humours], strengthens [the womb] and is helpful for pregnancy: Take aloe wood, storax calamita and pure frankincense, an equal quantity of each; musk and ambergris, a drachm of each; pound all this to a powder and place it on burning coals. She must receive the fumigation from below; it has been tried and tested.195 A pessary good to strengthen the womb, open its blockages and clean it: Take bishop’s weed, pound it and mix it with deer’s and calf s brains; she must insert this pessary into her womb one hour before intercourse. Or make a pessary of a hare’s stomach and fox’s dung soaked in rose oil. If the woman inserts [into her womb] the extract of male coriola196 seed after getting pregnant, she will give birth to a male; if the seed is female she will give birth to a female. She should regularly eat this opiate:197 Take basil preserve, powder of the fishes called sturgeon, birds’ brains, clean walnut, the fish called starfish and chickpea seed; make an opiate and let both of them eat this. For pain in the womb: Prepare a fumigation of turpentine [for her] or let her drink balm. A clyster of ass’s or woman’s milk [put] into the womb will be beneficial.198 A poultice that relieves pain [in the womb]: Take rosemary, valerian and calamint, one ounce of each; sweet flag, storax calamita, storax, madder and aloe wood, two drachms of each; half a pound of spikenard, one ounce of laudanum, five drachms of turpentine and some wax. Apply this to the painful place but before [doing this] apply cupping glasses there, and some musk and fine amber. An unguent good for this: 152

Edition and translation

p i wown nom mo nwon in ’ r a n ibni naba abn np’ lira no# iayb in naiiN na’p np m py iw t laynnb .i n m iiy n m o m m o w ’? nwy’ aiyn nop oy iayb iy aw’n wiron wni byi ra n m o’wn ?i 71m ybno ’Oam .mm wown 7a inNi o>o> 'n n y i ip a nnwm o’ o 71m m y nop win oy m 3 7m obwam o’waao o’ wni 71 in i"w np mpyb p o m m pvyiy p oy wibi nay oy nwyi m y pwb 70 ion np o>o’ ’w ^nin o’ on Pno? o’ o a m i .i"i paw P a iiyn m o’ sim o’ o> 'w baN’i nny nwyi o m iy o o’S’i ’ wi’ obpi o o n m ai Np’ wbwp’ owNi m p’ qwno nwp iwo’ iN (fol. 78v) wyo o’ wm ni’i P n npPn ny ami 7m b’ yio oP N’ wp oyoi P am Pyi .iNO ii’inP b’yioi miN npio Nin o m n 71m ’ W’obp pnwwN ’ n P n oP np p in !? b’yio pmoi w’yooi nban nw’ p bao paN nwym ' n inN bao n p i ? n iio n i pwio mwa mN bao nai nnab mnabi ONn pi nb nnw nboia ,i"i nwo!? pw’yn !?ap’i o P n m by o ’ wi m n o m a 710 wiam b?y in !7” n moi n y i wimi win’ on np nm ppi momw biaw nb’ nani !?yiw ban m iiN m ’po nbma nwy in biwon oab nnN nyw inN inwoan iwnd la in NbiNmp ym nw’nw nwnn ooan oni .o m i iowa np m NWN’ aiN biaNb b o im .napi iP in napi ymn oni nat iP in im nn 111 ’in o tiiN maiy nio pnpowwN pupw 0 0 1 paN ppPta Nai’wip .iim onow PaN’i nwn’ qin nwyi o n i’ w ym ’aa o’ n aaia i’iipw

oma nwy? ipinn? nwPo nnwn in ni’woiiwo nw’p nwy o m n a«ab wiobp 37N?N’ibNi oon np anan moo nwiann .b’yio iihno in own abno ’nPn oP nN’an pnwwN ’w’obp pnwwN ’?” wioin iobp n’piN irw bao wyo myw ’n ’n Ni’wonw n’piN mb niwP ’sn n ? p’ awN ’n 'a t o bao NiaoN wyoi pwio wyoi aNan by nmson mwia o’w onpi aNan by o’W’i

37. My emendation. MS:

njn'P ni.

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Take lily oil and simple oil of spikenard, one ounce of each; laurel oil and liquid storax, half an ounce of each; porpoise oil, dill oil and hen’s fat, four drachms of each; one and a half ounces of flax juice, and sufficient wax. Make an unguent and anoint. A poultice for uterine frenzy and the suffocation of the womb: Take quarter of a pound of fine laudanum, half a quarter of storax calamita (fol. 79r), one ounce of serapinum, two drachms of red roses, one drachm of storax, two drachms of sweet flag and one scruple of amber. When the resins have been cleaned, they must then be poured into a mortar and pounded until dissolved. Then, spread [the resins] over the powders together with some bees-wax and knead well until [its consistency] is similar to wax. Make a poultice with some turpentine and put it on her navel, but before this apply cupping glasses there. A refreshing remedy good for her: Take galbanum, ammonia, opoponax and castor. She must mould all these [ingredients together] into the shape of [the male] member and insert it in the womb; [then] she must lie down and rest until the pessary dissolves. If she has a retention, she must wash the place with a decoction of melilot or camomile or [...]. After having washed [it], she must apply civet, musk and balsam, and make a fumigation with foul-smelling things like castor, galbanum, stavesacre or black hellebore, pellitory and alexanders;199 and [another] fumigation from below of aromatic things such as aloe wood, musk and costus. She must introduce into the womb musk oil, or camomile oil or Celtic [nard] oil, in order to drag the semen down. A fumigation helpful against suffocation of the womb: Take a fin of a fish called blanca bisangia;200 and fumigate [her] from below. It is also good to [facilitate] pregnancy.201 Another remedy: Take aloe wood, spikenard and clove, half a drachm of each, and a silk cloth, and make a pessary like a finger; it is very helpful.202 The sages of Greece make this: If one hangs from her neck asafoetida and anoints her womb with musk oil, civet and French lavender, and inserts [these ingredients] into her womb by means of a pessary, the suffocation will be cured immediately; it has been tried and tested.203 Against the womb that moves out [of its place] you should prepare this beverage: Take endive, the herb mercury,204 maidenhair fern,205 ceterac206 and plantain preserve, half a fist of each; the four cold seeds,207 endive seed, prickly lettuce seed, myrtle seed, purslane seed and quince seed, half an ounce of each; five drachms of spodium, three ounces of white wine, and a pound and a half of sugar. In the Land of Ishmael they give her a fumigation of asafoetida from underneath, and put in her hands an apple as sweet smelling as musk and amber. Dioscorides said: If you take the herb field pimpernel,208 prepare (fol. 79v) juice or powder from it and apply it to the 154

Edition and translation

nab pw npiN inN bao wiwd n u pwi ’b’b pw np mb naiw nmw» .aiw bao nbunn piwi nwon pwi wnn pw npiN nn inN bao n p ’b paiwwN .nwon nmwo nwv’ piow n mvw nm npiN pwo nn 'tt ’i inN paiwwN aiw m b Naw’b p i np om n pinobi onn ppwb nwiann 38'ai paiwwN 'tt 'i moiiN o m i npiN ’maw p i nn (fol. 79r) NW’obp fin o p n o pw a onawn T>nnbi bioiapwN NaaoN 'tt 'a n ’wioaN P p iv aw’n wowon n n wvo ov tapaNn ia m n ini ia’mw tv ownabi wnao m o n pi miaw bv o’ wm Ni’ wioaiw wvo ov nwiann n/i/wvn m ib nm>w pioioN pN’iioaN nabi np nb n o apio miaw bv nunon mwia o’ wn wo’ t v nnm aawm om n pna o’wm aaN m m a m bao nwvm aiwwp [...] in Nb’ ONONp in wib’bo yiN npi ov o p o n pian Mm n v N>n .pon o’ niaw o n a i p m op nwvm ’ owbai ptnoi Ni’itbN o’ wn n v m n anNi mwp nwobi n n w ’bN nwbm mnw ia’bN in Nait’ owwN pabn nwwp 10a p w in ii’bwio p w nom a o’ wm wwp pwio ’NibN o’b 10a o n n n o n a io pinob 7N» b’VP *no>p .nwob vnn -jwo’ w n a Npwbw p w in Nb’ OONp p v .panb aiw 01 nwob awpn m w n ’ wpiba p ip w n n aniw np ONn nwvi ’ wo n a npi ’tt nn inN bao ’boiao nai p ’ own ’NibN mb np anN mbm Ni’ wo non ni O’wiv p pam .ino b’vio Nini vaisN 10a nb’no fio a nio’ wi NiNpwio Nbn NaaibN ov 11’bwio p w ov nona nwo’i naNna .Ta pinono a’o Naan onan 7m

Nb’o pao nN’ani’N np npwon ni nwvn nmn nNmm ONn in vai onp o’vai ’1 71ain nn inN bao Naa’wip ’ii” wbo paww pnwbio nn inN bao o’wian vai Nibaiwaa vai win vai NbvapwN vat nN’ani’N bNVOW’ ^aNii .nm Naw’b laNpiw mpiN '1 pb p ’a i ’n ’iiown npiN pwio 10a ” inn nion nn’a o’wn ntwo nwno noob *nop nb o’wiv o’o (fol. 79v) moo nwvi N” b’iiap awv npibn onnpwn ioni .NaaoNi

38. My emendation. MS: *tt room pTiom '*n'i ohti. 39. My emendation. MS: rrmyy

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womb, it will return it to its place; nettle water also works. Ibn Siha wrote: if acacia powder, myrtle, gala,209 cassia wood and mastic are applied to the womb, it will return to its place. To return the womb to its place: press the woman’s belly at its four cardinal points and apply cupping glasses to the navel, it will restore the womb to its place, with God’s help. Another remedy: Take beans and celery juice, and knead the bean flour with the juice; then, anoint the woman’s belly with olive oil, warm up the paste and the celery and bandage [the belly]; she will be cured. Another remedy for the womb that has moved: Put leek in a linen cloth, wrap it, soak it in water and, then, bake it over burning coals. When it is hot, put the cloth over the womb, and it will return to its place. For ailments of the womb: Take mugwort, pound it with a fistful of extra fine wheat flour and bake it in the oven. Divide it into two parts and bandage one half under her navel, and the other half against her spine. Then take pennyroyal210 and boil it in water. To this water add wax and ground cumin and bandage her belly [with it]; it will cure [her]. Another remedy: Take marshmallow root and boil it in water until it softens; pound it and fry it with pig’s milk, and bandage it while hot over the navel. For the womb disorder: Take the filtered juice of bitter cucumber root and cook it with olive oil until the juice is consumed; anoint regularly her belly and also the womb [with this], it works wonders; it has been tried and tested. Make this pessary for an abscess in the womb: Take hen’s fat, goose’s fat and red wax, ten drachms of each; five drachms of roasted egg yolks, a drachm of myrtle, and half a drachm of crocus; make a pessary for the womb of all this, and it will cure [her]. For the hardness of the womb: Take lily root and cook it with oil under the burning coals; this softens and opens the womb. To promote menstrual flow211 you should know that sometimes women’s flowers212 are retained because she is old - when she is older than forty - and, sometimes, because of the weakness of the nature, or thick humours, or corruption of the blood, or an abscess, or anger or fear, or similar causes. If [the menstrual flow] is retained because of coldness213 the sign is that the urine is white - it would be good for her [to use] heating remedies and hot electuaries: dyaqaron, dyasatirion214 and trifera magna. If [the womb] is very hot215 (fol. 80r) the urine will be red or colourful and, then, she should take regularly cold medicaments like dyarrhodon, triasandali,216 and similar wet electuaries, such as trifera magna and the like. If the womb is moist or dry, she must regularly take the opposite to the cause that made her ill. If [flowers] were retained for some time,217 according to Galen and Hippocrates, it may cause serious fatal illnesses such as dropsy and epilepsy and several more complicated illnesses. If flowers 156

Edition and translation

m o p N p i n ni>o p N n n m .NiwmN w p w m n n w > ONn by o w m paN in ONn n n n n b .n o ip o b ro n w n ONn by o w b p w n o m b n w p Nbm o n n o n d ann> m n o n by N n o n o w i n w in in 'n o nwNn io n p a p n n o ip o b io n nwo> n n m v o n o v o>binn n o p wibi >3N p w i p b ia n p anN piy .n"yn n m u m oNb anN io y .Nanni w innni >3Nni m n y m o o n n i n n iow n nw rni o ’b n m p a w in n a m f a n n m o w n b n v n w in i n n piwa u n p n w i n n p

.noipob mmni onh by on mnwn nnn owm mwn mam N Nbo pn nbio oy nwnm mwwnN np ONn >bmb np in nnN nnnwn no nnNn o*m nmnob nnno >nnn winm oowb nypm lonn by ow wnm pmw pom myw ow own piNni own bwm bimbia nbn oy nmoi nwnm -pnnnw ny own bwm mibo vnw np nnN piy .Nmn ono o’NW’p wmwo ppno pn np onti binbnb .mnon by on winm nnn .V'n Nbn b>yw onnn pnn 01 nwn row nwoi pon mbn ny nn iown bwm nonN myw wn iow nbmnn iow np nbwan nm nwyn o n i Nome no nwy ibN bnoi ’nn >nn onnp ’nn onn ’nn ’n nnbn nmn own 'nn ’•>nnN bno p n o o>bm nnn iown bwm t>t> wmw np onp w ipe .now onnn 710 .ONn nmm n m m nwwd m p i n o n o o w m w n a mny> o w y a b n ynnw >in*i rnwb in o n n w in p o a o in m ny m m b in y n o n nwbm nono o w y a b i 'o by p b Nn> piwnw n w m m n p n o n o n n y i oni .o n w im nnm o y n in N om o oni .nw N a n o pnw w m n pnN pN n nwn m n p n o m o w o in o n nb ibom n n p n im a n b o n n ini ymn in o m nw inw n (fol. 80r) nnv n n o n m n . o n w m N ino N n a n o io n n m b n m o m m n p n o i Nbmmno p m n N n w n np > n o io i m nyi oni .n m b n o nwN n n o n f a n b o n n nw m in n n b ONn oni n n m n » a m >ipw 101 o n p in rn o m b i noNW io n o w w o o w p o>Nbn m o

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were retained because of thick blood, bleed from the right arm, from the liver vein or the heel vein, or apply the cupping glasses to the hips. Sometimes [the flowers] are retained because of haemorrhoids or obstructions; then she should regularly take seeds which make [the menstrual blood] flow such as fennel, houseleek, gromwell, celery, couchgrass, ginger, rue, horsemint, pennyroyal, spikenard, herb from Tunisia,218 savin, capers and the like. And these are the medicaments and actions to provoke and to promote menstrual flow: Take two pounds of water; mugwort and herb from Tunisia, eleven drachms of each; musk oil and laurel, five drachms of each. Pound the herbs well and boil them in water until it is reduced by half. The woman must receive the steam through the womb for ten days, three times a day; this will promote menstruation. Dry and wet baths are beneficial for her, as well as cold and moist medicines that are put on the fire. Take wine and boil [it with] savin, pennyroyal and herb from Tunisia with wine; she must drink of this wine in the morning and in the evening. Or make this:219 Take three ounces o f figs; black cumin, garden cress220 seed, cumin, anise and bishop’s weed, two drachms of each. Pound all these things to a powder and knead them with the crushed figs and sufficient calf s gall to prepare an unguent. Make a pessary like a finger and wrap it in cotton wool so the woman can insert it in the womb; this will drag the flowers down strongly, clean the womb o f cold humours and expel the wind from it, and she will be able to conceive. If she has a high fever,221 these are the medicaments: the woman should wash herself immediately with water in which marshmallow has been boiled. Also helpful are trifera magna, benedicta and hierapigra Galieni. To promote the menstrual flow and abort the foetus,222 she should take regularly this electuary, if necessary, for a long time: rhubarb, opoponax, cassia wood, black pepper, aloe, mugwort, rue, wild saffron seed (fol. 80v), castor and rocket, half an ounce of each; a drachm of herb from Tunisia and sufficient foamy honey. She must take of this confection a measure the size of a chestnut with hot wine in which were boiled rue and rocket, ginger seed, pennyroyal, savin and horsemint. Another [remedy] to promote [menstrual flow] and to expel the foetus: take rocket, black cumin, bitter cucumber juice, colocynth pulp and leek juice, a little bit of each. Make a lozenge,223 wrap it in [a piece of] wool and apply it in the womb. You should know that strong smelling medicines224 such as castor, rocket, musk, amber, aloe wood, and the like promote the flowers if they are inserted in the womb or if [the woman] is fumigated with them. A bath good for softening the nature225 and promoting [the menstrual] flow:226 Take marshmallow, mugwort, spurge laurel leaves, roses, violets, cabbage leaves, melilot, horsemint, ginger leaves, pellitory, long and round birthwort, pennyroyal, bear’s breech227 and the herb mercury, a bunch of each; flax seed and figs, a pound of each. All 158

Edition and translation

p 3 iv o i>o> v r n o m p n nwv 3V o t n o n o o ’m a n t o o n i .o>33iwn o » b n r a t n m v > o>ovQbi .o>3>3>3 m r a o n >b3 o>w in 3 p v n p 3 iv n in 333n >biwb>o obivb >n P i p o s 40io d o n o o o>vm b> n n in i o>omw in o m r w w n s p n m w w m o n i i n p>dwn biN>bra n w w io N i n >3300 41n m >3N

.om om ’>3w>b 'a o>o np n m 03 3>inbi N>3nb nibivani niNi33n in P n i m 'n nnN b30 o>33b mbwio p w '33 n'"> 3nN b30 t o o N33N ni>ow3n mi iiw>vn b3pn on3n 333 nwNm >^nb o>03 obw3ni orawvn wiron W3>i nb im o n n'p b>v101 .nnin n>3> mi o r a o>ovq ’> mm ’> 3>onn wmw N33N biN>bi3 noiw bw3ni i” np wno *iin inn>w ninbi ni3p niNimi vm vm i V3i rap nppiN ’3 oono np m nwv in .3p3i 33V nnwn p n mm ooNnn ov npnm p3Nn o>333n ibN3 ’33 '3 3nN b30 oin>on w in 1103 b3!OW 3ra3 1133 V3NN 103 110 HWV1 np3b p>3t»W 330 030 niWlODH

n n p nirnbo o n o npm pnra oTnsn jiwo> mi o n o im o>wb o w no niNionn P n pnnb nn3p nb m pn oni mvnnb mi3>i nran m oo Nonni IN NWp>31>3 N N330 N3 £)>3 U bV£>> P 03 mi NllbO blW3 >03 OWNO p n ^im n •>3NP3 N33>3 N3’3 n p n n p n o n m bi3Nb b m n 3 3 p i 3V ib>QNi 33ivn b>anbi n m Nramb >3330 01333 3>31 N313 NP0W3N >NlbN 3inW b£)b£) >3>b N>Wp p3313N >3333>3 >3 31W N33N m piN m n 3nN b 3 0 N313 31WWp (fol. 80v) V31 N3131 N313 bW301W On 1» OV 1103V 01033 npO nip3H OlOl IplSW 1>0 Nb»3 N313N n p 331V W33bl N>30b 31V 33WW30 N3>1W blN>bl3 >33>3>3 1iN>bp30 n w vi w vo p bn 3nN b 30 >033 \> o N3w>pbip m o o>30 o>niw>p iowi> o n o m a n in>3> n>3n mptn niNiain >vim .o n 3 3 o>wi 3 0 m 31331

i m o .On>0131 >NlbN mb N330 N pWlO N313 31WWP 103 p 3 1W1V0 IN ON3 >bv NW>blN>l D>331 NblN>33b >bV NP0 W3N NlbO np 3>3nbl V3 V>n 133b 310 nbnvi 0313N nN>nbiww>3N nN>3W>ba > 3300 >bv nwwwio wib>bo nvb3 3nN b30 OONO p W 3 V31 H311N 3nN b30 Nb>31p 30 NOW31N Npl33 blN’blD

40. MS: "bwblD", word that has been apparently crossed out with inverted commas. 41. MS: "nm", word that has been apparently crossed out with inverted commas and corrected with the following word.

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these things are to be boiled in sweet water, which she should bathe in. But take care that she does not enter the bath while her stomach is full or if she has not digested properly, and do not let her eat nor drink while in the bath. She needs to have the bath twice a day, remaining [there] as long as she wishes. After the bath, insert this pessary in the womb: take the herb mercury, marshmallow and dried figs, half an ounce of each; and scammony and black cumin, a little bit of each. All these [ingredients] should be pounded and wrapped with some cotton wool; and make a pessary that she must use during the day. If she keeps doing this, it will promote the flow without a doubt. If the cause for the retention is weakness of nature only, strengthen it with strengthening medicines and, then, with those that promote [menstrual] flow. If the cause is an abscess, ripen it by means of cold or hot medicines according to the nature of the corrupted humour. If it is a blood or red humour abscess, bleed her from the liver vein; [moreover] she must have cassia fruit, tamarind, myrobalan and the like. First, bandage her with [a poultice of] the juice of deadly nightshade,228 plantain, houseleek, barley flour and rose oil, in order to reduce the heat. Once you have reduced somewhat, make [her] a poultice of flax root, fenugreek, marshmallows, violets and goose or hen’s fat. All these [ingredients] must be boiled in water, and she must apply them inside (fol. 54r) and outside [the womb]; her diet must be light. If the reason [for the retention] is an abscess, take hen’s fat, the marrow from deer’s bones, white lily root and saffron, half an ounce of each; cow’s lard and crushed root of marshmallow, five drachms; and mastic and honey. All this should be mixed together, and she should apply it inside and outside the womb; it will be beneficial against the hardness of the womb and will facilitate pregnancy. If it is a cold abscess, take goose’s fat, fenugreek, dried figs, flax root and marshmallow, a part of each, and boil them with red wine; apply to her genitalia and to the womb. Aristotle said: If you bleed the woman from the vein over the heel from the inside, it will promote the [menstrual] flow. And he further said: If you insert in the womb some wool washed in mugwort water and leek juice, it will attract dampness and [menstrual] blood to the outside. This has been copied from the Book o f Al-Zahrawi. Now I am going to copy from the Book o f al-Razi and The Treatise o f Hippocrates. To promote [menstrual] flow: Take mugwort cooked in olive oil and make a pessary; but before menstruation can be promoted, she must prepare a bath to soften the nature; this is its composition: Take bishop’s weed, mugwort, laurel leaves and southernwood, an equal quantity of each. She must have this bath five consecutive days and drink southernwood [juice]; it promotes [menstrual] flow, relieves any pain of the womb and is good for 160

Edition and translation

ow omn Nbw nowi o ra 7mm o’pmo o’ on ibwm> onnin ibN bD Nio’b ^nion nnwn Nbi bDNn Nbi obwi Nb binanw in nN’bo 'doioonow nvn •pon m o’ w ^mon inNi inN o ia o’ o v n 'd '(imb bDim m ain novm nN’nopwN n’ piN a n mN bno mwn’ o’mn Niibo Nbmpio np omn noo bvnm fio nwvi p> m m 71101 iwnnp ibN bo ovo inN boo Nb’No .pno ’bn ni 1’onn on io n 01a io n i n ipino niNim ov inpin vnon nwbin r o t a Nin mvnn on ojon mb m on in n n p niNim ov bwnn n o h o nnon Nin on i .n n oon bivnn bnpm m nn p n v o pp> nonNO in 0 10 N tnion on i nNoinn nn’bn vno Nb’in n p o o mwnnn nbnm .om oin wibnmo n m o o Nbiowa N’wp o v o m opwn io n i oinn ovob n i p w i om vw nop ov obivb >n m o b s bn nbi n in in hin p iw ov w’biN’i wnbo ov p a n s inwn v n o wmn nwv .n p i nmn nnm m i p n n oi (fol. 54r) o m n o onn bivnni o ’on ibwin’ ibN p m v i pb ’b’b wnw a * m osv nio n bim n p iw np n o h o nono on i npn> w m p’o s o ' n 'n winn pwnbo wiiw m n nNon mpiN a n inN bno nip Ntnion on i .invnnbi ONn nwpb b’vi’i p n o i n a o bvnm nm m bn bwm’ pbn inN bno ’pwnibo inwn v ii o ’wn’ ooNn p a n a pin iqiw np bvw p iiv n nwNn ppn o n lo o ’iN io n i .ONn bvi n n n v bv o ’wi o iin p n o m n own ’ONi3 p o i n pow in o ’on p m io ^ iiv io n i .in ’ o m n o npvn

.pnnn 01m nn’bn pwo’ .wipmN ionooi ’m i m oo mnDN nnvi a m i m o o pnvin nnv iv nnm Na’w onpi nb’nn nwvn nn iown nbwao npowin np lonb bno iionnN i ’bnb ’bv npowin oin’on np iiNn nn vnon p ib p i o ’wv dnd bD ndioi in o Nini ononnNO nnwm o a a i o’o’ ’n 7mm mwn inN

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birth pangs. Fumigation to promote [menstrual] flow: Take southernwood, calamint, pennyroyal, camomile flower, marjoram, melilot, and rosemary flowers and leaves, one ounce and a half of each; sweet flag, and three kinds of spike, one ounce of each; red roses, anise, Florentine iris root, cassia wood, peony root and madder root, four drachms of each. She must put them in a new cauldron and receive the steam; if she wants to improve its action, she should add to [the cauldron] sea bramble and fenugreek, equal quantities of each. After the fumigation, she must clean her womb and apply inside it Florentine iris oil, spikenard oil and galingale oil. And if she cannot conceive, she must drink water of elder flower or of greater madder root, or savin water, or water of hot fenugreek decoction; she must take a gauze soaked in the hot fenugreek decoction and [insert it] in [her] womb. You may also insert in [her] womb a gauze soaked in calamint juice; she must hold some calamint in her hand all the time. Al-RazT wrote: If she drinks myrrh with decoction of lupins, she will conceive immediately, (fol. 54v) And he said: It is very good [to apply] some wool with birthwort juice. Hippocrates wrote: To promote [menstrual] flow, take goose’s egg yolk and olive oil, mix them together and make a pessary; it will promote [menstruation] in five days’ time. Ibn Slha wrote: Take asafoetida pills, which have been tested for this disease. Recipe: socotrine aloe, bdellium, colocynth, serapinum, opoponax, ammonia and hemlock seed, a drachm of each. These drugs should be put together, pounded and sieved. Put them to soak in cabbage juice as long as needed, make small pills and store them. The dosage is two and a half drachms with hot water. If she has a strong nature, give her some castor and a grain of opium during the second night. Al-RazT said: If you take black cumin, grind it to powder, knead it with goose’s fat and make a pessary, this will promote [menstrual] flow.229 Another remedy: Take the skin of a small lizard that lives in the trees, pound it into a fine substance and make a pessary; it will promote [menstrual] flow. Ibn Slha wrote: To promote [menstrual] flow and expel the placenta, give her to drink borax with leek juice or with clary;230 it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: A pessary fumigated with ammoniacum will promote [menstrual] flow. Another remedy: Make a pessary with garlic juice, honey and calf s gall; it will promote [menstrual] flow. The sages of Greece wrote: if she drinks bishop’s weed with honey or [makes] a pessary of it, it will promote [the menstrual] flow. Another remedy: It is good to drink or [to make] a pessary of betony water with honey. Plato wrote: Take a powder of sowbread, honey, dyagridium, or spurge juice, or figs’ milk, and musk oil, and make some pessaries; they will promote [menstrual] flow. But first, she must eat regularly trifera magna with madder and a little musk, and prepare a bath from [decoction] of the outer peel of colocynth. Another remedy: A pessary of the thick root of madder, to which you must add scammony 162

Edition and translation

mm bN’2 nbn wnobp owiniN np 2onb 2iwp .mbo ’binb nwi dndw ’obp omi n’piN TnN bio •oon bw nbvm nna wib’bo n it i ’o Nb’oop WIN’TN WIIW WON O’OITN O’TIII D’pIN TnN bDO p ’ DWN O’O ’) OPW1D2N

•p n o ’w n 'n r ' t t o n bDO ir n w ’w 42nN’iiT w iiw d n o i n ’d w tiw o ’b N’w p N b ii’i w n D in i o ’w n n b iv s n ra w b n > n n o n i p w ’v n b i p m n w r n m n p to w m m o ’w ni n o n i n p m n iw p n n in N i n i w i in N b o o p n u m n t h o .n a ’w p w i n o iow w in’I ’n ’O 1N I I ’ O DN’D n WTIW ’O IN pIDOW ODD ’O DHWn

blVfltlb bim Nb ON1

o n o o n p ’dmd yiNonpTi b n w p n n p i o n p ’D i n iN o n p n >o in niow n o 2J 1D1 m n n i ’i wi’o b p n nnN ii 01 o m i o ’wi p n b n w iw nobp >po tiv V o *ioni (fol. 54v) . 'n *joi n b o n nwvi i n ’ n v i n o p w i o o i w N i’wi’p b ip ’b m nwip>w ’NibN 0 0 1 .’b in n m b m w o o in n w in m o ’d o q i o ’pinw o ’ow n ibN m p > ' t t in N b i o Nwipo* vm p n o io tn p m i N ' i t ’2 o /n /m p b i o v o a o o o w p o o n ) nwvo 2102 ’02 n n w b ONin m w i d u n n o o n n w w p wvo ow b’b i nb in p m v iw o N’n o n i o m n o ’o i n m n b m o nw vo win 43ioiw d i i v n o p i n nwvi Nb’N’o n p n /o n / 02 i o n i n b m o nw vi pT w m n m o ’bp n p i n o b ’Nn bvw iw p w orn n p o o n io v .10 ’ in m u n(’o o v w m n nm w b nb in N’b’wn woibi l o n b Ni’w p N m u .10 ’ ’(’o to n io v n o o n 2w p n o p n o io 2n o n b o n 2flN 1’1V .1"2 WW’2p Nb) ov o v w in’On n m w n 10 ’e m n n n .20’ n b o n nwvi 2p i n 2n o w i t o ’oiw .n w n b o io in nm w b w i t o v n i’o w i ’o t o n io v .200 000 n b o n in w i t o o N n i b n in bNO’W’w ^ o in ’- p d n ’t i w im io b p n p i n n p iiwbsN a n s i nN’i i i o v n in o N onw biDNb o m p b o m i 20’ m b o n nwvi 1’b m o 44iow i io v .NT’wi’p b ip n m n n n i ’b p o i m n nb niwvbi pw io wvo o v i iimw’w o t i n o v nN oiopwN p i n i’bv 2 in m im w ’w nN ’212 w in woiwo nbm o 2fiN

42. My emendation. MS: N>n. 43. My emendation. MS: pvy. 44. My emendation. MS: ptvy.

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powder and goose’s egg yolk, will promote [menstrual] flow; it has been tried and tested. It is also good to expel the placenta. Another remedy to promote [menstrual] flow and to expel the dead foetus: Give her trifera magna with rue juice. Another remedy to promote [menstrual] flow and to [facilitate] pregnancy: Take spikenard, make a powder of it, mix it with musk oil and olive oil, and apply it. Another matter, on stopping menstrual flow.231 Al-Zahrawl wrote: Very often the cause of this disease is the corruption of menstrual blood, (fol. 55r) which may become corrupted for different reasons. If it occurs because the humour is thick or thin, it is advisable to purge her, because it is impossible [to cure] without [extracting] it. If the reason is that there is excess o f blood, bleed [her]; it will promote [the menstrual] flow immediately. If it happens because of weakness, it is advisable to strengthen [her] by means of strengthening things, which we will mention in this chapter, or by applying cupping glasses under the breasts. She must have a bath and astringent fumigations and [also] astringent poultices and pessaries in the womb; thus on several occasions I stopped her menstruation by means of a cloth soaked in vinegar mixed with egg white, and applied under the breasts and over the genitalia. If the menstruation blood still flows, use a pessary [made] of goat’s excrement or coriola232 juice or great plantain.233 The sages of Greece wrote: If she takes gromwell pounded with water of a decoction from hypocistis and pomegranate, it will stop [the menstrual flow]. Or she must do this: she must take coriola seed and great plantain, three drachms of each, mix violets with the juice of great plantain and sit234 over water in which have been boiled oak galls, alum, great plantain preserve, red clay,235 Miletan bole,236 and chestnut peel. Cupping glasses should be applied under the breasts. And they also said: If she takes plantain juice boiled with strong vinegar and receives the vapour from below, it will stop [the menstrual flow]; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Insert some nettle seeds in a small bag and boil in abundant rainwater. If the woman always drinks [this], this will stop [the menstrual flow]; though, before, it would be advisable to clean her with a light beverage. A poultice good to stop [the menstrual flow]:237 Take half a pound of tar resin;238 mastic, incense, dragon’s blood, cypress nuts, half an ounce of each; and six drachms of Armenian bole. All these drugs must be ground and mixed with plantain juice and some vinegar; she must apply [the result] on the bottom and on the place. An electuary marvellous to stop [the menstrual flow]: Take the burnt antler o f a deer and the burnt hair from a hare, half an ounce of each; and plantain in a dose of both of them together. It has to be mixed and kneaded with plantain syrup. She must take half an ounce of plantain juice every 164

Edition and translation

Nonnbi nonb nnK 1’iv .N’b’wn N’amb p 01 1101 V'n mm niun bw m n P’own np pnnbi mmb nnK piv .Nmn p n °v nm Nano nb p non nnvn .o’wi nn p o in phono inw ov nnvi pnN nwvi nm n n o n ’bin n m Nn’ nnn o m v a n n m n nnn nm on mavb nnK piv in nnv n m b n n i Nm oni m n o n n n n w avm i (fol. 55r) mm o n wmv mm n p n o n m n n n o n oni .nt ’nb n n nwa’N ’Ni n p n n b ’iNn n p n n m b n in nvwn n n m nti o>ptnn o n n n n nnn p in b nw> m w bn n n o n oni .Nnaa n iw n n m o n a iv o m w ’vi 7m m nw vm o n n n nnn n m a n n m o m mwv p m ^ n in n b n o nnn nnvn ’nnav o m v a n o n m oN n p n n r m v m b’n a i n b iv a nwv nnn bin nm n o n oni .ninvm o n n n nnn ow m 11 im v o nm n

.NwPmoN ov in nN’nno p n in onv bmn nb’na iN’ooibm oimoopiaN biwn m ov wnnm b’wbm npibn p mnn nnoi ov wbiN’i nnv’ ’nn b nnN bno NwibimN b”mp vm np m nwv’ w .mav’ >mm Ninwip ’imoba oPn w’Nbi nn bwnniw omn nwn NwibmoN p o .onnn nnn na’ann mom mom pnnv na’bp nN’ombin nomN ’b’riN nwob pw’vn bnpm nm bwmo pin 70m ov ’imoba p o npibn mv moKi nnwm nnnn non mn obwm p p pwn npoiin vm np nnK piv .i”n mav’ np mavb mo nwiann .bp npwon nbnnn nnipib ’iNn 7N map nmn nwNn n’piN ’an nnN bno nnm ion pin on wmo p’oan Nio’b ’an Nnn nm bv o’wm nmn ovo ovi ’inoba p o ov nmv’i omon ipnn ’nn ’1 omnNbm .oipon bvi nmivn >nn nnN bno omnw nnnN nvw b»N p p np mavb Kbam nnpno ’an npn npn bnm ’moba n mpiN

m n aan a” N aa o sv mpiN mn a’ao mpiN anN bao n P p im iP a ip mn vat 't t ’3 o m i pvai (fol. 55v) mn Naanp mpiN mn anN ban mP3an ov P i ’ nnpan npvn p ia o n p a iapio mpiN mn n ia 'aa 'a o ’Pian .p m ^n’vw anN aan piN np auoP aip iipv .V'a aisv’i nnn nap o p ■nnvn p*r n a ov in p 3 m s ov ’ aN pan anN aan ’n»ppn vat mnaNaia p’ p^n nnaa m at nNmaPip oi’a nnN ova npvi ipvh aapn pnp av o ’pn ap ’n pan 'aa anN aan Nom tiiN Naaian ’n P n o ’ paivm vaon mnnnnn niNiaan P n rm v’ av pm oa pnia P a io pna n ap p ptnp aaaa ai 3v o P n ’ nini’ p Napoin naN aa NtNai’n Nom m a m aNa nnaa p’o^n mnaNaia ’ao p o in p ’ DNa .nniai oa onm vi mriN o ’ nnnni onp o’ptnn on anNnni n vo p n aapn nnv ainaNi ’aant aapn pnvm nnv av .nm papiaN

paam o’naaian onam N’pnaip N’m vapa nnn N’n on nNan anva o’pa-i ’p3 Tin npP nnpNaa "pa^ nan 3 Nm na pn pa’ nam a’nm pa Nap na’ntm anN 01pm pt’n oip npv’ Nai iPv oan a’ a’P na nnnaa int aai naia> namv na P’ o’nvaai ,n3Nam pvan 03 ’Nan ann Pnvnn in Naiop’3 N’Ppa nniN npim vapn na naan nans npiv N’np in NpPp’n paipp nnpan na in 7a anNi Nam Nin ov ppPopN’aa npv api’ Na nt oni anvn m’Pi’m n in iiNnnpNn in nan 3 nN’tnp .nnan av nonp ov mmnn nap o’pm Nanrmpn in ntpn piapppiaN pvm nat nnaa npi pa’ nan tv aat np an*va nama (fol. 56r) anai .i”a anvn nnnaa o’pm m n 45p P ov nama npvi p’oum in pin °|iap anNi mnpi nn invn mapani pa paN npvi pna np Ni’p p n pan ’paN nmpa na im pna a’n anvn nnnaa o’pi iama anoni nshop’n lina aavi paNa NinaNi np poaaN anai .ohn i” ov

45. My emendation. MS: yaw.

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mix it with musk oil. Bum [some] wool and make a pessary. Insert it in the womb and it will immediately stop the [menstrual flow]; it has been tried and tested. Fumigation to stop [the flow]: Take honeysuckle250 and put it on burning coals; if she receives the smoke, it will stop [the flow]. Aristotle wrote: Take amber, mastic, gum arabic, honeysuckle and incense, an ounce and a half of each; grind them coarsely and fumigate, it has great power to stop [the menstrual flow]; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take the inner skin of a hen’s crop and white wheat and bum them to ashes. She must drink both of them at day break. To stop the [menstrual flow]: Take half an ounce of henbane seed; amber and hematite stone, three drachms; and two drachms of ribwort251 seed, and make a powder [of it]. Half a spoon of this, together with cold water, should be taken every morning; it will stop [the flow]. A pessary good for this: Take hypocistis, sebesten, Armenian bole, dragon’s blood, comffey252 root, root of dried great plantain, oak gall and pomegranate. All this should be mixed and you will make a thick pessary. A poultice that will help her: Take equal quantities of comffey253 juice, great plantain, cinquefoil, coriola and ribwort,254 and some strong vinegar. She must soak a cloth or some wool in [this mixture] and apply it from the navel to the genitalia and behind the back to the kidneys; and keep doing this until she is cured. She should [also] fumigate herself with Greek tar powder, dragon’s blood, mastic and Armenian bole. Another poultice, which has been tried and tested: Take micleta, trifera magna, opium and bole; she must mix everything together and apply the poultice around the place. It will work wonders and will prevent [her] from lying with a man. To stop [the menstrual flow], according to the Ishmaelites: [Take] the dung of a white female pig and eggshells, knead everything together and make a pastille and put it under a frying pan until it is baked. Then make a powder of it, prepare a pessary and insert it in the womb; it will stop [the haemorrhage]; it has been tried and tested. Another [remedy] according to her: Take an old hen and dragon’s blood, and extract water by means of an alembic. Drink a full small spoon every morning during three consecutive days, it will stop the menstrual flow even if it has been flowing a long time; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take [some] white wool (fol. 56v) of a living lamb that has never been sheared and wash it; then, soak it in strong vinegar. She must insert it into her womb. In the Book o f Medical Experiences it is written: If she hangs liquorice root [on herself], it will stop menstrual haemorrhage, and even [the haemorrhage] from another place.2 5 If she hangs pig’s dung from her neck, it will prevent excessive menstrual blood.256 If she carries topaz powder, it will stop [haemorrhage] and will also make her happy. Also jasper, which is green in colour and has green veins, or vice versa, stops [haemorrhage] if it is carried by the woman.257 168

Edition and translation

imvb m o p ,i"n m o iw v n o m n o>on n b m a n o y i 710 71101 n a p p n p io t» iN nnm .iw v n p v n P a p m o>bnm bv o>oi

po np m v m i o p i nv 7111 n*ni m p w i n n bno y m o o w n n b p n iN N nn p > o m in v i v 711010 11 b o>om n b n n n p p i p b o >nna n v n p in N p iv .i"n nnn

ip n n mbva im om ion nnom vm ' n ’> o ’ o>onN t» 3Nb n ap p m pw >un >o»poi> vm np navb nbma .iw v’i ipnn o n p o>m 7 1 nm mn bmpn p in nov’ ' n '1 N ib m b om o Nibioip o h o pin 0 1 m niNbn N»opn omoNpiaN np mb nmo nb b>vm nomnn .nnv nbma novi imiv> w>ooibn pbN> n o n NoibmiN pin p i n nion nNnmi npnp Nbwmp pb>a on a NoibinN unam o p n np m mnnn nnban bv unNbi m ivn iv m o n n o>oi i m w n o 0 0 bnom Y’a nomnn Hv .mniNbn p’ o m pm 0 1 nmiaibip pnNn mopm Nam i v oipnn a>no nonnnn nnm ban m vm b n >aw Nin N ano >o>bp>n np .m i naonn nvmn NPanb bpm novi im ban oibi o n a n aP p nnb 46nmtn nNn o>bNvno> >an m v b nbma nov nnn iaN nov 7a inNi miaN Nnno i v nannn nnn o>oi nnv pnnbNa o>n nov pm 0 1 n io’ nbnnn np man liv .i"a nnvn om n o>oi m p i m v ib>aNi n m 0 1 m v n o’ ann o>m ’> ipn ban m op 7a Nbn nnoi inNi m * n m obivn tin Nbo >n no bo p b (fol. 56 v ) i m np io n piv .V'n o n o nbmn n p i m m oin ia o m .nnmn o>om pin p in n m o 7a nbn mtn bnt Nonm inN oipnn P p n i nm nn o i nbm n^vn 47nNn F p v n pon mbv Non oni bum n m n o i nNP’ vim niNwn n w o n 4,on m vn 7ann in pimn m n n pirn 48vm n Nino ’ ao m m m nno’ .n o N n

46. 47. 48. 49.

My emendation: My emendation. My emendation. My emendation.

MS: MS: MS: MS:

mnn. nN>m^*T. yn^N. IN.

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To induce an abortion: Take half a drachm of aspaltum lzry-25S peony,259 leek,260 white hellebore and madder, half a drachm of each; and half an ounce of opoponax. Take [also] honey or leek juice and bull’s gall; make a pessary in an acorn261 shape and insert it in the womb. Another remedy: Give her to drink aspaltum Tzr madder and wild rue with white wine. Another remedy, also [helpful] to expel the dead foetus: Take the herb from Tunisia, pepper, wild rue, bull’s gall and the above-mentioned aspaltum; if she drinks it with wine she will abort immediately. The sages of Greece make this validated remedy: Take savin, wild rue, common centaury,262 rosemary and mugwort, and boil everything together. If she receives the steam from below, she will abort; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take fresh pennyroyal, pound it and drink it with astringent wine. Prepare also a drink of cumin with honeywater263 or with the herb from Tunisia. And prepare as well an electuary ’p ry q tw r’m264, with mugwort water, yw ’ny tw tw s ’mgwny265 and saxifrage water, it aborts the foetus. Aristotle wrote: If she receives the smoke of citron leaves boiled well in water, she will abort. And al-RazI wrote: If she prepares a poultice of lupin flour with honey and vinegar, this will abort the foetus. In the Land of Ishmael they do this: If she takes pubic hair and fumigates herself with it from below, she will abort immediately. It also promotes the flowers. But be careful that the hair is not that of her lover so as not to provoke pain of the womb. In the Book o f Medical Experiences is written that if the woman applies opoponax root below, she will abort the foetus; it also works if she carries it.266 Also the foetus will be expelled if she is fumigated with horse’s dung.267 Another remedy: Take four grains of colocynth and mix with bull’s gall; if this is applied to the mouth of the womb, it will expel the foetus.268 (fol. 57r) Another remedy: The poultice of berberis tree root will result in a abortion. The smell of big arum, that is serpentine, procures abortion; it has been tried and tested.269 To expel and extract the placenta: Take half an ounce of live sulphur; birthwort, common centaury, myrrh and galbanum, three drachms of each, and put them over burning coals; she must receive the fumigation from below. Another remedy: [Take] jet270 and put it on burning coals; if she is fumigated [with this], the placenta will immediately come out, and also the foetus; this stimulates the flowers as well. To extract the placenta give her trifera with rue; it has been tried and tested. Another remedy: Take borax, saffron, hemp seed, myrrh, aloe wood and clary;271 and make pastilles of it and of gwlyy qwmwfwly212 For the placenta that is late to come out after childbirth: Give her to drink hemp seed or couch-grass with wine and it will work. For the woman whose placenta stayed inside after she gave birth: [Take] couch-grass leaves, pound them and mix them with wine or water; if 170

Edition and translation

im o > o n N n n p b n n ^ N >wna p o a ' t t n n m b d i s o w n n p P a n b nw vi n w m m o r o in w a i n p i m piN n n p iaiaN ’t t n n in N bao o v n u n 1? oiwbawN nm w b nb in “inN p iv .o m a o ’wi wibi J i i m i n b m a n p n o n la iy n w n b o> in N p iy .p b y> o v u n n a n ip i imw>w n N n n i>o p> o v n n w m m n n wiwbawN na m o n n a i o N i n bab a woiw n u n p m m nN m w iw n n a i o N i n niow n p ip o in m pwiy p 5 >oam .P a m w ina nb » P a n p i o n p iy .V'a P a n nw obo iw p m m > ban bwai n p o w in nwy> p i .0010 awy in m oiw a n w P o o v 110a n\yy> p i P o v nnw i N ona >wpw >o o v o iio n w iwiwonp n p o w in >0 o v o N n w p n a N n n p i o .P a n m w v b ap i aw oi o>oa nbw iao m n N >bv 'iowpn a n a i n a iv n P a o n a iv n P a o ^ o in i w n o v 50o> w ionn n o p o n w ia n n nw ivn >1*1 a n a i 1100 iw v n n i 51m w n n>aa N noin iy>wn 10 n p n t o>wiy bNVOW> p N a i p paniN O n n v w n v m Nbw io w n i n o o n a n m iv o p i P a n i>o nw ob Pa> nw ob p iaiaN w nw nwNn n o n o n a m a n n p o in l a t r n . p a n n o o ’ n p in N io v n a iy n N n p wiwn b a n p v n 01 niNW’ o n o> naivn n a iv n n w o m n >aa ow p i n w m o a a iv i o ’w m p '1 N i’w i/vpbip Nin b m n ao NPwaiw

nNmwpw nNoibwwnN n’piN nn >n nnai np N’Pwn Nninbi w*nb inN iov .nwob pw>yn bapm o>bnin bv o>wi’m '1 inN bao nabi n i’o mivo 01 naivn on N’Pwn N*n to i p vm o>bnin bv o>wi 52nwpi w>ab w m n np inN p iy .Nin ov Nianw nb in Pa N>Pwn Nmnb m m an »bu ov •’p^nnw nwv nio Nwwnp Nbi ’NibN o>b nt>o wiaip yn pavi pn Pom in wiaip y*n mpwn nt>bn inN Nab mnNon N’Pwb Piaioip in p n aivi pinwi >noiou Py naina N’Pwn inwii mPw nwNb .P vpi

50. My emendation. MS: o’DPtnm. 51. My emendation. MS: “)£)t?n. 52. My emendation. MS: nvy>x

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she drinks [this], it will expel [the placenta] immediately; it has been tried and tested. For the woman who bleeds profusely during childbirth: Take pennyroyal and boil it until a third [remains]; she must drink it quickly three times. If the child is in her womb, pound date kernels to a fine powder for her to drink with vinegar or wine. Another remedy: A fire of charcoal must be lighted under her, and ymyq213 bone must be pounded over burning coals; let the smoke enter her womb and she will be purified. For pain after she has given birth: She must wash her heel with some wine and drink it. Take gander’s blood, cumin, dill and pomegranate leaves and flowers, an equal quantity of each, and make pastilles with extra fine flour. Fry them in a frying pan with gander’s fat and apply them to the belly three or four times; it will relieve the pain after childbirth. Ibn Sma said: If she eats dates immediately after childbirth, she will not feel any pain. Another remedy: Take a fistful of mugwort and boil it well with a measure of wine; cover the pot to prevent the steam escaping. Afterwards, squeeze the herb and, with the same wine, boil some hen’s excrement. When it has the thick [consistency] of a poultice, put it in a hot cloth and apply it to her belly. Once it has become cold, heat it again in the wine already used. Repeat this several times, and the pain will be over. Another remedy: Take some cotton wool that has never been washed, take oregano274 and boil them well in wine. Apply this to her belly, under the navel, and it will cure even the disorders of the womb. And he also said: (fol. 57v) if she drinks horehound during forty days, it will help her to conceive. Also drinking and bathing in valerian are helpful. To prevent her miscarrying: Take wax and knead it with mare’s milk;275 wrap it in deer’s skin and bind it on her belly. Take care to remove it during childbirth. If you want to try it, bind it on a hen’s belly and it will not deliver.276 The sages of Greece wrote: Make a belt of deer’s skin; take sea mother-of-pearl,277 two kinds of coral and amber, and make a poultice of this on her flesh. And put a diamond278 in her hand. They prepare [also] this remedy that has been tested: Take some starchy279 wheat of the large [kind], caraway, sweet flag, clove, three kinds of coral, and sufficient honey, and make an electuary. She must eat this at all hours. To prevent her miscarrying: Write on a ritually fit parchment, horbah, qdr, hom, hor, brqwr;2S0 she must carry it on her. Another remedy, tried and tested: Write [from] “happy is the man” until “in all that he does he prospers”.281 How does one gets mbN (.Elhad)?282 Aleph (n) from nWND (happy), lamed (b) from p Nb (not like 172

Edition and translation

.V'i N’*r> m m nnvyni o > m oni d ’ovq ’a nnnn nnvyn \y>p\y ny Pvmn PiN’Pia np n ya w n ntPnP

nhN pay I”1 w ^n ira omN nnvyni na> o n n n myna pinvy naonn nPm n o m a ivyyn oaon o>Pnan Py p>m o*y vymm m nnn o w ns Pvy v h wy>

.nnvani

npy vmaN pm irn on np .nnvyni pn nnpy ^nnn nm>P nnN onoP iiin imwa nanm poi nwy wyi nPio nnp nwa nnN bon innoi pnn PniNn Hi>t> pN now .nmPn nnN 3ndd nwn 'n in o>nyo 'a lean Py owi n> Npn NnnonN np nnN pay ond d w np ni> nP nnmP nnN pn onnn iniN3i ovyyn vnno 10 nnNi ivyyn n*> nPw nmn ntoi 3103 p> mm Pwai nam Py own on na Py owi nwunn mo ay Nnw nPiaann P\y Pn Pwn p> np nnN pay .my* nnyn o>nyo nnnn pi p\wn pn mnnP nin nnpnwm nmnvan nvanp nara py owi nm pn Pvyni aim npi nnn NPvy pa nm PipP P’ym nnn on 'n nnwn (fol. 57v) Piy now .oNn >Pin iPwn not>i > y m nann ^nnnm NiNnPin n » w oa p n n naoi Py mvypi n * myn -pnni n>ww nPra vaiPi aan np P n n nPw i v m innvyp mioaP m n n oni nnmP nyvn mpyn inwnP mm m nm '3 Nann mpa npi n * myn nyi*n nvyyn p> >mn n n m .npn nPi nPiann m pvnyi .vaanNn n n n o w m nnvyn Py nvyinnn m n myyn n o pp Pm ip mn vynn p>nip m n 'a ’Psima ovyn napi m ip i nN\yia nPnan nonn p np pwan nip nnmn myn *pp Py mnn P>an nPv> m nn Pdn>i nnpnn nvyyi ipirw n .w i n N\yn N>ni mpnn m n oin 'n naro nnPN m n n mPan myy> nvyN ny vy’Nn nvyN 3inn V’3 nnN pay

173

The Book o f Women ’s Love

this), het (n) from ntx v (he prospers), and dalet (i) from UNn o*>y\in it t d (the way o f the wicked is doomed). May it be Your will, El had, to prevent this woman so-and-so miscarrying and to cure her completely. And al-Razi said: If she hangs amber from her neck, she will not abort.283 For a difficult delivery: Take a snake’s skin that has been sloughed off, bind it around her thigh and she will give birth immediately. For a difficult birth, this formula has been tried and tested without change. I have seen this is a marvellous and beneficial thing, and it has been proved. Write the formula without changes. I have seen the formula working wonders, but take care that no mistakes are made. Write a formula like this in the woman’s house, and be careful not to make a mistake. Put the formula on the sole o f the woman’s foot and she will deliver immediately, with God’s he!p.284 _ _ _ _ _ four two three four

three

two

For a difficult [birth]: take a manufactured clay vessel that has not come in contact with water and break it in two. Write the first formula on one of the two fragments, and the second formula on the other fragment. Bring them to the woman who must look at the writing. Then, put it under her feet and she will deliver quickly; it has been tried and tested. According to the rabbi R. Nahman,285 these are both formulas:286 6 4

5

7 5 3 6 1 8 (The following verses surround the square from right to left) I said to the prisoners, “go free”, and to those in darkness, “come out and be seen”. They shall find pasture in the desert sands and grazing on All the dune.287 To bring captives out of prison, Out of the dungeons where they lie in darkness.288 (fol 58r)

_ _ _ 2 9 4 00

7 5 3 6 1

174

Edition and translation

mbN -pnbo -pin >m ,tin o o w i i t t o ' i rnbm p 'n p Nbo "? ’ 7wno nbion n*i now .no’bw nNim Nniooi > q o Nbw cTnn o w nwNb nwv/o/w

> 3 0 Nb mwn bv nnpp nsnpb .t>o ibm nnn’n mmo ionvo owmn wm mv np Tb>b nwpob ow mon nonm Nbmo b’Vio im ’O’Nm now ’bn 53mmn nt Vn trt’bo mono oivo nn bim Nbw nowm mmno iNbmw ’O’N m mw ’bn s,mwn nwNn bn p ono mmn ow o’ wm nvoo Nbw nmm mwn on nwNn o’nn

.n"vn i ’o Tboi ow

nym n ow

nymN

onNn minn mom oowb imnwi o>on Nn Nbw nnno wm np nwpob nmonn vonni nwNn bN ooin Nnm own om n bv nown mwm om n bv in ibw p m n"m ’no i"n mnon ibm n>bn ono now o’wn in nnw onmn n

i

1

n n

N

1

(surrounding the square from the right to the left) ib n -ywnn nwNbt in * onioN b noNb o ” 3\y bw iv~i’ o ’m t bv I ’ON 7>ooo wmnb .oo’vno .■join ’nwn Nbn o ’no

__________ 1

V

1

y

T)

*

n

N

1

53. My emendation. MS: r r m 54. Ibidem.

175

(fol. 58r)

The Book o f Women’s Love

(The following verses surround the square from right to left) Set me free from my prison So that I may praise thy name.289 Set me free from my prison So that I may praise thy name. To prevent pregnancy: If she hangs from her neck the tongue of a deer she will not conceive all the time she is carrying it. It has the same effect as hare’s excrement or its left leg290 hung from the neck. In the Book o f Medical Experiences [is written]: If she carries garden mint during intercourse, it will prevent pregnancy.291 Another remedy, which has been tried and tested: If the woman urinates over the urine of a wolf, she will never conceive. Another remedy: A viper’s head, strong like a stone, if she hangs it from her neck, she will not conceive.292 Another remedy: If she hangs on her thigh, at the left side, a viper’s tooth, she will not conceive. Another remedy: If she takes the private parts of a mouse, binds them with a piece of mule’s skin and hangs them on her, she will not conceive. And Ibn Sma wrote: If she hangs on her arm or on her neck Mary’s seal root, she will not conceive all the time she carries it. The sages of Greece prepare this remedy that has been tested: when a woman does not want to become pregnant again, immediately after giving birth to a son or a daughter, they must extinguish the burning coals with the blood that flows from her; and she must say: “my [present] pregnancy by my husband, so-and-so will be extinguished” and she must mention the name of her husband. She will hide [the extinguished burning coals] in a place where they will not see sun or moon. And when she wants to conceive [again], she should expose them to [the rays of] the sun and the moon, and she will conceive; it has been proved. This is the end and completion of the Book of the Regimen of Women.

176

Edition and translation

(surrounding the square from the right to the left) ’o n n o o n nNonn ■jno tin num b ’o n n o o n nNonn 7 0 0 tin m n n ) iodi n N o n o tot bD invnn Nb o u pob n iN m nbnn on p in n vmnb Non o n tv o w 12021 .mnn mbNnon b n o> n iN m nnbn n n iN n b it p tn o bv noNn p n on o n i"d don piv v w o ’n onn nvn n »n n o v o Nb m N m nbnn o n p N iod ptn nyoN o n i io n tov .obivb nnn Nb DNtn *MtN tov .nnn Nb ’bNnon is n n iv o n to npio bv nbnn on don tov .inm ariDi .in n Nb nPv o ’bm 112 mv nD’nnn in o p m iddvh >0120 npn on >o> bD in n Nb nN’i o om n o n o in u d in vm n noNn nbm on n v o p N ibnoD m v n v n n b m m o v n o noN yi’OJp m poo* tv ’ODm .n’bv mvn tv in n niD’ odd noNm n o o Niivn o n o ’bmn idd’ nvo nniNi n i in p m o 000 in i’ Nbo o ip o i oniN mnon nbvi 00 I ’Dtm ’b vi nibon ’bo .pra in m n i’m o o o n t o oNonn m n nvnb mnnoDi . o t o m m n 120 obon o n

177

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Commentary 1. 2.

3.

4.

5. 6.

Cf. Lev 5:1. Probably the Greek Island, which had a dynamic cultural and commercial relationship with the Crown of Aragon, especially Catalonia, during the Middle Ages. See Jesus Lalinde Abadia, La Corona de Aragon en el Mediterraneo medieval (1229-1479). Zaragoza, 1975. There is a coastal town in Catalonia, near Girona, called Roses curiously this name means the same as Rhodes. Girona was an important European kabbalistic centre from the thirteenth century onwards. See Gershom Scholem, Ha-Qabbalah be-Gironah. Peraqim be-toldot ha-qabbalah be-Sefarad. Jerusalem, 1963. Q y tw fl’. I was unable to identify this herb. Nevertheless, it might be a corruption by metathesis of one of several documented plant names derived from Greek: kephalotos (leek, apium porrum L.). Rom.: quefalota or quefaloto; Ar.: qefaloth and al-qaflut; and Rabbinical Hebrew: qefalo t. See Simonet, pp. 459 and 472; and Meyerhof, p. 139 (item 198). Hebrew text: ros, probably a corruption of roses. There is a similar version of this formula in the thirteenth century medical book called Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 256-257: n w n j m m m n n w n i y m o t o n p n tn n n n v n n w w *n n nsvyNn n n n o n ’n w n n n w n n o>\yi n n b nn>D o v w n n n b io -pn w n n vb m n o>\jn vb m in n m u nw v w n n o m n i w n m t o v i n n n i vb m n n p i o^ w in p£)t? >bn n tv nnnN q n n w i n sn n w bmNb nnv .iw n

n n w n nn

And the experimenter said further: take blood from his right arm and put it into the egg of a white pigeon, and put the egg under the garbage for forty days; then you will find in it [a creature] similar to a worm. Put this [worm-like organism] in fine flour, to remain there for three or four days, then take the worm, kill it with [a piece of] glass, and convert this blood into ashes and feed thereof to whom you want

The Book o f Women’s Love

and the person will feel vehement love for you, without doubt; and this was verified by testing. 7. Despite the fact that the subject of this verb, according to the suffixed pronouns - “her name” and “her flesh” - is feminine it has been written as masculine. As I have argued in the first chapter of this book, the main grammatical feature of the Hebrew in which the manuscript was written is the inconsistency in the use of nouns and verbs. This inconsistency is evidenced through the profuse disagreement in the gender of nouns, adjectives and pronominal suffixes, as well as in the gender, number and person of the verbs, which sometimes may obscure the meaning of certain passages. Therefore, for the sake of accuracy and in an effort to make the text comprehensible for modem readers, I have translated ignoring grammatical irregularities. Due to the frequency with which disagreements occur in the text, neither the grammatical disagreements, nor my corrections have been further noted in this commentary. 8. For another version of this formula, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 254-255: vmn >bn DDmtD nm n npvyn on vpnmpmn i m .obiyb mbit nnNn Nb yin Nb N>m Said Dioscorides: if you cause a woman to drink from the dirt of a man’s feet without knowing it, she will never love another man besides him. 9. The use of this verb indicates that this is the magic procedure called “ligature”, from the Latin ligatura, that works mainly through knots, though not exclusively. It has been extensively used since antiquity and is based on the restrictive power of the act of binding. Historically the ligatures have been used especially in love magic, in order to make a person fall in love with someone or to prevent the bound person from having sexual relations with someone else. See Carmen Caballero, “Magia: experiencia femenina y practica de la relation”, in Marta Bertran, Montserrat Cabre, Carmen Caballero, Ana Vargas and Milagros Rivera, De dos en dos. Las prdcticas de creacion y recreacidn de la vida y la convivencia humana. Madrid: horas y HORAS, 2000, pp. 33-54, on pp. 47-48. This section of the book is illustrated with a wide range of ligatures. 10. Rom.: hermosa (beautiful). See DCECH III, p. 348b. 11. For a similar formula, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 254-255: in i nnm b>mn nyi moN oin vnrv on ntonn nrni .obiyb mbit nm n nnNn Nb And the experimenter said: if a man applies wolf gall to his penis during copulation, the woman will never love another man besides him. 12. For a similar formula, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 254-257: 180

Commentary

brra rprm pnd winn tnmn npn o n ~nv nm'i nnv rtPN in wmnn m ov ootom o\yrom .mm nnN '^£)Nmtnt inNn Nt? otnvt? t o

13. 14. 15.

16.

17. 18. 19.

20.

If you take the testes of a virgin cock in the month of May, pound them and pour rose water on them, then apply this to his penis, and he lies with her immediately, she will never love another man besides him, even after his death. Squirrel. Cat.: esquirol; Occ.: escurol. See DCVB V, p. 480a. Rom.: trifera magna. It is a digestive electuary composed of a great quantity of ingredients. See DETEMA, p. 1589b. In Burchard of Worms’ Penitencials (965-1025 CE) we read: Fecisti quod quaedam mulieres facere solent? Tollunt menstruum suum sanguinem, et immiscent cibo vel potui, et dant viris suis ad manducandum, vel ad bibendum, utplus diligantur ab eis? Have you ever done as some women do when they take some of their menstrual blood, mix it with food or drink, and give it to their men to eat or to drink, to be loved better by them? [my translation] See Burchard of Worms, “Decretum”, Patrologia Latina, 140, ed. J.P. Migne, pp. 537-1058, on p. 974. For parallels see Carmen Caballero, “Magia: experiencia femenina y practica de la relation”, p. 34. Rom.: quina. Tree that grows in Syria and that exudes the resin known as galbanum. See Dioscorides, Libro III, cap. 91, p. 232; and DETEMA, pp. 762a and 1322b. Literally “on the fifth day”. According to Gen. 1: 20-23 this is the day on which God created the birds. Psalm 17:1: “Hear, Lord, my plea for justice, give my crya hearing, listen to my prayer, for it is innocent of all deceit”. The translation of this sentence into English haspresented serious difficulties given its problematic syntax. Nevertheless, this should not obscure its intended meaning if we regard the context in which the paragraph has been inserted. The compiler defines the book’s contents as medical and magical remedies for the specific needs of women, but also for the needs of men who are able/may have intercourse with them (this has been expressed through a well-known Hebrew euphemistical phrase). The short section on aphrodisiacs for men included immediately after these words indicates that he is alluding to men who may require aid to carry out sexual intercourse. Ounce. Ar.: ’uqiyya from Greek: ougkia. An ounce was the twelfth part o f a pound and its weight corresponded to eight drachms. See DETEMA, p. 1143a; and Gregorio del Olmo and Jose Ramon 181

The Book o f Women ’s Love

21.

22.

Magdalena Nom de Deu, “Documento hebreo-catalan de farmacopea medieval”, Anuario de Filologia, 6 (1980), pp. 159-187, on p. 173. Pound. Rabbinical Hebrew measure li t r 'a (Nno’b) corresponding to the Greek and Latin litra (358.5 grms). See Abraham Even-Shoshan, HaMillon ha- ‘ibri ha-merukaz. Jerusalem: Kiryat-Sefer, 1991. For a similar procedure, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 248-249:

mnN nwnm o^'mn cpton

23. 24. 25.

26. 27. 28.

29.

yov npn o n ny ’oni

.towon niNn ptrv jrtfon And he said further: if you take fat from the egg of big ants, and rub it behind the kidneys, it will strengthen sexual desire. The hypothetical relationship between kidneys and sexual desire was established by Hippocratic-Galenic medicine. According to this medical tradition, semen is produced in the brains and goes down to the testicles through the veins behind the ears, the spine and the kidneys. See Joan Cadden, Meanings o f Sex Difference in the Middle Ages. Medicine, Science and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998 (3rd ed.), p. 61; Enrique Montero Cartelle (ed. and tr.), Constantini Liber de Coitu: El tratado de Andrologla de Constantino el Africano. Santiago de Compostela: Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Santiago, 1983, p. 81; and Gerrit Bos, “Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexuality and Sexual Dysfunction, and the mystery of ‘Ubaid ibn 4Ali ibn Juraja ibn Hillauf solved”, Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 19, (1995), pp. 250-266, on pp. 258-259. Hebrew text: disisari 'on. Probably a misspelling of dyasatirion. Dyaqaron. Electuary whose main ingredient has not been identified. Perhaps dyacodion or dyacameron. The Hebrew text reads: dr., which has been interpreted as the abbreviation of the Greek measure drachm (yiODTT), and not the equally valued Arabic dirham (orm). The drachm was profusely used in Latin and vernacular medical works produced in the same context in which this book was compiled. A drachm is the eighth part of an ounce, equivalent to three scruples. See DETEMA, p. 562a. Ash {Fraxinus excelsior L.). Loan translation from Rom.: lengua de pajaro or Lat.: lingua avis. See DETEMA, p. 927b. Clove {Eugenia caryophyllata). Rom.: girofle. See DETEMA, p. 773b. Couch-grass {Agropyron repens [L.]). Lat.: gramen; O. Sp.: grama and gramen; Occ. and Cat.: gram, agram and grama. See DETEMA, p. 783b and DCVB IV, pp. 367b-368b. Garden balsam. O. Sp.: balsamina. According to what Andres de Laguna writes in his Spanish translation of Dioscorides’ Materia medica, the oil in which garden balsam was soaked is an excellent

182

Commentary

30.

31.

32. 33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38. 39.

40. 41.

remedy to cure sores and abscesses in the breast and womb, and it facilitates conception. See Dioscorides, Libro III, cap. 166, p. 481. Pine (Pinus sp.). O. Cat. and O. Occ.: pin. See DCVB VIII, p. 581a; and Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Shem Tov ben Isaac, Glossary of Botanical Terms, Nos. 1-18”, Jewish Quarterly Review, 92, Nos. 12 (2001), pp. 21-40, on p. 33 (iteml3). Vetch (Lathyris L. and Vicia L.). Rom.: arobio, orobio, orobo, orobus. Plant of which there are two species, white and red, according to the colour of its flowers. See DETEMA, p. 1153b. Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa L.). Rom.: pastinaca romana. See DETEMA, p. 1186a. Galingale (Cyperus longus L., Alpinia officinarum Hance). Lat.: galanga; Rom.: galanga, galangal, galangar. See DETEMA, p. 761bc; The Trotula, p. 280a; and Hunt, p. 123. Fine (sandalwood). The Hebrew text reads: muslini. Roman.: moscatelino or muscelino, adjectives meaning “of musk”, which normally describe a kind of fine sandalwood or an oil. See DETEMA, p. 1087c and 1429a. Scruple. Rom.: escropulo, escrupulo, scrupulo. Small measure to which different values have been attributed at different times. See DETEMA, p. 652b. Rom.: grana tintorum. Excrescence of kermes oak that, when squeezed, produces red pigment. The colour itself is also called by this name. See DETEMA, p. 783c. Possibly sturgeon. The Hebrew text reads: esteniqoron. Sp.: esturion; Cat.: esturio; O. Cat.: estorio and storio. See DCVB V, p. 614a. The editors of the Sefer Hanisyonot also suggest this translation (sturgeon) for the Hebrew sterion in one of the recipes intended to arouse sexual desire. See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 248-249. Cf. Proverbs 23:5. Principle of the body. The generally accepted meaning of this phrase since rabbinical times is “male organ”. See Judith Targarona, Diccionario Hebreo-Espahol. Barcelona: Riopiedras, 1995, p. 1159b. Nevertheless, I have preferred to translate it literally because, in my view, the literal meaning of the phrase sheds light on the phallocentric intentionality behind its use as a euphemism for male organ. Literally, “matters of themselves [feminine]”. Herons. Probably a misspelling of Romance. Sp.: garza from Lat.: arcea. See DCECH III, p. 116a. On the other hand, the Catalan term garsa has two meanings: heron and magpie, their etymology being as follows: garsa meaning “heron” derived from the Lat. arcea; the same

183

The Book o f Women’s Love

42. 43.

44. 45.

46.

47. 48.

term meaning “magpie” possibly derived from the German agaza. See DCVB VI, p. 211b. The possibility exists that the text might be corrupted, since the procedure seems somehow ambiguous and unclear. Orpiment. Cat.: orpiment; Sp.: oropimente. A kind of yellow-coloured arsenic found in veins in mines. See DETEMA p. 1153b; and DCVB VIII, p. 58a. Socotrine aloe (Aloe L. ssp. esp. Succotrina). Rom.: aloe sucotrino. Fine aloe that comes from Socotora Island. See DETEMA, p. 84a. Greek tar. Rom.: colofonia. Liquid resin extracted from pine trees. It was also a resin prepared by apothecaries according to a procedure described by Dioscorides. See DETEMA, p. 337b; and The Trotula, p. 277a. Antales and dentales. Both these are different Romance terms to designate a small white, bright stone similar to a horse’s tooth. See DETEMA, pp. 113a and 482a. Cleanser. Literally, bleach. The result of boiling ashes with water. Old Sp.: lexia; Cat.: Ueixiu. See DCVB VI, p. 937a; DETEMA, p. 926b. For a similar remedy see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 172-173: n vymnn nn

prvn yri£)*n

rmy^

on

im i

.TiNnm bywn by And he said: if the ashes of a green frog are mixed with olive oil and bandaged on a bald head, it will cure alopecia. 49. There is a variant of this remedy in a thirteeth century Anglo-Norman book called L ’ornement des dames: Certes, la Saracine de Meschine guari meschine, mei veant, que tute fu chauve et out perdu les peilz des surcilz. Ele prist persil et sauge et tribla forment et bulli en blanch vin medle ob grese de pore. Quan i fu bient bulli, la grese de sus culli en un altre pote, puis prist cumin et mastic et tribla ob mues de h o f quit en eve. Dune les bulli ensemble et la teste li revindrent. Issi poez faire quant vus volesz que peilz vus creisent. Cf. Anonymous, L ’ornement des dames (Ornatus mulierum), Pierre Ruelle (ed.). Bruxelles: Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1967, p. 38; See also Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “Autoras sin nombre, autoridad femenina (siglo XIII)”, in Maria del Mar Grana Cid (ed.), Las sabias mujeres II (siglos III-XVI). Homenaje a Lola Luna. Madrid, 1995: Asociacion Cultural Al-mudayna, pp. 59-73, on p. 66. 50. This quotation is not to be found in the Materia medica of Dioscorides.

184

Commentary

51. Dioscorides indicates that one of the properties of barley flour consists in softening abscesses and sores, but this recipe is not to be found in his major work. See Dioscorides, Libro II, cap. 80, pp. 183-184. 52. Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara L.). Med. Lat.: ungula caballina; Rom.: ungula cabalina. Plant whose leaves are similar to ivy leaves. See DETEMA, p. 1610a; and The Trotula, pp. 236 [note 53] and 292b. 53. There are several possible readings of this name: Palatiri, Paltiri, Falatiri... It could be a misspelling of the Spanish-Jewish surname Falaquera, in which case the compiler might be quoting one of the following two authors: Natan ben Yoel Falaquerah (thirteenth century), physician and author of a medical book entitled Sori ha-guf; or Shem Tov ben Yosef ibn Falaquerah (c. 1225-1295), author of two philosophical and medical treatises, Batte hanhagat ha-guf ha-barV and Batte hangagat ha-nefesh. See Angel Saenz-Badillos and Judit Targarona Borras, Diccionario de autores judios (Sefarad, siglos X— XV). Cordoba: El Almendro, 1988, pp. 81 and 101-102. 54. Burning water. Loan translation from Lat.: aqua ardens, and Rom.: agua ardiente, aguardiente. See DETEMA, pp. 52b and 53a; and Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 152-153. Although today’s meaning of this term is “alcohol”, I have translated it literally in an attempt to avoid historical anachronisms. 55. PeshJtm. Rabbinical Hebrew term of Aramaic origin which designates a small coin. See Abraham Even-Shoshan, Ha-Millon ha- ‘ibri hamerukaz. It was used in some medieval texts as a measure of weight, sometimes as an equivalent to the Catalan term diners (denarius). Nevertheless, its value is so far unknown to us. I am indebted to Eduard Feliu for giving me this piece of information. 56. I have found a variant of this recipe to dye the hair blond (Lexia para enrubiar) in a fifteenth century Spanish book: Toma cuatro celemines de ceniza de sarmientos y una libra de ceniza de borras de vino bianco. Y echadla en una caldera de agua llovediza, y ponedla alfuego que hierva [...]. Take four celemines of vine ashes and one pound of ashes of white wine dregs. Pour everything in a cauldron with rainwater and boil on a fire [...]. [my translation] See Alicia Martinez Crespo (ed.), Manual de mugeres en el qual se contienen muchas y diversas regeutas muy buenas. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca, 1996 (1st ed. 1995), p. 70. 57. Gazelle’s powders. Probably musk (Moschus moschiferus). Strong­ smelling substance secreted by the musk deer. See DETEMA, p. 82c.

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58. 59.

60.

61.

62. 63. 64.

Trps. I was unable to identify this term. Meadow-saffron (Colchium autumnale L.). Rom.: hermodactiles, hermodatiles, armodatiles, ermodatiles, etc. According to Andres de Laguna’s translation of Dioscorides’ Materia medica, the consumption of hermodatiles is fatal, but it can be used in other medical compounds. See DETEMA, p. 817a-b. Possibly Alexander of Tralles (sixth century CE), author of a medical work divided into twelve books which was profusely quoted during the Middle Ages. However, although he pays some attention to head and hair ailments in his work, I was unable to find in it the following remedies attributed to him. See Lynn Thorndike, History o f Magic and Experimental Sciences, Vol. I. New York:Macmillan, 1923, pp. 575584 and Theodor Puschmann (ed. and tr.), Alexander von Tralles. Original-text und Ubersetzung. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1963 (1st edition Wien, 1878). Yishaq. The Jewish philosopher and physician Ishaq b. Sulayman alIsra’IlI (Isaac Judaeus; Egypt, c.855-Qayrawan, c.955 CE). His works were widely known during the Middle Ages. However, in medieval medical literature he is often confused with his student Ibn al-Jazzar, author of the medical encyclopaedia Zad al-musafir, since Latin translations of his work ( Viaticum peregrinantis) were published in the name of Yisraeli. See Harry Friedenwald, Jewish Luminaries in Medical History. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1946, pp. 8688; George Sarton, Introduction to the History o f Science, vol. I, New York, 1975, pp. 639-640; Danielle Jacquart, “La place d’lsaac Israeli dans la medecine medievale”, Vesalius, 4 (1998), pp. 19-27, on pp. 20-21; and Danielle Jacquart and Franchise Micheau, La Medecine Arabe et VOccident Medieval. Paris: Editions Maisonneuve et Larose, 1990 (on p. 72 a table shows the texts used at the medical faculty of Paris from 1270 to 1274: the Viaticum is attributed to Yisraeli). Garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.). Rom.: nasturci, nasturcio, nasturicio. See DETEMA, pp. 1008b and 1096a. Tartar. Sp.: tartaro\ Cat.: tartar. Wine residue that has stuck to the sides of the barrel. See DETEMA, p. 1530b; and DCVB X, p. 165a. Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarlya al-Razi (c.865-c.925 CE). Jewish interest in his production is attested by Judaeo-Arabic manuscripts, as well as by Hebrew translations of his main work, al-Kitab al-Mansuri. Al-Razl’s writings were an important contribution to gynaecology, obstetrics and ophtalmic surgery. See Lutz Richter-Bemburg, “Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarlya al-RazI’s (Rhazes) medical works”. Medicina nei Secoli, 6 (1994), pp. 377-392, especially on 383-385. On the Hebrew translations of his work, see Moritz Steinschneider, Die

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Commentary

65.

66.

67. 68.

69.

hebrdischen Ubersetzungen des Mittlelalters und die Juden als Dolmetscher, Berlin 1893, repr. Graz 1956, pp. 722 ff. This is the best known work of al-RazT, the KJtab al-Mansuri (Liber Ad Almansorem or Liber Almansoris in Latin). It was translated into Hebrew in 1264 by Shem Tov ben Yishaq Tortosi and, in the second half of the fourteenth century Abraham Abigdor made an abbreviated translation of the ninth book (De curatione aegritudinum qui accidunt a capite usque ad pedes) from Gerard of Cremona’s Latin translation. Recently identified is a new Hebrew translation from Latin of the whole work by an unknown author. The only extant manuscript of this translation was copied in 1374 in Portugal. See Angel Saenz-Badillos and Judit Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, p. 104; and Tzvi Langermann, “Some New Medical Manuscripts from St. Petersburg”, Korot, vol. 13 (1998-1999), pp. 9-20, on pp. 14-15. There are several possible readings of this name. It might be an unknown author from Lucca, the Italian town, or the ninth century author Qusta ibn Luqa (ca. 830-910 CE), who wrote among other works a treatise on ligatures and a regimen for pilgrims to Mecca. See Judith Wilcox and John Riddle, “Qusta ibn Luqa’s physical ligatures and the recognition of the placebo effect. With an Edition and Translation”, Medieval Encounters 1 (1995), pp. 1-48; and Gerrit Bos, Q u sta Ibn Luqa’s Medical Regime fo r the Pilgrims to Mecca. The Risdla f t tabdir safar al-hajj. Leiden: Brill, 1992.1 have not been able to find this remedy in his work. Yemenite. Hebrew text: alyamani, from Ar.: al-yamam. See Corriente, p. 858. The twenty-fourth book of al-ZahrawI’s great work Kitab al-tasrlf li­ man ayiza an al-talif deals with ointments. See Sami Kalaf Hamameh and Glenn Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View o f Abulcasis alZahrawT in Moorish Spain. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1963, pp. 41 and 75-76. The T a srlf was rendered into Hebrew on two occasions, between 1254 and 1262, by Shem Tov ben Yishaq Tortosi with the title Sefer hashimmush; and several years later by Nathan b. Eliezer ha-Meati. Moreover, it seems that some fragments of the T asrif were rendered into Hebrew by anonymous translators. See Ibid., pp. 30-33; Angel Saenz-Badillos and Judit Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, pp. 104 and 131; and Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Shem Tov ben Isaac, Glossary of Botanical Terms, Nos. 1-18”. ’y rm n t. I was unable to identify this term. Perhaps a corruption of ermion or ermeon, term which according to Tony Hunt’s work on plants means Lily (Lilium L.ssp.). See Hunt, p. 109.

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70.

71.

72. 73. 74. 75.

76. 77. 78. 79. 80.

81. 82.

83. 84. 85. 86.

Poterium {Poterium spinosum). See Feliks, M ar‘ot ha-Mishnah, Seder Z era’ot. Jerusalem, 1967, p. 91; and idem, (Olam ha-Someah haM iqra’i. Tel Aviv, 1957, p. 122. Yellow amber. According to a Romance-Latin-Arabic medieval glossary written in Hebrew, clasa is cacabre, which is yellow amber. See Magdalena, p. 16b. Incense. Rom.: thuris and turis. See DETEMA, p.l597c. Rom.: umbilicos marinos. A kind of winkle or conch that resembles the human navel. See Dioscorides, Libro II, cap. XI, pp. 75 y 128. Gly ’n tl. I was unable to identify this term. Serpentine {Arum dracunculus L.). Lat.: serpentaria and colubrina; Rom.: culebrina or culebrilla. This is a terminological variant to designate the serpentine. See Font Quer, pp. 961a-963b; Magdalena, p. 19b and Simonet, p. 145. WynwysyV. I was unable to identify this term. Wormwood {Artemisia absinthium L.). Rom.: absencio, absenthio, absinti, etc. See DETEMA, pp. 60c-61a. Alum de pluma. Rom.: alum de pluma. Asbestos. See DETEMA, p. 91a; and Magdalena, p. 32b. Filings. Sp.: limadura; Cat.: llimadura. See DCECH III, p. 652a and DCVB VII, p. 16b. Arabic treatises on cosmetics often refer to certain cosmetic and therapeutic compounds, elaborated for the privileged classes, as kings’ oils, or ointments, or whatever. These products were prepared with expensive and high quality ingredients. See Sami K. Hamameh, “The First Known Independent Treatise on Cosmetology in Spain”, Bulletin o f the History o f Medicine, 39 (1965), pp. 309-325. Sea porcelain. Rom.: porcelana [marina]. Mollusc also called Venus Conch. See DETEMA, p. 1253b. Cuckoo-pint {Arum maculatum L.). Rom.: hiero, yero andyzero. Herb that has two species, red and white, according to the colour of its flowers. See DETEMA, p. 1689a; and The Trotula, p. 293a. (Rose)buds. Hebrew text: bototan, possibly a corruption of the Spanish word boton (button). Candy (sugar). Cat.: candi; O. Sp.: cande. The whitest sugar which has been boiled many times. See DETEMA, p. 187c. Pastilles or troches. Rom.: trocisco and troscisco. Solid compound medicament shaped as a round tablet. See DETEMA, p. 1591a. Cetrine unguent. O. Sp.: unguento cetrino. Cat.: unguent/enguent/auguent cetrl An ointment made of oil, wax, terebinth, resin, colofonia, incense powder and mastic. See DETEMA, p. 1604a; and DCVB III, p. 138a-b and X, pp. 616a-617b.

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Commentary

87.

88.

89.

90. 91. 92. 93.

94. 95.

96.

97.

98. 99.

Elder (Sambucus nigra L.). Rom.: sambuco and sauco. Shrubs or small trees which have clusters of small white flowers and red, purple or blackberry-like fruits. See DETEMA, p. 1439b. Gum elemi. Rom.: goma elemi. Stimulant resin obtained from various trees. See The Midwives Book, p. 313. According to Andres de Laguna, gum elemi was the best product to cure wounds. See Dioscorides, Libro 1, cap. 120, p. 91. Balsam tree fruit and bark (Commiphora opobalsamum L.). Rom.: carpobalsamo and xilobalsamo. Fruit and bark of balsam tree, respectively. See DETEMA, pp. 277a and 1685c. ’ntrpsyly. I was unable to identify this term. Nevertheless, according to the text it means “natural”. Gout, from Ar.: naqras. See Vocabulista in Arabico I, p. 207a. Warts. Sp.: verrugas; Cat.: berruges. See DCECH V, p. 791a; and DCVB II, p. 448b. Figs’ milk. Some plants, among them figs, exude a white juice similar to milk when they are cut. This milky liquid has been sometimes given a therapeutical use. Figs’ milk was often used (and still is in some rural areas of the Mediterranean west) against warts. See DETEMA, pp. 923c-924a; and Lilio de medicina, Libro I, cap. XX, p. 43, and Libro III, cap. VIII, pp. 143-145, where figs’ milk is recommended against warts. Marking nut honey. Rom.: miel/mel de anacardo. Honey produced by bees that have sucked marking nut flowers. See DETEMA, p. 1044b. Hieralogodion. Rom.: gera logodion. Hiera/gera is a purgative drug administered as pills or powders. Hieralogodion uses colocynth as its main ingredient. See DETEMA, p. 771b; and Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 130-131. Hierapigra Galieni. Rom.: gera pigra Galiana or de Galeno. Hiera/gera pigra is a purgative drug made of aloes, canella bark and honey. See The Midwives Book, p. 313. Hierapigra Galieni is based on a recipe attributed to Galen. See DETEMA, P- 771c; and Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 124-125. Maidenhair fern (Adiantum capillus-veneris L.). Sp.: politrico; old Cat.: polltric. Maidenhair fern, a plant that grows in wells. See DETEMA, p. 1243b; Magdalena, p. 14b; and DCVB VIII, p. 710a. Garlic (Allium sativum L.). Cat.: all. See DCVB I, pp. 569a-571b, and Magdalena, p. 34b. For a similar remedy see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 186-187: o n n n nrpbDnn vnw von noo nt^nn now 2 nd bD Nnm vyNDn mNin mynn mn>b bD w xv .pm o^vyn

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Said the experimenter: if a drop of the extract of the root of dyer’s weed [isates tinctoria] is instilled into the nostrils it will remove all the bad humours emerging from the head and will cure the toothache; and this is tested. 100. Berries and root of ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea L.). Sp.: Bayas y ralz de hiedra terrestre. See DETEMA, p. 823b. 101. Honey. Rom.: miel and mel. See DETEMA, p. 1044a. 102. Yellow amber. Rom.: cacabre, from the term karaba derived from Persian: kah-ruba “attract-straw”. It is the solid resin of the black poplar. See Lilio de medicina, p. 351a and Magdalena, p. 16. 103. Zedoary (Curcuma zedoaria). Old Sp.: cetoal. Round and knot-like root, similar to ginger in shape and proprieties. See DCECH II, p. 14b; Magdalena, p. 12b and DETEMA, p. 307b. 104. Pellitory (Anacyclus pyrethrum DC). Rom.: pelitre, pellitre, peritro, etc. See DETEMA, p. 1194c. 105. Gargle. Sp.: gargarismo; Cat.: gargarisme. See DETEMA, p. 766a and DCVB VI, p. 191a. 106. Dyamoron. Rom.: diamoron. It is a preparation of syrup and mulberry juice. See The Midwives Book, p. 310; Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 52-53. 107. Oxymel of Squills. Medicinal drink containing sea onion ( Urginea maritima). See The Midwives Book, p. 317; DETEMA, p. 1159a-b; and Magdalena, p. 23b. 108. Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyrus L.). O. Sp.: lacterides and elacterides. See DETEMA, p. 910b; and Hunt, p. 153. 109. Galingale (Cyperus longus L). Lat.: ciperus; O. Cat.: ciperi. See DCVB III, p. 161a; The Trotula, p. 277a; and Hunt, p. 83. I was unable to find out what exactly roman means with respect to this plant. 110. Mustard (Sinapis L. ssp). Lat.: sinapis. Rom.: sinapi, jenabe, senabe, etc. See DETEMA, pp. 897b and 1475a. 111. Pigeon seed. The author might be referring to one of the various plants called in Spanish: palomina, palomilla, pie de paloma, etc. Probably he is talking about fumitory, which according to Andres de Laguna has the virtue of eliminating redness and red spots from the face. See Font Quer, pp. 210a, 248a, 416b and 554b; Dioscorides, Libro I l f p. 446. 112. Spurge (Euphorbia L.). Hebrew text: tit, probably a corruption of Romance: titimalo, titimal and titimaldo. See DETEMA, p. 1556b and Magdalena, p. 15b. 113. Sweet flag (Acorus calamus L.). Cat.: acore and acori; O. Sp.: acori, acorus, etc. See DCVB, p. 146b and DETEMA, p. 28a. 114. Horsetail (Equisetum L. ssp.). The Hebrew text reads: d e’ipuris, which corresponds with the transliteration of the Romance preposition de (of)

190

Commentary

plus the Romance plant name: hypuris\ Lat.: hippuris. See Dioscorides, Libro III, pp. 402^103; J. Andre, Lexique de termes de botanique en Latin. Paris, 1956, p. 163; idem, Les Noms de Plants dans le Rome antique. Paris, 1985, p. 124; and Hunt, p. 148. 115. Dyaltea. Ointment whose main ingredient is marshmallow root. See DETEMA, p. 527b. 116. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 184-185: vnvy n7rp on vynnipwNH-ien .inw p w o>ivy ono t> v w Dioscorides said: if fumitory root is hung on the neck of one who has a toothache, it will alleviate it. 117. Mucilage. Perhaps it is a corruption of O. Sp. and Cat.: mucilagen, mucilage and mucilagine, from Lat.: mucilagine. See DETEMA, p. 1079b; and DCVB VII, p. 635a. 118. The Hebrew word ’ilanot has been prefixed by the Romance preposition de, meaning “o f”. 119. Asta marina. I was unable to identify this term, though possibly the author, or the scribe, was referring to some kind of seashell. 120. Spodium Rom.: espodi, espodio and spodi. The soot from a copper foundry, although that from a lead, silver or gold foundry would also do. See DETEMA, p. 674a and DCVB V, p. 446b. According to a medieval Arab-Romance-Latin glossary written in Hebrew, espodi is burnt elephant’s tusk. See Magdalena, p. 15b. 121. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Rom.: balaustia, balaostia and balostia. See DETEMA, p. 194a and DCVB II, p. 227a. 122. French musk. Rom.: algalia moscada, galla moscata, gallia moscada/ muscata, etc. See DETEMA, p. 73c and Magdalena, pp. 9b and 23b. 123. Meerschaum. Cat./Occ.: escuma [marina]. See DCVB V, pp. 3 19b— 320a and Magdalena, p. 83c. 124. Costus (Chrysanthemum balsamita L.). Rom.: costo. Plant of which there are three known species: Arabian or sweet that comes from Arabia and is white and sweet-smelling; Indie that is strong and black, and Siriac that is often adulterated by apothecaries. See DETEMA, p. 418a. 125. Sweet flag (Acarus calamus L.). Rom.: calamo aromatico. See DETEMA, p. 245b. 126. Mace (Myristica fragans). Rom.: macis. See DETEMA, p. 974b. 127. Dyanthos. Electuary whose main ingredient is rosemary flowers. See DETEMA, p. 528b. 128. Passularum ’brylys. Lat.: passularum. Raisins ( Vittis vinifera L.). See Tabula Antidotarii, p. 38; and Hunt, p. 199.1 was unable to identify the term that follows this.

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129. The Hebrew text reads: Rysws. Probably a corruption of Romance: raices/raiges (roots). 130. Henna (Lawsonia inermis alba). Rom.: albena. See DCVB I, p. 426a. 131. Fourteen(th). Sp.: catorce; Cat.: catorze; Lat.: quattuordecim. 132. Talcum. Ar.: al-talaq. See Corriente, p. 478a. 133. The name Almanzor does not allude to an author but to the well-known al-Razfs work al-Kitab al-Mansuri. See above note 65. 134. Intestines. Sp.: tripas; Cat.: tripes. See DCECH V, p. 638a and DCVB X, p. 530a-b. 135. Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.). Rom.: clcero and cicerum. See DETEMA, p. 309a. 136. Genesis 1:43. 137. Chaste tree {Vitex agnus-castus L.). The Hebrew text reads: taz qastos. Probably a corruption or misspelling of Latin: agnus castus. This word has been noted in Hebrew as: \jnovyp according to a thirteenth century Hebrew translation o f an Arabic treatise on impotence. See Suessmann Muntner (ed. and trans.), Sexual Life. Hygiene and its Medical Treatment. Jerusalem: Geniza-Publishing Corporation, 1965, p. 108. [Hebrew]. This treatise has been recently identified by Gerrit Bos as the Hebrew translation of the first chapter, sixth book (On the diseases occurring in the Genitals) of Ibn al-Jazzar’s Zad al-musafir wa qut al-hddir. See Gerrit Bos, “Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexuality and Sexual Dysfunction”. 138. Horsemint {Mentha sylvestris L.). Cat.: mendastra, mendastre and mentastre; O. Sp.: mentastro. See DCVB VII, pp. 341b-342a and 356b; DETEMA, p. 1008a; and Magdalena, p. 16b. 139. Rosemary {Rosmarinus officinalis). Rom.: antos and anthos. See DETEMA, p. 116b. 140. Medicinal podwer. Hebrew text: al-sufuf from Ar.: al-safuf See Corriente, p. 359. 141. In his book entitled Kabbalah ma ‘asit we-alkhimi’a (Practical Kabbalah and Alchemy), Hayyim Vital (1542-1620) describes some similar formulas intended to discover the secrets of a sleeping person. It seems that the earliest source of this tradition is Democritus (c. 200 BCE). See Gerrit Bos, “Hayyim Vital’s ‘Practical Kabbalah and Alchemy’: a 17th Century Book of Secrets”, Journal o f Jewish Thought and Philosophy, 4 (1994), pp. 55-112, especially pp. 72-73. 142. Magnet. Cat.: magnet from Lat.: magnete. See DCVB VII, p. 120a. 143. Tamuz is one of the summer months of the Hebrew calendar. 144. Gurab. The Hebrew text reads: grb, most probably derived from Ar.: gurab (raven). See Corriente, p. 552a. 145. Cat.: cornella (raven). See DCVB III, pp. 551b-552a.

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Commentary

146. Pine nut. Cat.: pinyd, pinyons (plural). See DCVB VIII, p. 594b. The meaning of this word is “pine nut”, but I am inclined to think that there is a mistake and the author was referring to “pine cone”, whose size is more appropriate for what this remedy proposes. 147. According to Bernard of Gordon, this method was developed by Hippocrates: E Ipocras mostro esperimentar si la mujer esta aparejada para se emprenar, e es que se safume con cosas oledoras, e si elfumo sintiere de parte de dentro, esta aparejada e si non lo sintiere, entonces por esterile se puede juzgar, quedando la causa por quanto sta opilada, e esta esperiencia vale eso mismo en las virgenes. And Hippocrates showed how to find out if a woman can get pregnant. She must be fumigated with smelling things: if she feels the smoke inside, she can. If she doesn’t feel it, then you may judge her sterile, and obstruction is the cause. This experiment is also useful to ascertain whether a woman is a virgin, [my translation] See Lilio de medicina, Libro VII, capitulo quatorze, p. 319. In fact, the assumption that there exists a canal of communication between the vagina and the nose and mouth is very ancient. According to the Kahun papyrus (c. 1850 BCE), if a woman puts an onion bulb in her “belly” and next morning notices the scent of the onion in her nostrils, she is likely to get pregnant. Aristotle mentions a similar procedure in his De generatione animalium, although the onion here has been substituted for pessaries of smelling substances. See F. Griffith, Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob (Principally o f the Middle Kingdom). Texts. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1898. “Medical Papyrus”, prescription XXVIII, p. 10b; Michael J. O’Dowd, The History o f Medications fo r Women. Materia Medica Woman. New York-London: The Parthenon Publishing Group, 2001, p. 56; and Emile Littre, Oeuvres completes d ’Hippocrates, traduction nouvelle, vol. IV. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1978 [Paris, 1844], p. 555. Hippocrates deals with this issue on several occasions. In the treatise on sterile women (Peri aphdron) several methods are advised to know if a woman may conceive. One method consists in the introduction into the vagina of a pessary of cotton wool soaked in bitter almonds oil; a second one proposes a head of garlic instead; both are meant to ascertain if the scent reaches the mouth and, thus, the passage is open allowing conception.

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Nevertheless, surely Bernard of Gordon is quoting one of the Aphorisms: Si mulier utero concipiat, feire autem velis an conceptura sit, vestibus obvolutam subter sujfito, atque si odor quidem ad nares et os usque per corpus tibi pervadere videatur, ipsam nosce per se infecundam non esse. If a woman does not conceive, and wishes to ascertain whether she can conceive, having wrapped her up in blankets, fumigate below, and if it appears that the scent passes through the body to the nostrils and mouth, know that of herself she is not unfruitful. See, Kuhn, Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia XVII, Pars II, Part. V, Aphorism 59, p. 857; and Francis Adams, The Genuine Works o f Hippocrates. Translated from the Greek. Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Company, 1939, p. 312. 148. Zyyr. I was unable to identify this term. 149. frm n t. See above note 69. 150. Bwbyt. I was unable to identify this term. 151. There is a similar procedure in the De secretis mulierum attributed to Albertus Magnus: “If you wish to know whether the man or the woman is the cause of infertility, take two pots and place the man’s urine in one and the woman’s in the other. Add wheat bran to each of them, and carefully close up the pots for nine days or longer [...]”. See Helen Rodnite Lemay, Women’s Secrets. A Translation o f PseudoAlbertus M agnus’ “De secretis mulierum” with Commentaries. New York: State University New York Press, 1992, p. 138. In fact, the procedure belongs to an ancient medical tradition that developed a method of diagnosing pregnancy and predicting foetal sex through mixing urine with different cereals. These methods have their origin in ancient Egypt, from where they passed to the Greeks and Arabs. See P. Ghalioungui, Sh. Khalil and A.R. Ammar, “On an Ancient Egyptian Method of Diagnosing Pregnancy and Determining Sex”, in Medical History, 7, 3 (1963), pp. 241-246. 152. Wood sage (Teucrium scorodoni L.). Rom.: apotorio, eupater, eupatori, etc. Herb with hairy stems and split leaves. See DETEMA, p. 694c and Hunt, 112. 153. Sea bramble (bramble = Rubus L. ssp). Rom.: tribulo marino. See DETEMA, p. 1586b and The Trotula, p. 291b.

194

Commentary

154. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare). Rom.: maratro and maratri. See DETEMA, p. 1002b; and Magdalena, p. 33b. 155. Dyamace. Rom.: diamacis. Electuary whose main ingredient is mace. See DETEMA, p. 527c. 156. Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum [L.]). Rom.: coscuta, coscute, cuscuta and cuscute. Plant of long, thick and whitish stems, white flowers and tiny seeds. See DETEMA, p. 449b. 157. French lavender (Lavendula dentata). Lat.: sticados\ Rom.: esticados. See DETEMA, p. 681a. 158. Gromwell (Lithospermom officinale L.). Rom.: milium solis. See DETEMA, p. 1049a. 159. Camel’s hay (Andropogon schoenanthus L.). Rom.: esquenante, esquenate, squinant, etc. See DETEMA, P- 676c. 160. Asarabacca (Asarum europeum L.). Rom.: asaro, asare, etc. See DETEMA, p. 158b; and Tabula Antidotarii, pp. 98-99. 161. Condito. Compound of wine, honey and aromatic ingredients. It refers also to preserved foods. See Lilio de medicina, p. 356a; and DETEMA, p. 362c. 162. Spurge (Euphorbia L.). Rom.: esula. See DETEMA, p. 693c. 163. She should conduct herself properly for three days. The meaning of this sentence is ambiguous since it may bear two different meanings, which are not exclusive. The verb (>mn), from the root “n-h-g”, may allude variously to behaviour, custom and regimen. This could suggest that what is being recommended to the woman is that, after she has had the therapeutic bath, she should either refrain from sexual intercourse, or do a series of appropriate things for three days in order to make the treatment effective. 164. Musk. The Hebrew text reads: moscada. From “musk”. See DETEMA, p. 1073b. Probably “aromatic cassia”. 165. Rom.: alipta. Confection of several plants whose main ingredient is laudanum. See DETEMA, p. 76a. 166. Grated elephant tusk. It was recommended in the treatment of women’s diseases during the Middle Ages. See DETEMA, p. 846b. 167. Dyarrhodon. Red-coloured powder that contains thirty-one ingredients. See The Midwives Book, p. 310; and DETEMA, p. 529c. 168. Dyanison. Rom.: dianis and dianison. Electuary whose main ingredient is aniseed. See DETEMA, p. 528b. 169. Rom.: ben and been. It is a kind of nut, the size of a hazelnut, which is the fruit of a tree called in Castile Indian hazel. There are two kinds of ben, red and white. The white is larger than the red and has a fat, tender, white fruit. The red is the size of a chickpea. See DETEMA, p. 207b.

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170. Boiling off the wine in this measure removes the prohibition of alcohol from Muslims. 171. Horsemint {Mentha sylvestris L.). Rom.: balsamita. See DETEMA, p. 195b; Magdalena, p. 22b; and The Trotula, p. 274a. 172. Theodoricon euporiston. Rom.: teodoricon emperiston, empericon and eupericon. This is a laxative compound that has different formulas and owes its name to Teodoretus. Its main ingredient is marking nuts. See DETEMA, p. 1540a-b.; Lilio de medicina, p. 403a-b; and Tabula antidotarii, pp. 82-83. Nevertheless, it has been misunderstood by the scribe who thought it was two separate ingredients. 173. Rocket {Eruca sativa [L.]). Rom.: eruga, oruga, rucas, etc. See DCVB, IX, p. 697b and DETEMA, p. 1154c. 174. Womb. In this and on further occasions the Hebrew text reads 'em (mother) which, as I have argued in the first part of this book, is a loan translation from the vernacular terms: madre, mare, maire, etc., used in medical literature to designate the “womb”. See above, pp. 21-22. 175. Ywdq’ry. I was unable to identify this term. 176. Qws t 'bw. I was unable to identify this term. 177. Sarquina nut. Rom.: xarca, ysarquina, etc. It is a kind of oriental nut. See DETEMA, p. 1117c. 178. There is a mistake here, because this is a recipe for a fumigation. 179. Paregoric. Lat.: paregoricum. It is a calmative remedy. In Spanish and Catalan the adjective paregorico / paregoric exists, as well as the verb paregorizar, which mean to mitigate, to relieve. See DETEMA, p. 1175a and DCVB VIII, 240a. 180. G l’rw. I was unable to identify this term. 181. Yellow amber. See above note 102. 182. Sebesten (Cordia myxa). Lat.: myxa. Fruit similar to a plum. See Dioscorides, Libro I, cap. 137, p. 110 and Libro III, cap. 97, p. 331; and DETEMA, p. 1440c. 183. Alipta. See above note 165. 184. Shlgytym. I was unable to identify this term. Nevertheless, it might be derived from Hebrew sheleg, which means “snow”, to name a kind of white flower or a type of white rose. 185. White. Rom. and Lat.: alba. See DCECH I, p. 118b. 186. Dyatozoriton. Perhaps a corruption of Rom.: diateodoricon, electuary attributed to Teodoretus. See teodoricon emperiston in DETEMA, p, 1540a-b; and above note 172. 187. Condito. See above note 161. 188. Elecampane {Inula helenium L.). Rom.: enula campana. See DETEMA, p. 630c; and Magdalena, p. 31b.

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189. Black unguent. Med. Lat.: Confectio nere. Rom.: confeccion/confeccio negra. See DETEMA, p. 1605b; and Tabula Antidotarii, p. 104. 190. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanysionot, pp. 226-227: m s o>pni yam pit?m p si np npion n y *ibni on ithn o>p nnNi nnnn nsNm >ond idd imra boon .psp mn nnn m n p n n o nnwn nipn y> iin

And the experimenter said further: take dough, knead it with mussilini oil and put a bugle flower in it and bake it in an oven like pastry, whereupon, while it is still hot, put it into choice wine, and if the man drinks thereof repeatedly, she [the wife] will certainly conceive 191. For a similar recipe, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 224-225: ■pnnb > yio op o>vmN ™

n»n\y ntnon *ioni

And the experimenter said: when horehound is drunk for forty days it will facilitate pregnancy. 192. White rose. Rom.: subalvida (white) derived from Lat.: subalbidus. See DETEMA, p. 1500c. 193. Civet. Hebrew text: alzabida, derived from Ar.: zabada. See Vocabulista in Arabico I, p. 110b. Civet is the strong-smelling secretion o f civet-cat glands, used in perfumes. See The Midwives Book, p. 308. 194. For a similar procedure, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 226-227: pyn o>wn noin nyn N>n n to ^ n np npion n y noNi pnnb ~tnd !?>yioi tnd itiin npio Nin 710 ov omn jm

.obD bv Said the experimenter further: take zabida which is the secretion of a civet cat, put some of it on cotton wool into the womb; it will clean it thoroughly, and benefit the pregnancy more than any other means. 195. For a similar recipe, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 226-227: nrab NO>nt>p pmppNi >Nit?N nip!? np npion n v *ioni nwpn? *inioni ppmi Nippio mN nipn ’no n*pdi nm p*>voi vboD mo>pn mi npot? *no>p n p vm ’t t ^ n ’no .ypVPin noNro mi pnn!? iwo !?>vioi ptnoi

Said the experimenter further: take aloe wood, storax, calamintha and pure frankincense and myrrh, each in equal portions, with nutmeg, musk and ambergris, half a dram of each and steam it from beneath; this steam eliminates and diminishes [the noxious substances] and will also strengthen and greatly facilitate pregnancy; and this was verified by testing.

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196. Coriola. Cat.: correhuela, corretjola, corritjola and corriola; Sp.: correhuela. See DETEMA, p. 406c and DCVB III, p. 598a. 197. Opiate. Electuary whose composition includes either opium or any other narcotic substance. See DETEMA, p. 1143. I have been unable to ascertain why the compiler describes this electuary as an opiate. 198. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 220-223: b w yin* nbnn p m p nn on m o bN nnNi .iinn Nmn om n Said al-Tabari: if you administer an enema of donkey’s milk, it will relieve the suffocation of the womb and cure it. 199. Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum L.). Cat.: aleixandri. The Greeks knew this plant as hipposelinon. The etymology of the term, which is found in several European languages, is connected with the Greek name Alexander, after Alexander of Macedon, as is attested by the above-mentioned Catalan term and by Sp.: peregil macedonico; Fr.: maceron; and It.: macerone. See DCVB I, p. 470a. 200. Blanca bisangia. Rom.: blata bisancia and blanca bisancia/bisangia. Conch that covers certain small molluscs. See DETEMA, p. 218c; and Guido Mensching, La sinonimia delos nonbres delas medeginas griegos e latynos e arauigos. Madrid, 1984, pp. 86 and 49. 201. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 222-223: noyi w o n >opbn Nnpm n n mmo np noinn nnNi .pinnbiNn b w nonb mo^p nb And the experimenter said: take the fin of a fish called balacti vicensi, [boil it] and apply the steam to her from beneath; this will greatly relieve the suffocation. 202. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 222-223: ’Nn >barwn m o p >do*>ni wbN ^y np noinn my nnNi W ) 'n 'Nn n w om NnnNNOpoin oin o m i^ n .bD Nmn Nfnn ynuND nb>no noyi >on nn npi non The experimenter said further: take aloe wood, spikenard and clove, half a dram of each, and also nutmeg and ambergris, each to the measure of five wheat seeds, take a piece of silk, produce thereof a suppository the size of a finger, this will cure and heal of diseases of the womb. 203. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 222-225: noni nnNim nbm Nmo^n non np noinn n y nnNi onnn yinn yinn nin>on Nnm bNi u>b>om ^non nn nn .pnnb nio on onnn pmnb iNn b^yin

198

Commentary

The experimenter said further: take asafetida, hang it on her neck, then anoint her womb with mosul [or edible mussel?] oil and with cream and put [the same ingredients] on cotton wool into the womb, this will greatly relieve the suffocation of the uterus and this is also commendable for pregnancy. 204. Herb mercury. Rom.: mercurial. According to tradition, this plant was discovered by Mercury. It has two spices, male and female. See DETEMA, p. 1036c. 205. Maidenhair fern. See above, note 97. 206. Ceterac. Rom.: ceterac. Golden herb. Ordinary plant that grows on damp walls. See DETEMA, p. 307b. 207. The four cold seeds. Especial group of four seeds called “lesser cold seeds” (purslane, chicory, prickly lettuce and lettuce), and four “great cold seeds” (pumpkin, cucumber, melon and watermelon). See Font Quer, p. 166; and Gregorio del Olmo and Jose Ramon Magdalena, “Documento hebreo-catalan”, p. 179. 208. Field pimpernel (Anagallis caerulea L.). Rom.: cardenilla or cardenella. See Magdalena, p. 32b and Meyerhof, p. 14 (item 16). 209. Gala. Rom.: gala. Oak gall: an excrescence from oak trees caused when certain insects lay their eggs in the bark. See DETEMA, p. 761b; Magdalena, p. 25b-c; and The Trotula, p. 280b. 210. Pennyroyal {Mentha pulegium L.). Cat. and Occ.: poliol. See DCVB VIII, pp. 705b-706a. 211. A large part of this section coincides notably with part of a Catalan treatise called Trdtula, attributed to one master Joan, and with the French work Des aides de la maire et de ses medecines, extant in three fifteenth century manuscripts. The material is strikingly similar though arranged in a different order. See Montserrat Cabre i Pairet, “La cura del cos femeni i la medicina medieval de tradicio llatina”. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Barcelona, 1994, pp. 243-348; and eadem, “From a Master to a Laywoman: A Feminine Manual of Self-Help”, Dynamis, 20 (2000), pp. 371-393. I am indebted to Montserrat Cabre for telling me about the French manuscripts and for sharing with me her work-in-progress. For this and subsequent quotations I have followed the edition of the Catalan treatise that Dr. Cabre made for her Ph.D. dissertation. This fragment enumerating the causes of amenorrhoea presents striking similarities with some portions of the above mentioned texts: Lo reteniment de la flor per moltes gives se fa, car fas, per veylea o per feblea de natura: o per veylea a cap de XL ayns o de L; e noy val medicina; per

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feblesa de natura, axi com grosses umors o per corrumpiment de sanch del nars, o per apostema, o per ira, o per pahor, o per esmortiment, o per moltes altres guises. See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 320. 212. Flowers - menstrual blood - , which announce the possibility of fruit. This metaphor belongs to a medical tradition favourable to women outside the male dominant discourse, whose written origin is found in Trotula. See Monica Green, “The Development of the Trotula”, Revue d ’Histoire de Textes, 26 (1996), pp. 119-203. 213. A similar fragment also appears in the Catalan treatise called Trdtula. See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 319: Emperd io, en Johan Reimbamaco, die, si es la mare freda - que opotz conexer per la orina blancha e per moltz altres seynals - val-hi menjar de calda natura aytambe letovaris, empastres, fomigis, bccyns persons, axirops e olis e unguents calts, letovaris, axi com diacodion, diaterorperipon, trasera macna, siloni, diatesseron, triaca major, diaciminum [...]. 214. The Hebrew text reads: d i’aseseron. Probably a misspelling of dyasatirion. See above note 23. 215. According to the Catalan Trdtula: Si es la mare trop calda, en asso o conoxeretz: la orina sera colorada, e per altres seynals moltes. E conven-hi usar medicines fredes, axi com letovaris, empastres, fomigis, bayns persaris, axirops, olis, unguents be olents, letovaris axi com diarodon, rosada novela, terra sandali, letovaris a restaurar la umiditat, triffera sarracenica e sos cemblans[...]. E si es la mare trop umida e secca, exament usats coses umidas e seques, segons que la natura o demandara. See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 319-320. 216. Triasandali. Electuary whose main ingredients are three different kind o f sandalwood. See DETEMA, p. 1589a. 217. According to the Catalan Trdtula: Mas per qualque guisa se retinga longament, avemne longues malalties e mortals, axi di Ypocras e Galienus, so es a ssaber: aiganus o desfici, e oradura, en moltes d ’altres malalties. Si la flor se rete per grossa sanch, sia treta sanch de la vena del

200

Commentary

fetge, del bras dret, o de la vena saffena, sd es de la vena dejus la claviyla dintre lo peu, e sien gitades ventoses en les cuxes de dintre, o si estreny la jlor per corrumpiment de sanch de nars o per morenes. Si grosses umors embargen les venes de la mare es rete la jlor, valen-hi usar medicines que fa n urinar e exir la sanch, axl com es sement de fenoil, batafalva, puliol, roga, espeic, diptan, savina, caparo e sos cemblans; e podets-ne obrar de simples medicines. See Cabre, “La cura del cos femern”, pp. 320-321. With regard to the warning attributed to Hippocrates and Galen on the severe consequences of the long-term retention of the menses - as has been argued above in Chapter I, pp. 27-29, its contents seem to be closer to a statement made by Ibn al-Jazzar in his Zad al-musafir than to what these two authors convey in their original works. The differences and similarities in the various approaches may be perceived through the comparison between the assertion in the Book o f Women’s Love (and the Catalan Trdtula), an extract from Hippocrates’ Aphorisms commented on by Galen, and Ibn al-Jazzar’s claims on menstrual retention: Book of Women's Zad al-musafir Hippocrates - Galen Love [If the menstruation of Menstruis copiosioribus If [flowers] were a woman is retained projluentibus morbi retained for some for a long time] Their oboriuntur, at non time, according to bodies will, in short, prodeuntibus accidunt ab Galen and be susceptible to some utero morbi. Hippocrates, it may serious diseases, such [...]Quidquid autem fuerit, cause serious fatal as dropsy, tempons progressu uterum illnesses such as consumption, and a ipsum aliquem affectum dropsy and epilepsy humour consisting of pati vel phlegmonodem vel and several more black bile. erysipelatodem vel complicated illnesses. scirrhodem vel carcinodem, quo per consesum totum corpus affici necesse est.[...]* * When the menses are excessive, diseases take place, and when the menses are stopped, diseases from the uterus take place. [...] For whatever reason [the menses are suppressed], with the passage of time the womb will increasingly suffer from complaints, either swelling, or erysipelas, or scirrhus or carcinoma, and equally all the body will inevitably be affected, [my translation]

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See Kuhn, Claudii Galeni opera omnia. Vol. XVII/2, particula V, num. 57, pp. 853-855; Francis Adams, The Genuine works o f Hippocrates, Aphorism 57, p. 312; and Gerrit Bos, Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases and their Treatment. A Critical Edition o f Zad al-musafir wa-qut al-hadir (Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary, Book 6). London & New York: Kegan Paul International, 1997, pp. 263-264. 218. Herb from Tunisia. Rom.: yerba de Tunez, hierba de Tunez. Plant with a thin stem, similar to that of fennel, and blue flower. Its root is black outside and white inside. See DETEMA, p. 825a. 219. For a similar remedy, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 322: Macdalion que podets posar en la mare, enbolcat en lana, e fa venir fortment la flor, e purga la mare de fredes umors, e gitan ventositat, e conforta-la e fa-la bona per dormir ab home. Recipe: figes vermeylles, III dracmes; niella, sement de nasturci, comi, ana ameos, ana dracmes II, cata puscia mundada, dracma semis; ensens, III dracmes. E confegitso tot picat e ajustatz-hi sue d ’api e fe l de bou, tant que hi bast. E puis fets-ne macdalions o cales, embolcatzo ab lana e posats-voss-en al mati e tenetz-lo tot dia tro al mig dia, e pur gar a la mare fortment. 220. Garden cress (Lepidium sativum L.). Cat.: manitort, according to Magdalena, pp. 13b and 34b; according to Andres de Laguna, the Catalan term for this plant is morritort. See Dioscorides, Libro II, cap. 144, p. 235. 221. For a similar remedy, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 328: E si por ventura venia febra, baynatz-vos en aygua de malves, e tolrans la febra. E sapiatz que assd matex fa triffora magana, senapi aguada abescamonea, o benedicta, o jerapigra, o geralogodion agut, teodoriconi, sinfins macdalions destrempatz o ab sue de piere e pesanqars. 222. The two next remedies are to be found in the same source. See ibid., pp. 322-323: Un letovari a assd eleix, que fa venir la flor e Limfant gitar del ventre, neix si per lone temps hi a estat: prenetz reupontic, o ruibarbre, o apoponach, casie ligne, pebre negre, artemizia, ruda, moreu blanch, sement de pastanagues salvatges, castor, roga, ana dracma semis; diptan, I dracma; mel, tanta que hi basta. E datz-ne tant com ravelana ab

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Commentary

vi tebeu on sia bulida ruda, e roga e sement de ginebre, puliol savina e mandastre. Macdalion rich a fer venir la jlor o Vimfant mort. Recipe: uruga, niella, sue de cogombre, anar, caloquintida, sue de porre, alquitra, ruda, de cascu I poc. E fetz-ne macdalion ab lana, e posatz-ne en la mare. 223. Lozenge. Rom.: magdaleon, madalion, magdalion. Dough of a poultice or of other pharmaceutical compounds shaped as a cylinder. See DETEMA, p. 979a; and The Trotula, p. 283a. 224. For a similar remedy, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femem”, p. 323: Sapiatz que de las medicines ben olents fen venir la jlo r com horn ne posa en la mare o Van perfuma, axi com es castor, musch, ambre, ligni aloes e moltes altres coses. 225. This therapeutical prescription to “soften the nature” and provoke menstruation is connected to Ibn al-Jazzar’s aetiology of amenorrhoea. The Arabic medical author explains in his work Zad al-musafir that accidental menstrual retention happens due to a faculty (domination of a bad complexion), an organ (affliction of the substance of the uterus or its veins), or matter (quantity, quality and movement of the substance of the menses). If the nature needs to be softened, it might be understood that the cause of the retention is an organ, since the constriction of the veins of the vulva, or the thickness or viscosity of the substance, can result in an obstruction that retains the menstrual blood. See Monica Green, “The Transmission of Ancient Theories of Female Physiology and Disease through the Early Middle Ages”. Ph. D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1985, p. 260; Gerrit Bos, “Ibn al-Jazzar on Women’s diseases and their treatment”, Medical History 37 (1993), pp. 296-312, p. 300; and idem, Ibn al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases, pp. 41 and 262-263. 226. For a similar fragment, from up to and including the remedy for amenorrhoea caused by cold abscess, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femem”, pp. 324-325: Bayn a la jlor que s ’estreny per calor o per sequetat. Recipe: malves e albebunich amarini [...]. E a la freda aposterma de la mare fetz aquest empastre: prenetz absolve, figues seques, sement de li malvi ana I poc; e coetzo tot en vi vermeil be posatzo sobre lo penteneyl. 221. Bear’s breech (Acanthus mollis L.). Rom.: branca ursina. Plant similar to a thistle although less prickly. See DETEMA, p. 225b and The Trotula, p. 274b.

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228. Deadly nightshade (Atropa bella-donna L.). Lat.: morella; Cat.: maurella; Sp.: hierba mora. See Font Quer, p. 583b; Magdalena, pp. 17b and 25b; and The Trotula, p. 284a. 229. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 234-235: nvyym tuN ypwi Ntwo ynt on nN*i noNi .nmn t p

hwn

And Rhazes said: if ground fennel seeds are mixed with goose fat, and the woman uses [this in the form of] suppositories, the menstrual flow will be promoted. 230. Clary (Salvia sclarea L.). Rom.: gallocresta and gallocrista. Plant of dark leaves, square stem and round seed. See DETEMA, p. 763b; and Hunt, p. 124. 231. The following piece about the causes for menstrual retention,except for the last remedy written in the first person and the attributionto alZahrawl, is very similar to a portion of the above mentioned Catalan treatise: Lo corrumpiment de la flor es a vegades soberc per moltes umors grosses e sotils e per feblea de vertut o per rompiment de venes o per altres maneres. E si es grossa umor, sia purgada; e si es sobtil, aytambe; e si es per sobre sanch, sia sagnat de la vena del fetge o de la vena safea de la claviyla; e si es per feblea de vertut, sia confortada la virtut ab medicines confortatives e restretives, cor sobre tot devetz restrenyer la flor per qd que non fallesca la natura. E sien posades ventoses jus les exeles sens traure sanch, e ligatz-vos les mans al coll, e tenitz les anques baxes e les espaltles altes, e menjatz e usatz menjars frets, fets bany e estubes, e empastres, e posamens e letovaris, axi com es escrit en aquest capltol See Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, pp. 326-327. 232. Coriola. Rom.: sanguinaria or correhuela/corritjola. See DETEMA, p. 1432c. 233. Great plantain (Platago major L.). Rom.: arnaglosa and arnoglosa. See DETEMA, p. 147b. 234. For similar remedies, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femeni”, p. 327: Bayn a restrenyer la flor, rich e maravelos. Prenetz escorsa de magrana, roses, gales, alum, sucarum, mirra, plantage, consolda maior, cleda o argila vermeyla, escorsa de castanyes, fuyles de codonyer

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e de nespler e cervera. Tot assd sic cuyt en II parts de aygua de pluja e la III de bon vin agre, e baynatz-vos-hi en dejun. E con exiretz de la estuba prenetz sue de plantatge, un dracma; e miga de atanasia o de micleta, o altre apiata que val a assd; e lo sue de plantatge per si la estreyn. 235. Clay. Rom.: arcilla, arciella, arzilla and argila. See DETEMA, p. 142a. 236. Miletan bole. Hebrew text: bolmotiah. Perhaps the kind of bole or clay called in Greek: Miltos lectonice. See Dioscorides, Libro V, cap. 72, p. 543. 237. For a similar remedy, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femem”, p. 327: Empastre a estrenyer la sanch que posa horn sobre las anques e lo pentenyl, e es molt rich. Prenetz pegunta grega, miga libra; mastech, ensens, sanch de drago, alums, eitri mumia, ana dracmes III; nou de cipres, miga onsa; boliarmini, VI dracmes. Sia picat e confit ab sanch de plantatge e vinagre, e posatz-ho als Iocs dits. 238. Resin. Rom.: resina. See DETEMA, p. 1371a; and Magdalena, p. 31b. 239. Deer’s heart bone. The arteries in the heart of the deer become calcified when it is very old. That led medieval people to believe there was a bone inside some deers’ hearts. The so-called deer’s heartbone was profusely used in medicine. See DETEMA, p. 846a. 240. Roses [of]. Cat.: rosat. Syrup made of roses or mixed with roses. See DCVB IX, p. 577b and Jose Ramon Magdalena and Gregorio del Olmo, “Documento hebreo-catalan”, p. 186. 241. For a similar remedy, see Cabre, “La cura del cos femem”, p. 328: Posament que met horn en la mare. Recipe: ensens, mastech, alum, sanch de drago, peils de lebra cremades, ana dracma una. Confegitzo ab blanchs d ’ou e ab vinagra o ab such de plantatge, e postz-ne en la mare ab coto o ab drap prim de li, e sia mes dins e estiay per una nit. 242.Choleric. Rom.: colerica. Person in whose complexion yellow or black humours are prevalent. See DETEMA, pp. 334b-c and 853c. 243. Rom.: diacatolicon. Electuary composed of, among other ingredients, cassia, rhubarb, tamarinds, violet seeds and polypody. Its name means “universal”, because it is supposed to purge cholera, phlegm and melancholy from the whole body. See DETEMA, p. 525b. 244. Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.). Sp.: granada; Cat.: magrana; Old and dialectal Cat.: mangrana. See DCVB VII, pp. 122a-123a. .

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245. Rom.: micleta. Compound medicine prepared as an electuary. See DETEMA, p. 1043c. 246. Rom.: atanasia. Generally, this term refers to the plant known as tansy (Chrysanthemum vulgare L.), although an electuary is also called this. See DETEMA, p. 167b; and Hunt, p. 40. 247. Rom.: diacodion. Electuary whose main ingredient is poppy heads. See DETEMA, p. 525c. 248. Rom.: salvatela/salvatella. Dorsal vein of the little finger. See DETEMA, p. 1425c; and DCVB IX, p. 710b. 249. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 236-237: j n n r o n n yov o v p d d n p n o n n t n o n noN i in o n D n n n j n n o >mN o v o o v ntn no n o v n i -p o o v o n o N nn nymvm n m m o v n n m msv** n o n n n

250. 251.

252.

253.

254. 255.

.nnm And the experimenter said: if you take cumin, and fry it in olive oil, singe some cotton wool, and make a suppository with some opium thebaicum and put it into her womb, this will stop her hemorrhage even if profuse bleeding has persisted for a long time; this is tried and evident. Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum L.). Lat.: licium. Rom.: licium and licio. See DETEMA, p. 936c. Ribwort (Plantago lanceolata L.). Rom.: lanceola. Lesser plantain. According to Andres de Laguna it is so called because it has a pointed end like the end of a lance (Rom.: lanza). See Dioscorides, Libro II, cap. 115, p. 209; and Hunt, p. 154. Comffey {Symphitum officinale L.). Rom.: consuelda. Also known as sinfito. Plant of hollow stem, hairy leaves, and yellow, white or red flowers. See DETEMA, p. 384a. Comfrey {Symphitum officinale L.). O. Sp.: sinfito and simphitum. Also known as consuelda. Plant of hollow stem, hairy leaves and yellow, white or red flowers. See DETEMA, p. 1476a. Ribwort {Plantago lanceolata L.). Rom.: quinquenervia. Lesser plantain. See DETEMA, p. 1322c; and Hunt, 218. The known edition of the Book o f Medical Experiences or Sefer Hanisyonot presents a different version. Nevertheless, our scribe could have copied the remedy from a different version of this book, perhaps conserved in one of the manuscripts used by the editors of the Sefer Hanisyonot. Actually, according to the footnotes to the edition, in MS Milano Ambrosiana X 129 sup. fols. 15r-30r 6, “liquorice” (rwmbn) is written instead of “horsetail-plant” (tnt?n mt). On the other hand, MS Vatican, Bibliotheca Apostolica, Ebr. 366, fols. 104r-117v24, which is one of the extant manuscripts of Sefer ha-segulot, the Hebrew 206

Commentary

translation of an Arabic work by al-Haitham (tenth century), contains another variant of this recipe. These are both variants: Sefer Hanisyonot Sefer ha-segulot b y ! by t»t>n nit v*nvy nbrp

on

nnNi

by N ^ b N p n vnivyn n b m

.imp>oo> o n r n n o n riD^yn

on

nnNi

.im s y > o n n n b tn >byn

And he said: if one hangs the root And he said: if he hangs root of o f the horsetail-plant on a person liquorice on those suffering who is bleeding from the nostrils, from haemorrhage, it will stop it will stop it. it. [my translation] See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 234-235 and pp. 101-102, 234 and 315, respectively. 256. For a variant of this remedy see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 234-235: rm b n n n n nit np\y n\yNn by nbn>

on

n n n n bnt nnNi .m n n nt yin>

And he said: if the excrement of a pig is hung on a woman who suffers from [profuse] bleeding during birth, it will restrain it. 257. I could not find these two last remedies to stop haemorrhage in the Sefer Hanisyonot. 258. Aspaltum, from the Latin, might allude either to a plant (Rom: aspalato, sheperds’ purse?), or to pitch (Rom.: asfalto). See DETEMA; The Trotula, p. 274a; and Hunt, p. 38. I have been unable to identify the term that follows it, spelled Izry, and I ’z r ’ some lines below (perhaps spurge, Euphorbia L., from Lat.: lathyris. See Dioscorides, Libro III, cap. 168, pp. 482^483). However, I believe that both terms are inseparable, since I have documented the same ingredient - spelled aspaltum Is’ry - in a recipe recommended for the same purpose (abortifacient) in the treatise entitled Sha ‘ar ha-nashim. See Carmen Caballero Navas, “Un capitulo sobre mujeres: Transmision y reception de nociones sobre salud femenina enla production textual hebrea durante la Edad Media”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 52 (2003), pp. 133-160, onp. 157. 259. Peony (Paeonia L. ssp.). The Hebrew text reads: p u ’an. According to Andres de Laguna faunia is the Arabic word for “peony”, a plant which promotes menstrual flow. Since this is not an Arab word, my belief is that faunia (perhaps with different spellings) might be a Romance usage. See Dioscorides, Libro III, cap. 151, p. 364. 260. Leek (Allium porrum L.). The Hebrew text reads: furasi. Possibly a corrupcion of Ar.: furasiyyum. See Jose Ramon Magdalena and Gregorio del Olmo, “Un documento hebreo-catalan”, p. 184.

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The Book o f Women ’s Love

261. Acorn. Lat.: glans\ O. Sp.: glande. See DETEMA, p. 774a; and The Trotula, p. 281a. 262. Common centaury (Centaurium erythraea). Rom.: centaurea, centauria and cintoria. Perennial plant of big leaves and brownish purple flowers of which there are two species. See DETEMA, p. 297c; and Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Macer Floridus: A Middle Hebrew Fragment with Romance Elements”, The Jewish Quarterly Review, 91, Nos. 1-2 (2000), pp. 17-51, on p. 48. 263. Honeywater. Cat. and Occ.: molsa\ Lat.: mulsa. See Gerrit Bos and Guido Mensching, “Macer Floridus: A Middle Hebrew Fragment with Romance Elements”, p. 47; and DCVB VII, p. 514a-b. 264. Jp r y q tw r ’m. I was unable to identify this term, though it might be a very corrupted reading of the electuary teodiricon emperiston (see above note 172; there Hebrew text reads: eperiqon), or of a genitive of the plant called in Latin: hypericum (hypericum perforatum L.). 265. Yw ’n y tw tw s ’mgwny. I was unable to identify these terms, although they might be referring to a compound medicine attributed to ninth century medical writer Hunayn ibn Yishaq (Joannitius). 266. According to the quoted source: . >£>n pnm DK vmvyn n t»n £) n m n nvyyn

ok

* im i

And he said: if a woman makes use of suppositories made of opoponax root, she will abort. See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 232-233. 267. The Sefer Hanisyonot, ibid., says: .Tinv n o n nm yn

w xv

t n o n t o n n m n 'ivyiyn o k n o w

And he said: if a woman is fumigated with horsedung, this will expel the foetus dead or alive. 268. This recipe has also been quoted in the Sefer Hanisyonot. See ibid: i m f f l m y n >bifnnpt»K ’i K T o n p t n p o n p p o k n o w .n o n m vyn

wxv

onnn

o \y m m\y

And he said: if you take four scruples of colocynth mixed with ox-gall and place it at the cervix of the womb, the dead foetus will be expelled. 269. This remedy has also been quoted from the same source, ibid. : £>n nnunvyn n y i K n o n fm y K n p n b m n

Dioscorides said: if a pregnant woman smells the big arum, which is called serpentine, when it changes [and the blossom falls off], the fetus will be aborted. 270. Jet. The Hebrew text reads: lapis gega t a \ Lat.: lapis gagates. See The Trotula, p. 282a.

208

Commentary

271. 272. 273. 274.

Clary. See above note 230. Gwlyy qwmwfwly. I was unable to identify these two terms. Ymyq. I was unable to identify this term. Oregano (Origanum {majorana} sp.). The Hebrew translators of Maimonides and other medieval authors use ’ezob for Arabic s a ’tar (oregano). See Meyerhof, p. 218 (item 319); Gerrit Bos andGuido Mensching, “Shem Tov ben Isaac, Glossary of Botanical Terms,Nos. 1-18”, p. 27 (item 2); and Magdalena, pp. 24 and 28. 275. This first part of the recipe is similar to a remedy in the Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 230-231: nbn ov rmnb>i nbinn n w npn ok ntnnn “nv now >nnNb n>bv niNvym N”tno And the experimenter said further: if you take virgin wax and knead it with swallow fat, and she [the woman] wears it, she will not abort. 276. This same procedure has been written in very similar terms in the Hebrew treatise called Terufot le-herayon niqr ’a magen ha-rosh: nira bv iwp) >ns mvn jnm N>tno nbnn vnbi n n np mtnb n^nn oni n>byn noon nrmb nyn > o n Nbi p t bn ibn Nbi nbimn p n n o p nain jidn on .i>bv n*rw To prevent abortion: Take wax, knead it in mare milk, bind it with deer leather, tie it in her belly and she will not abort. And when she delivers, take it off. If you wish to experiment [and to see] if it really works, tie it to the belly of a hen and it will not deliver as long as it is tied on. See Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages, pp. 194 and 203. 277. Mother-of-pearl. Cat.: nacre; another variant in O. Cat.: nacra. See DCVB VII, pp. 685b-686a. 278. Diamond. Cat.: diamant. See DCVB IV, p. 403b. 279. Starchy. Hebrew reads: nusha’t; probably from Ar.: nasha>(starch). See Corriente, p. 762. 280. Some Hebrew words whose meaning is: destruction, coldness, heat, hole, plus one unidentified: brqwr. They have been transliterated in the text in order to achieve the effect possibly intended by the scribe through the phonetics, that rely mostly on the sound of guttural consonants and the vowel “o”. 281. Psalm 1: 1-6. 282. Probably it is a sacred name. It seems to be composed of two Hebrew words, ’el and ’ehad, whose meaning is “one god”. Nevertheless, the 209

The Book o f Women ’s Love

compiler describes how to form the word by combining some letters from the quoted psalm. 283.This procedure has been documented in two Hebrew treatises. See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 230-231; and Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages, pp. 195 and 204: Sefer Hanisyonot Terufot le-herayon tievp

niNpNp n m n bv nbm

on

.nmvn

He said: if you hang amber on a woman it will preserve the foetus.

mnn n m n bv m p p n nbnn on .nmvn mw>

If you hang the tuber of colocynth on the pregnant woman, it will keep the foetus [from aborting].

284. The Sefer Hanisyonot attributes this formula to al-Razi. A simplified version of the formula is found also in Terufot le-herayon niqr’a magen ha-rosh: Sefer H anisyonot

Terufot le-herayon

nm*n ni>bn >wpb mnon nm ioni nnnn mv bv nmsn nw mro on nm n nwmwin>bD bw imbvnNtn ibn nwpon nmn mbv wm >n>Nii .nmn ibn in ni>bn nvi vbv .nn mvw m bn> Nbw mini bn> Nbw inwm nwn nmmn iNbmw | nvaiN | nwbw j o w j o w p m m nnn mnon .mvw no ! nwbw! o w ! moiN ! omnm.nvniN owhni nwbw mno o"nro nnm nwbw nvoiN mno nnnn w n | nvoiN | nwbw | o w | | nwbw | o w | nvoiN j .vniN o w nnn o w nwbw And Rhazes said: for a difficult birth, If you write this formula on cattle write the following formula on the leather and the woman who is surface of an earthenware vessel, and having a difficult delivery sits on let the wife sit on this vessel during it, she will immediately give her labor, then she will at once give birth, but be careful that a mistake birth; and I saw this formula works does not creep in: wonders, and take care no mistake is | two | three | four \ made. Write in the first block two, | four|two ! three! then three and then four; and in the blocks which are beneath write under the four, three jtwo | three! f°url (four | two | three1, under the three, two, and under the two, four. See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 240-243; and Ron Barkai, A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages, pp. 196 and 207.

210

Commentary

285. Possibly Mosheh ben Nahman (1194-C.1270 CE), also known as Nahmanides. The attribution of this magical square to the man who was Great Rabbi of Barcelona relies on the fact that he was also the most prestigious kabbalist of the Catalan circle. See Angel SaenzBadillos and Judith Targarona, Diccionario de autores judios, pp. 7577. 286. The Sefer Hanisyonot also has a version of this formula, though attributed to Galen and with only one square:

287. 288. 289. 290.

291.

iniwyn ovn o>n 11 iyn Nb n m vnn wnn np idki 1 >n pn\yn in ninnm nt nnn n»*N n m it nm* iby n ^ n punbNi in irntno in nnnn in iniNi iro n m nmnw .nbn n n m bn nmn n>nnn mnon nnNi Vo nnon n n n .mnnnn n n n r w n n n n b n 4 9 2 3 5 7 8 1 6 He said: Take a potsherd, which has not been touched by water from the day it was made, and draw on it this pattern which I am going to draw, and write on it the calculation which adds up to fifteen, no matter how you add the written numbers, lengthwise or breadthwise, from the angels or diagonally: Then put the potsherd under the sole of her feet and she will immediately give birth; once she has given birth it must be 1 o n > n n N i removed from under her immediately. See Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 238-239. Isaiah 49: 9. Isaiah 42: 7. Psalms 142: 7. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 228-229: .nnn Nb n m n by mriNn bit nbn> on nnNi And he said: if you hang the excrement of a hare on a woman, she will not conceive. According to the Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 228-229: m oo nb’n s n m n n\yyn on yiym >by np >wn noN yin> n n m nyn yiym in ymnn yin> bw nn ny o n p .p>nnn

211

The Book o f Women ’s Love

Said Rhazes: Take mint leaves and produce from them a suppository; if used before coitus or during menstruation, pregnancy will be prevented. 292. For a similar remedy, see Sefer Hanisyonot, pp. 236-237: nbm oni pNb ddvt dvdnd m n vn wnmpvyNH ion

.ibn Nb dv^nd by Said Dioscorides: there exists in the brain of a viper something like a stone, and when you hang it on a woman, she will not give birth.

212

Glossary of Materia Medica and Technical Terms

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English - Hebrew Preliminary remark: the first number refers to the page of the English translation; the second number between brackets refers to the notes of the commentary. 124. sweet almond(s): O ’p i n n O ’l p w , 126, 128. toasted almond grains: n i ’b p o o p w , 142. aloe: ’N ib N , 122, 158, 166. aloe wood: ’NibN ’l’b, 118, 130, 138, 146, 148, 152, 154, 158, 170. socotrine aloe: ,nwip’w ’NibN pnoip’u ’NibN, 120 (44), 162. alum: oibN, 126, 136, 138, 148, 164. alum de plum a : N O ibD n o ib N , 124 (78). round alum: buy oibN, 166. white alum: pb oibN, 144. amber: NnnN ,n*i2DN, 142, 146, 148, 154, 158, 168, 172, 174. fine amber: 210 N22DN, 152. ambergris: Nm) N22DN, 118, 128, 152. amberseed: m any ym, 146. ammoniacum: p N ’UXON ,’i io n N , 124, 162. anger: pyD, 156, 166. anise: ’O ’iN , 0 ’iN , 138, 144, 150, 158, 162. ono,

abscess: NtniD, 156, 160. abscess in the womb: ON2 NtniD 156, 160. blood or red humor abscess: nOVTND IK 0 1 )3 K O TlD , 160. cold abscess: n i p k u t i d , 160. acacia powder: N’W pN p n N , 156. ache (see also pain); headache: 2HD W N n n , 130. side that aches: i K r o n i s n , 1 3 6 . toothache: o’l’wn 2ND, 132, 134, 136. acorn shape: wib) m m i, 170 (261). affected [person]: biby, 136. ailment; ailments of the womb: O N n ’bin, 156. o ’i ’W2 ’b i n : ailment in the teeth, 136. alembic: poibN ,p’2DbN, 126, 128, 168. glass alembic: prom bw ponbN n o o tn ponbN, 118, 128, 130. alexanders: m iU ’bN, 154 (199). alipta; liquid alipta : H’p’b NVO’bN, 146(165). musk alipta : NTpuiD NWD’bN HipvMO NWD’b, 146, 148 (183). almond; bitter almonds: oopw

215

The Book o f Women’s Love

aniseed:

140, 142.

wood: p b ntpn ^ n noN umPpxn, 122. cabbage ashes: n ro *my, 118. vine shoot ashes: o>m> bw *mN,

a n tales : wPodn, 120 (46), 128.

antennae [snail’s]: bPnw nnp, 110. antler [burnt deer’s]: qnw b”N pp, 136, 138, 164. ants: oPm , 116. ants’ eggs: oPD3 n n , 118. big winged ants: o P m n o P ftn o m n p b wny, 116. apple: nmn, 108. apple as sweet smelling as musk and amber: putD idd m nn nmn NnnnNi, 154. apple of amber: NnnnN nmn, 146. colocynth apple: nmn Nimmppp, 132. red apple: orm nmn, 110. arm: ym , 112, 176. right arm: ym, 158. Armenian bole (see also bole): bn mmNbnpmnN, 164, 166, 168. armpit hair: nwn nyw, 140. arsenic: *pm, 124. arum: qp, 170. as much as needed: n ppmm? n tpmw, 118. asafoetida: ntwd nwn, 154. asafoetida pills: w to d wbPm, 162. asarabacca: i iw k , 144 (160). ash (tree): voo, 166 (246).

baby bird: nrmN, 112. bag(s) [small]: onop o>pw ,p p pw, 134, 164. balm: nwPo, 146, 148, 152. balm leaves: nw Pd Py, 118, 138. balm powder: nw Pdd pin, 138. balm preserve: nw Pd Nimwnp, 142. balm water: nwPd*>o, 138, 150. balsam: towbn pw bn pwbn, 146, 154. balsam fruit: mnp pw bn mnp mwbn mnp pnwbn 130, 146, 148. balsam ’n trp syly or natural: Pmw3 in PmDnw^N mwbn, 130 (90). balsam oil: mwbn pw , 130. balsam tree bark: UDWbn P ’W, 130, 148. balsam water: nwbn n , 130. fine balsam: n u b a pnwn yawbnn znwn nwbnn 130. bark; balsam tree bark: tDWbn P>w,

216

English - Hebrew glossary

130, 148. bark of white ivy wood: pw mmbpni p b NTPN, 122 . eyebright bark: n^ns wvi'sp, 138. oak bark: yibNDfPbp, 120 . outer bark of cinnamon: nmbpn [yu^p] rwbyn, 118. barley: omvvy, 126. barley bread: omvw tid, 120 . barley fluor: Dniyw nDp, 160. barley water: omyw m, 150. barren: m py pipy, 150. barren woman: m py nvyN, 142, 152. basil: p p P u , 140. basil preserve: pp’b u NiTWip, 152. basil seed: yntn wpPnn, 140. basil water: ip P u >n, 140. bat’s blood: pmo, 144. bdellium: P m , 162. beak [a heron’s]: vwwn oivnn, 136. bean: pbis, 156. bean fluor: oP id nnp ^b is nnp, 138-140, 156. bean water: pbia >n, 130. peeled beans: o n b p n pbm, 128. water of bean flowers: niD >n oP id, 128. bear [female]; female bear’s fat: nnn pnw, 150.

milk of a female bear: r a n nbn, 152. bear’s breech: N^vsnw Npnn, 158 (227). belly: ton, 172. hen’s belly: nbtm n ton, 172. woman’s belly: honh ton, 156. below [from] (genitalia, see also underneath): nonb, 146, 148, 152, 154, 164, 170. ben [white and red]: o h m p b )H2, 146(169). benedicta: NOpnjnN, 158. berberis tree root: omo onnnn, 170. berries; berries and root of ground ivy: ^oon^ooiw i y w o ”n, 132 ( 100).

ivy berries: n T N x y x , 134. betony water: N^mon *>n ,N3mon >n, 150, 162. beverage: npon, 118, 150, 154. good beverage: xio npon, 118, 148. light beverage: bp npon, 164. bird(s): mmy ,lp

s i l k c lo th : >w o 7 )3 ,

118, 150.

p a le b lu e c lo th : r t o n 7 )3 , 1 1 0 .

o u te r b a r k o f c in n a m o n :

n D ’b p n

w h ite lin e n c lo th :

n w id

q P o

w h ite w o o lle n c lo th :

w iid ,

p i w o 7 )3 ,

pb

7 )3

nm n, 126.

144, 168.

136. 118 (27), 128, 130, 138, 142, 146, 148, 150, 154, 166, 172. c l o v e l e a v e s : ^ b o r p ) >by, 152. c l y s t e r : p m , 152.

yPowiD v*it,

w o o lle n c lo th : 7 m 7 )3 ,

144.

c lo v e :

c itro n ; a r o m a tiz e d r in d o f c itro n : n p n n )17 j i n n p p , 1 1 8 . c itr o n le a f(v e s ):

pb

136.

[ p i p ] n m b y n , 118.

c in q u e fo il see d :

7 )3 ,

156. 136. 154.

lin e n c lo th : p w o 7 )3 ,

N ^p n iD , 118, 142, 148.

pb>D

pw £>

172.

c in n a m o n flo w e r ( s ) : m ir m w m o

c in n a m o n p o w d e r:

7 )3

140, 164. p 7 7 ) 3 , 132, 166.

146.

118, 130, 132, 134, 138, 146, 148, 150, 166.

N » b > ip ,

c in q u e fo il:

7 )3 ,

c lo th f r o m th e c ro tc h o f h is

c h i c k p e a ; c h ic k p e a o il:

n p n iN D ,

pb

144.

t h e m e a s u r e o f a c h e s t n u t : JU D 7 3

N b 'o p

Nm

142. 112, 122, 168.

m p y N bi n m n w ,

>by p r m N

nby

134, 170. citron rind: Ti£Pbp , n o ’D > iP W 7ip y n n N , 138, 146, 148. dried citron rind: )17J1N n £ P b p W3>, 118. civet: N 7 > itb N ,N 7 * a tb N , 152 (193), 154. clary: Nwwnp N b ), 162 (230), 170 (271). clay; red clay: h d h n b n i N , 164 m nN ,

>bfirr> )

,N b o m ,

c o c k ; b l a c k c o c k : 7 in w b i ) n n , 1 1 0 . y o u n g c o c k ’s te s tic le s : 71173 bl)17J1,

^*>3

112.

c o itu s (s e e in te rc o u s e ): w m w n,

c o l d ; c o l d a b s c e s s : m p NW71D, c o ld a n d m o is t m e d ic in e s : m n P i i m p D1N1D7,

158. 130.

c o l d g o u t : n 7 p NWD,

220

b )w w

118. 160.

English

c o ld h u m o u rs :

nnp

c o ld m e d ic a m e n ts :

-

Hebrew glossary

m rv b ,

158.

nnp

n iN T f n ,

pb, 124, 128. coriander: n'DNntp, 138. coriola: tnm p ^NbiNmp ,nNnnu, 168. coriola juice: DNnnt? pft, 164 (232). coriola seed: 2”*np vm, 164. female coriola seed: vm mp3 [NtnNmp], 152. male coriola seed: Nbwmp vm D D tn, 152 (196). cornella (raven): N22nmp, 142 (145). corruption of the blood: o in vnfnv, 156. corruption of menstrual blood: n m o i vnsv, 164. cosmetics [women’s]: >pnDn onwn, 124, 128. costus: lovnp ,o\wp, 138 (124), 148, 154. sweet costus: pmD ovnp, 138. cottonwool: p ) jwy 114, 158, 160, 166, 172. couch-grass: ,wnDm ,nxn 'w m y ,w m \ 118 (28), 144, 158, 170. couch-grass leaves: w m m *>2y, 170. cow; cow’s lard: m o nNDn, 160. breasts of cows and goats that are breast-feeding: mnn n n s m m pm , 140. crocus: ^ n p p m o , 144, 156. crop [hen’s]: n 2 n n n ppnp, 168. cubeb: mmp, 116, 118, 130. cuckoo-pint root: vwmvvwm vm, 128 (82), 130. cumin: >nop ,ymp ,yiD0 , 120 , 122 , 134, 140, 146, 158, 166, 170, 172.

156. c o ld o r h o t m e d ic in e s : m n n in n n p ,

n u o fn

160.

c o ld w a te r: o n p t n n , c o ld s e e d s [th e f o u r ] :

144, 168.

o n p onnt n,

154 (207). c o ld n e s s : n n p , c o lo c y n th :

156 (213).

N T O p n tn p

jN T o n p h ip ,

162, 170. c o lo c y n th a p p le :

Nmonpbip, 132. colocynth p u l p : 158.

m sn

N T O ’p t n p

o u te r p e e l o f c o lo c y n th :

m o,

n fn b p

Nmonp^p mmn, 162. c o l t s f o o t : N n b n p N b a riN , 122 (52). c o m b : p iv n , 114. comfrey; comfrey juice: yn 168 (253). comfrey root: N'P'ivnp vsnivy, 168 (252). common centaury: DNn'iono, 170 (262). c o n c o c tio n (s e e a ls o d e c o c tio n ) :

bivin ,2ivra, 130, 146. condito: > o p m i p , N o m D 144 (161), 148. condito o f s a t y r i o n : pm ow n, 150 (187). c o r a l : b N T ip , 136. a ll k in d s o f c o ra l:

^ m p

,p m o ,

*>v> pnnp

wn

2 d,

166. r e d c o ra l: d u n b ^ n ip , s e a c o ra l: n n D ^ N n p ,

134. 144.

wn 172. two kinds of coral: 2”~np w n 'D, 172. white coral: 2N*np ,p 2 2 Niip

th r e e k in d s o f c o ra l: t n m p

221

The Book o f W omen’s Love

ground cumin: pinw pm , 156. cupping glases: mum ,miwn nm srn m p ’bn ,mm*)nn 152, 154, 156, 158, 164, 166. cuttlefish bone: N£)” W/ND’W o ^y , 124, 136. cypress nuts: [D]nn’WmiN, 164.

deer’s skin: b” N my pis my, 112 , 150, 172. marrow from deer’s bones: nio n ^ m m y , 160. tongue of a deer: m pwb, 176. dentales: W’bOKU, 120 (46), 128. diamond: WIDN’T, 172 (278). diet [light]: nbp n)ran, 160. dill: W’IN, 172. dill oil: NW’IN pw ,W’1N pw , 120, 148, 154. disease: nbno,’bin, 162, 164. head disease: WNnno nbno, 124. skin disease: m ys, 120 . disorder of the womb (see also ailment): onh ’bin, 172. dodder: ’Oipwip, 144 (156). dog: nnbn,nbn, 114, 152. dog’s urine: nbn pw , 122 . dolphin [tooth of the fish called]: pnbi Nnpin rn w , 136. dose: m m , 146, 164. drachm(s): P i, passim, dragon’s blood: pin o i, 164, 166, 168. dropsy: ’ipw, 156. drugs: O ’ d u , 0 ’iD iw , 120, 144, 162, 164. dung; dung of a white female pig: mnb nmin nm*, 168. fox’s dung: byiw bnt, 152. horse’s dung: wiwn bm, 170. pig’s dung: mtn bnt, 168. w olfs dung: nmn bnt, 116. dwarf elder: ubnN, 150. dwarf elder root: ,W’biniN wmw w’bn’Nwmw, 134, 144. dyacatolicon: pp’bwpN’T, 166 (243). dyacodion: pminpN’l, 166 (247). dyagridium: nn)NH, 162.

date palm [virgin]: binn nan ^y, 136 dates: onnn, 118, 128, 172. burnt date kernels: onm i mym o’nnw, 134. date kernels: m m v ,onm i mym o nm i, 132, 138, 148, 172. deadly nightshade: N b n n n , 160 (228). decoction: ,pN’mpn ,immp’T imwipi, 138, 146, 162. decoction from hypocistis and pomegranate: tm ’WWpiDN biwn nmwwibm, 164. decoction of lupins: p’m pi P ’Dib, 162. decoction of mandrake and bistort root: wnw iN’Wipn wmww’n w n w i Nl7i)iT3D, 144. decoction of melilot: pN’mp'T vrnb’bD, 154. hot fenugreek decoction: p’m pn ,on p n m pN’mp-T on pnm n, 162. deer; burnt deer’s antler: b”N pip wp, 118. euphorbia: xrniN, 120 . excrement; dried excrement of a mountain goat: wm nnn tv but, 166. goat’s excrement: nm* ,onv bit tv, 120, 164. hare’s excrement: nnnN bit, 176. hen’s excrement: nbnnn bw bit, 172. lizard’s excrement: ,nvwbn bit nwNbnnm*, 130, 132. pigeon’s excrement: o w nm*,

Carthen vessel: tnn^>bi, 112 . new earthen vessel: win win >bi, 114, 116. egg(s): o>m ,n m , 108, 110, 114, 126. ants’ eggs: o^bDnm, 118. boiled eggs: o^bwiiD o m , 128. raven’s eggs: >m pnm vft tn m nnv, 150, 152. roasted eggs: on!?:* o m , 150. egg white(s): pib ,omibn ,pibn n m , 126, 128, 136, 164, 166. boiled egg whites: o>m pibn o^bwino, 128. egg yolk(s): n m otin, 132. goose’s egg yolk: b w n m o t i n n iiin b w n ^ > n o t i n p i N , 162, 164. roasted egg yolks: n m o n iN n n b s , 156. eggshell(s): n m b w n n m n w , 108, 110 , 168. p i g e o n ’s e g g s h e l l :

n m

nnm nw

nn, 110. e l d e r : p iiD W ,

144.

223

The Book o f Women ’s Love

wwa wp£>n pmpw n n , 154

120 .

experiment: )W), 142. eyebright; eyebright bark: nynn, 138. eyebright wood: N^nn

(200).

w vntp

fish called dolphin: Nnp:n n pnbn, 136. fish called starfish: pmpvy >7 ’*n o’n nmn, 152. fish swallowed inside another fish: rr “pm vbmo rr, 152. fish(es) called sturgeon: (O’)VT Ynip^owN pripw, 118 (37), 152. fist [a]:)p m s 118, 142, 148. elder flower: p n o o mo, 130 (87), 162. lavender flower: Nbnnb mo, 148. pomegrante leaves and flowers: i m o ip m n ^ , 138, 172. rosemary flower: mfo ,oio)N m o m , 144, 148, 150, 152. rosemary flowers and leaves, >oon bo n!?vimo, 162. flowers (menstruation): o>mo, 156, 158, 170. women’s flowers: o^o) >mo, 156

146. frenzy [uterine]: onh yiy)o, 154. frog: 114. small green frogs: 0 ^ 112 ^ o p im o m p , 120. frying pan: nnno, 120, 152, 168, 172. fumigation: mop ,po>y ,nnopn m\mp, 114, 132, 146, 148, 150, 152, 154, 162, 166, 168, 170. astringent fumigations: omo*>y mmny, 164. galbanum: qmb) ,mb) ,mnb) pnb), 148, 154, 170. round galbanum: buy mb), 150. galingale: ,nm o pi))b) ,b))b) ,b)b) onm u, 118 (33), 130, 132, 138, 144, 146, 148. galingale leaves: nm o >by, 146. galingale oil: nfno p o , 162. roman galingale: m n nm u, 134 (109), 138. root of galingales: onm u omo, 138. gall; bull’s gall: mo m o, 170. calf s gall: npn m n o ,mn m o, 158, 162. gall of a suckling lamb: nbo m o nbn, 112 . hare’s gall: n m m o , 112 . garden balsam: Nraubn, 118 (29). garden cress: ^m ooy 124 (62). garden cress seed: omvmm ym, 158 (220). garden mint: nm) Nona, 176. gargle: o n n ) p o n ) , 132 (105), 134. garlic: 0)0 ,bN, 132 (98). burnt garlic root: O’OlO omo

(212).

foetus: mny, 158, 170. dead foetus: non mny, 164, 170. foot: bn, 110 . squirrel’s foot: bimpON bn, 114 (13). foot sole [woman’s]: hond b n oiy, 126. spots and freckles of the face: o m n ’o i yiomnnn, 130. French lavander: urrp’OON, 144 (157), 154. French musk: Nb) p p c n o NbN) NipoiD wb) p p o i o , 138 ( 122 ),

225

The Book o f W omen’s Love

qnw, 132. garlic and onion seed: o’ow ym O ’b ^ z n , 140. garlic juice: o’mw pn, 162. gauze: jid , 162. gazelle’s powders (musk): ’pnN n p 122 (57). genitalia (see also below, place, privates and secret parts): nny, 150, 160, 164, 168. ginger: ,Nnnmn ,nnmn p n m ,nnnn b n m pnm n, 118, 132, 146, 148, 158. false ginger: nunn nmm, 122. fresh ginger: bnm ,prv nnm pm , 118, 150. ginger leaves: ’by, 158. ginger oil: Nnnmn pw , 122. ginger seed: nm m ym, 158. white ginger: bnm ,pb nnnm pb, 128, 134, 142. g l ’rw : riNb), 148 (180). glans head: rnioyn wnd, 114. glass: n n m , 110. c r u s h e d g l a s s : n n m pTiw, 126. g la s s a le m b ic : ,n n m n pnnbN nnm bw pnnbN , 118, 128, 130. g la s s v e s s e l: n n m ’bD, 116, 118, 122, 126. g l a s s ( c u p ) : d i d ,n w ’WN, 126, 128, 132, 148. fu ll g la s s (m e a s u r e ) :

N bn

ty, 120, 164. goat’s milk: ony nbn ,ty nbn, 118, 126, 140. mountain goat: m n ty, 166. white goat’s milk: nnb ty nbn, 126. gold: nm , 122, 126, 128, 130. gold filings: n m wmm’b, 126 (79). gout [cold]: mpNDn, 130. grain (tiny apothecary’s measure): pwrpp ,pym ,mm ,mro, 132, 142, 162, 166, 170. grana tintorum : pmo’D Nro, 118 (36). grapes [serpentine]: Nnofnn ’my, 128, 130. great plantain: jNWib^nN ,NWibnnN n n n m ” obn jNwibnnN, 164 (233), 168. great plantain preserve: m ” obn n n n N nn w p , 164. juice of great plantain: pn N w ibnnN , 164. root of dried great plantain: nwn’ NwtmnN wmw, 168. Greek tar: ,nNnmbp ,nN’nm bp nN’nnbp, 120 (45), 166, 168. gromwell: ’biwb’n, 144 (158), 158, 164. gum arabic: pnnN Nnn, 120, 128, 148, 168. gum dragant: pm h Nnn ,pm Nnm, 128. white gum dragant: pm Nnm nnb, 128. gum elemi: mmbN Nnm, 130 (88). gums: on:)n,wnmn, 138. gurab (raven): nn>, 142 (144). gw lyy qwm wfwly : ’bim np ”bn, 170 (272).

d id ,

146. silver glass: , 124 (74). goat; breast of cows and goats that are breast-feeding: m w HDD H i n p n n , 140. goat’s excrement: nNn ,ony bat

226

English

-

Hebrew glossary

green liquorice head: WNn p n ’ \?n>pb, 122. head disease: WNnnnnbnD, 124. headache: WNnnnND, 130. herons’ head: own*i [Deny], 118. lamb’s heads: O’wnnn O’WNn, 152. mouse’s head: WNnn hnny], 116. owl’s head: nvyNn [nmnn], 120 . ulcers on the head: WNnn ’yn, 122 . viper’s head: ny£)N WN*i, 176. heart: nb, 110, 142. deer’s heart bone: b”N nb o*y, 166 (239). heart and liver of a baby bird: nriDN bw mnm nbn, 112. heart of gurab (raven): [mb] nn>, 142 (144). young pigeon’s heart: nn’ p nb,

haemorrhage [menstrual]: 01 nbtn nm nE, 168. haemorrhoids: om no, 158. hair: nnyvy ,nyvy pv’vy, 120, 122, 124. armpit hair: ’nwn ny’W, 140. burnt hair from a hare: nyw qnwnnnN, 164, 166. hair from her head: nwNnD “py w, 110 .

hair that covers your body: ■pbywrmyw, 110. pubic hair: n m N^Din ny’wn nnwn, 170. to dye the hair blond: n’nsnb ny>wn, 122. to make hair grow: ny’Wn’mnb, 120 , 122 .

to remove hair: nywn “pwnb, 118, 120. hand: “P, 114, 130, 154, 162, 172. right had: pn’ [T>], 110. hardness of the womb: nwp /’Wip ONn, 156, 160. hare; burnt hair from a hare: nyw nwn ounn, 134. heating remedies: o’DDinDn, 156. hedgehog’s fat: Tifnpn pnw, 118. heel: npv, 172. heel vein: bvy pmy ,npyn pmy npyn, 158, 160. hellebore; black hellebore: in’bN mnw, 154. white hellebore: p b m n’bN, 170. Yemenite white hellebore: mbN ’idP n pmnPN, 124 (67). hematite stone: W’W’WDN W’DNb, 168. hemlock seed: NWipm ynt, 162. hemp seed: tnnipym, 170.

227

The Book o f W omen’s Love

nbmnn mnb in nmnw, 110. b ro o d in g h e n : mnnw nbmnn OTnnnN mwyb, 108. h e n ’s b e l l y : nbmnn p n , 172. h e n ’s c r o p : nbmnn p p n p , 168.

158, 160. heron(s): wwny, 118 (41). heron’s beak: ww)Nn oiwnn, 136. hieralogodion: yiNnnb Nm), 132 (95). hierapigra Galieni : Nnnn Nm) n d n P ) , 132 (96), 158. honey: P a ,pbm ,bNm ,wnn, 118, 120, 126, 128, 130, 132 (101), 140, 142, 144, 146, 148, 150, 160, 162, 170, 172. foamy honey: n wnn, 120 . honeycomb: w nnnny>, 126. honeysuckle: o w ^ P , 168 (250). honeywater: NWbiD, 170 (263). hoopoe: n m n rr, 112 . horehound: o m n n o b n n o , 148, 150, 172. horehound water: >nriD nn, 150. horse’s dung: wiwn bnt, 170 (267). horsemint: nwww)D ,Nwnnwbn nww)D, 140 (138), 146 (171), 148, 150, 158, 166. horsetail: wn^NH, 134 (114). hot: non,on, 134, 156. hot ashes: on p n , 134. hot cloth: on n)n, 172. hot electuaries: m m mnpno, 156. hot fenugreek: pnm n ,on p n n n on, 162. hot hepatica: on nnnn, 150. hot medicines: mmmNinn, 160. hot milk: on nbn, 130.

h e n ; b la c k o r w h ite h e n :

h e n ’s e x c r e m e n ts :

bw

b it

nbmnn, 172. hen’s fat: nbmnn pnw, 154, 156, 160. old hen: mw> nbmnn, 168. henbane: ’D^pyp, 132. h e n b a n e o il:

> m p w r> p w , 1 2 0 ,

134. henbane root: w>pwn wmw, 132, 134. henbane seed: >mpwv ym, 134, 136, 166, 168. henbane water: >mpwn m, 140. henna leaves: NvmpbN Py, 138 (130). h e p a t i c a [ h o t ] : on^wnn, 150. h e r b ( s ) : nwy, 158, 172. c i n n a m o n h e r b : N” b>)p nwy, 118. g r o u n d iv y h e rb : Nm>N nwy N wwnw, 134. h e rb fie ld p im p e rn e l: nwy N”bvmp, 154 (208). h e rb h o rs e ta il: w m oN H nwy, 134(114). herb vervain: Nnnnn nwy, 140. herb violet: N O P w m w y , 150. herb whose name is qy tw fl': N b m w p ddw w nwy, 108 (4). sweet flag herb: m p N nwy, 134 (113). h e rb b e n n e t p o w d e r:

N ib D rro pnN ,

118. herb from Tunisia: wmw NnnN, 158 (218), 170. h e r b m e r c u r y : N b m p n n , 154 (204),

228

English - Hebrew glossary

h o t n a tu re : h o t w a te r:

m o i nnn, 166. o>nn o>n, 120, 124,

white ivy: p b

144, 162. hot wine: on p , 158. houseleek: ob}yb *>n, 158, 160. humour(s): mrvb ,nnP, 152. b lo o d o r re d h u m o u r:

in

,

122 .

jasper: *>£)OP7, 168. jet: nop} o^SNb, 170 (270). juice: pn, 154. birthwort juice: NnPoonN pn, 162. briony juice: nNniNni p n , 128. cabbage juice: mi*>n, 162. calamint juice: lo r n b p p n , 162. celery juice: ’DN y n, 156. comfrey juice: *>\P£)n*>o p n, 168 (253). coriola juice: nN nno p n , 164 (232). [filtered] juice of bitter cucumber: ow vpp [pppn] p n onn, 156, 158. flax juice: p io i nn, 154. garlic juice: o^nto pn, 162. juice of bitter pomegranate: ^n p n n pm , 132. juice of deadly nightshide: p n N bm n, 160 (228). juice of Florentine iris root: p n UWTN OltO, 132. juice of great plantain: pn NOfTlPDN, 164. juice of ground ivy herb: pn N o o n o n t p n nwy, 134. juice of herb vervain: noy p n n p i i i , 140. juice of serpentine grapes: >n NPomrs any, 128, 130. juice of sweet flag herb: io y p n n p N , 134(113). juice of walnut tree root: pn VONOTJO, 132. leek juice: '’UNI! p n b rill p n , 158, 160, 162, 170.

ot

nnrTN, 160.

cold humours: n n p mrvb, 158. corrupted humor: nNOinn nrvb, 160. thick humor(s): nm b ,nny nnP mny, 156. thick or thin humour: ray nrvb n p i tN, 164. hydromel: o i l D*>n, 126. hypocistis: orPOPpiDN, 164, 166, 168. Illnesses; complicated illnesses: o n i^o n o”bn, 156. serious fatal illnesses: owbn om nn o^wp, 156. immersion [ritual]: nbao, 150. incense: o m o ,p ’03N, 148, 150, 164, 168. white incense: p b pm o, 124 (72). instrument [sharp]: in P i, 136. intercourse [sexual] (see also coitus): o>non ,b}on, 110 , 112 , 114, 116, 118, 144, 150, 152, 176. intestines: o in o , 140 (134). iron shavings: b r a nsP p, 122. ivy; ground ivy: ,NOono n i t n ^oon^ooiiN ,N oono n T N , 132, 134, 138. g r o u n d iv y b e rrie s :

n it n

O” !

n?wnn?vyTPNT, 132 (100), 134.

229

The Book o f Women ’s Love

lemon juice: p o ’b ’D ,wiD’b ’D, 124, 128, 130. nettle juice: NPDTiNpn, 140. parsley juice: b’sm po, 120 . plantain juice: p o ,OPwm p o o p ’Dbs, 164, 166. me juice: 122, 164. sourthenwood [juice]: [po] uwmN, 160. spurge juice: bND’O’D po, 134 ( 112 ), 162. willow juice: mny po, 122 .

leaf(ves); balm leaves: NW’bo ’by, 118, 138. cabbage leaves: nybn ’by, 158. citron leaf(ves): ’by ,mr\H nby anriN, 134, 170. clove leaves: ’ban’}’by, 152. couch-grass leaves: ’N’nona ’by, 170. galingale leaves: ’m ’o ’by, 146. ginger leaves: m m o ’by, 158. henna leaves: NOOpbN ’by, 138 (130). laurel leaf(ves): ’by ,’m i ’by n m b ’by fi’bnb, 118, 146, 160. leaves of a walnut tree that has never bome fruit: Nbw mN ^y ’by obiyonDNWD, 132, 142. myrtle leaves: Din ’by, 134, 136, 138, 142, 150. nutmeg leaves: Nipoio mN ’by, 118. pomegranate leaves: p o n nby, 138, 172. me leaves: Nnn ’by, 140, 148. savin leaves: NJ>nw ’by, 146. spurge laurel leaves: ’by NbiNmb, 158. leafy spurge: Nbit’N, 144 (162). leek: ’ONm ,’D“m ,’Tnn, 156, 166, 170 (260). leek juice: ’dnid p o ,’nm po, 158, 160, 162, 170. lemon juice: p o ’b ’o jWiO’b ’O, 124, 128, 130. lice: o o n p o n , 122, 140. lily; lily oil: ’b’b yaw, 154. lily root: ’b’b wnw, 156, 160. lime: l ’D, 118. quicklime: ’n t d , 120, 124. linen cloth: pi wo i n , 136, 146, 156.

kernels; date kernels: o n o n ’pym o n o n mosy, 132, 134, 138, 172. pine kernels: wro’D, 148. kidneys: m’bn, 116, 118, 148, 168. the woman’s kidneys: m’bn hwnh, 114. knife(ves): you, 126, 136, 140. lamb; lambs’ heads: O’WNn 0’W3DD, 152. suckling lamb: nbn nbo, 112. white wool of a living lamb: nos ’nnwbw pb, 168. lamina of lead [fine]: p i mmy do , 140. lard [cow’s]: nm nNDn, 160. laurel: nnb p ’bnb ;m i , 148, 158. laurel leaf(ves): ’by ,’m i- ’by n m b ’by p ’bnb, 118, 146, 160. laurel oil: m b low, 154. laurel root: i m b i wn, 132. lavender: Nbrmb, 144. lavender flowers: Nbmnb nm, 148. lead [fine lamina of]: p i mmy do, 140.

230

English - Hebrew glossary

liquorice: WPNbn, 126. green liquorice: prp vnwib ptmtmmpb, 120 , 122 . liquorice root: nw w bn wmw, 168. liquorice stick: rsn p n o^y, 148. litharge: nwn\mb, 122, 124, 126. golden litharge: in m nwn\mb, 126. little [a]: wyn, passim, liver; liver vein: mnn pmy, 158, 160. liver of a baby bird: nnnN i l l ,

162. thick root of madder: m n wmw yimvmw nw nn, 162. magical remedies: mbmw, 116, 118, 150. magnet: \J0 )D, 142 (142). maidenhair fern: pnwtnn pmwbn, 132 (97), 154 (205). male member (see also penis): llH nnn, 116, 154. mandrake; decoction of mandrake root: NbmiJD wnw iwwipi, 144. water of mandrake root: wmw m Nt7irroQ, 146. marble [white]: pb m m , 124. mare’s milk: w ’tnw nbn, 172. marjoram: w n ra ,WNnv)3 ,nnmD, 162, 166. powder of marjoram: plN WTODD, 138. marking nut honey: nnpiN pb^D, 132(94). marrow from deer’s bones: nm n ^ m m y , 160. marshmallow: wnbD ,nwwbN >pwmbD, 142, 144, 146, 158, 160. marshmallow root: wnbD wmw, 120, 156, 160. Mary’s seal root: n w io om n wmw, 176. mastic: p*>wwD p m m , 124, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136, 138, 146, 148, 150, 156, 160, 164, 166, 168. meadow-saffron: pbvmmN, 122 (59), 144. measure: n m i ,bpWD p in , 116, 124, 128, 148, 158, 172. meat [fat]: hddw nwn, 150. medicaments: mwfn, 144, 158,

112 .

unsalted pig’s liver: nnn i l l ban, 124. lizard; lizard’s excrement: nw^ nNwbnbm ,nNwbn, 130, 132. small lizard that lives in the trees: rmbwn byw p p odti, 162. lozenge: pwbpnD, 158 (223). lupin(s): ,w>nb ,p>£nb p^mb croiamji, 124, 142. decoction of lupins: p w^npn p^mb, 162. lupin flour: nDp ,mmb nDp o’DiDmn, 122 , 170. lupin powder: o*>tnmin pin, 122 . m ace: vm n ,mn puwa, 118, 138 (126), 146, 148. madder: pmvmw nw nn pN m i, 146, 152, 162, 170. greater and lesser madder: m opi nbrn nwnn, 144. greater madder root: nw nn wmw ivn , 162. madder root: pm\mw w nn wmw,

231

The Book o f W omen’s Love

166. cold medicaments: n n p jiinioi, 156. medicinal powder: cpmtbN, 142 (140). medicine(s): mNnn ,nNnn, 116. art of medicine: nwonn nnNbD, 116. cold and moist medicines: mnbi rnnp rnNisn, 158. cold and hot medicines: n w fn niDm Nnnp, 160. strengthening medicines: niN in mptno, 160. strong smelling medicines: n nn mptn rmmn, 158. meerschaum: NinD NDipON, 138 (123). melilot: oib’bo, 158, 162. decoction of melilot: pttmpn unb>bo, 154. melon seed: ^nbo ynt, 138. menstruation (see also flowers): othd ,nrro ,nm ,ntn, 144, 146, 158, 160, 162, 164. corruption of menstrual blood: n m 07 winy, 164. excessive menstrual blood: on bran nm n, 168. menstrual blood: n m on, 114, 158, 160, 164, 168. to promote menstual flow: nnnb [nm oi], 156, 158, 160, 162, 164. to stop/on stopping menstrual flow: nnyb, 164, 166, 168. menstrual haemorrhage: nbtn n m n n 07n, 168. m icleta : NO’bp’Q, 166 (245), 168. Miletanbole: nwvnDbn, 164 (236).

milk: nbn, 126, 130, 140. ass’s milk: pnN nbn, 140, 150, 152. figs’ milk: on^n nbn, 132 (93), 162. goat’s milk: ony nbn ,ty nbn, 118, 126, 140. hot milk: on nbn, 130. mare’s milk: w v 'to nbn, 172. milk of a female dog and a female bear: nnm nnbn nbn, 152. milk of a woman and her daugther: nnm own nbn, 110. pig’s milk: nnn nbn, 156, 162. white goat’s milk: nnb ty nbn, 126. woman’s milk: nwN nbn, 140, 152. mint: H vm ,Nom, 134, 140, 148, 166. garden mint: vm y Mono, 176. moisture of the womb: p nn*>b onnn, 150. monitor lizard: nn, 122. moon: rrv, 176. waning moon: nnbn pnonn, 114. mortar: v^nno, 154. mother-of-pearl: w n o Nnpy 172 (277). mouse, mice: onnny pinny, 120. dead mouse: no nnny, 116. private parts of a mouse: >vmnD nnnyn, 176. mouth: nn, 110, 112, 132, 134, 138, 142, 166. dry mouth: vn> nn, 166. mouth of the womb: onnn *>£>, 150, 170. mucilage: pnvmD, 136 (117).

232

English - Hebrew glossary

mugwort: Nt’nwnN ,NPnonN, 148, 150, 156, 158, 160, 170, 172. mugwort water: Nt’nwnN ’n, 160, 170. mule’s skin: m s mv, 176. musk: pDtn, 116, 118, 142, 146, 148, 152, 154, 158, 162. musk(s) [of]: n’bwtn, 166. musk alip ta : ,NipD3n NDS’bN H’P’bNoa’b, 146, 148 (183). musk cassia: NTpDtn ” wp, 146 (164). musk honey: NipDin wm, 148. musk oil: ,pbnnn pw ,pb3nn pw mbwm pw p ’bwin pw , 116, 150, 154, 158, 162, 164, 168. mustard: w’ftt’w ,’£mw, 134 (110). mustard oil: b rm pw , 140. mustard seeds: mnw pit, 118. myrobalan: w^bumn, 160. myrrh: mn ,Nmn, 126, 128, 130, 138, 146, 148, 162, 170. fine myrrh: mw mn, 128. myrrh water: mnn ’n, 128. oil of myrrh: mnn pw , 126. red myrrh: nnrTN Nmn, 126, 128. myrtle: Din, 146, 156. myrtle leaves: Din ’bv ,Din nbv, 134, 138, 142, 150. myrtle oil: Din pw , 140, 148. myrtle powders: Din p3N, 166. myrtle seed(s): Din vm, 124, 136, 154.

122 .

natron salt: nwn nbn, 120. sweet natron salt: n o n nbn pmn, 138. nature: vnw, 144, 158, 160, 166. she has a hot nature: nnn N’n V3D3, 166. strong nature: ptn Viw, 162. weakness of nature: nwbTi vnwn, 156, 160, 164. navel: O’mnw ,miD, 150, 154, 156, 168, 172. neck: mos, 114, 134, 136, 154, 168, 174, 176. necklace: tnt), 114. needle: wnn, 110, 112. needle eye: [wnn] mtN, 112. needle restorer: pwnnn p n n , 112. new needle: win wnn, 110. nettle; large nettles: NPomN n P m n , 122. nettle juice: NnwmN pn, 140. nettle seeds: NPwmN vm, 164. nettle water: n p d u n ’n, 156. nettle without prickles: n p o tin □nnp nb vnw, 142. nostrils: o”mro p ’mro, 130, 134. nutmeg: NipDin v d n , 130, 132, 144, 146, 148, 166. nutmeg leaves: NipDtn n)N ’bv, 118. oil made of nutmeg: nwv pw NipDtnmNn, 150. ‘n trp sy ly (see balsam): ’b’DfnvnN, 130(90).

Ilail; finger- and toenails: m "jnDsn bm , 110. naqrah (gout): m py 130 (91). natron: im p io n , 124, 138, 140. hard white natron: nwp p b un,

Oak; oak bark: yibNnmbp, 120. oak seed: yibNvm, 126, 128. the oak called quina : pmpw nv

233

The Book o f Women s Love

Nnp, 114 (16). oak gall: ,ysy ,w>Nb;\ ,pbN) ,NbN> 144, 164, 168. bwbyt gall: Jiumo nnsy, 144 (150). fresh oak gall: nb ^£>y, 140. obstructions: omnnw, 158. oil(s): pw , 118, 120, 122, 124, 126, 128, 156. balsam oil: nowbn pw , 130. camomile oil: Nb^nnNp pw , 154. castor oil: mwwp pw , 116. Celtic nard oil: Npwbu pw , 154. chickpea oil: wnrmw pw , 140 (135), 142. dill oil: NwnN p w ,w*on pw , 120, 148, 154. elder oil: pnDw pw , 148. Florentine iris oil: wwmN pw, 162. galingale oil: nmw pw , 162. ginger oil: N*n»n> pw , 122. henbane oil: w p w n pw , 120, 134. kings’ oils: onbnnD onnwn, 126. laurel oil: nnb pw , 154. lily oil: >b’b pw , 154. musk oil: ,pbnuD pw ,pb:no pw mbwm) pw pnbwiD pw , 116, 150, 154, 158, 162, 164, 168. mustard oil: b*nn pw , 140. myrtle oil: win pw , 140, 148. oil made of nutmeg: nwy pw NipwuD rflNB, 150. oil made of pumpkin seed and of oak seed: Nip y i m nwy pw ypNyin, 126. oil made of pumpkin seed and of sweet almonds: ymo nwy pw

D’piJio onpw'i Nip, 128. oil of myrrh: iidh pw , 126. olive oil: nn pw , 110, 122, 156, 160, 162, 164, 166. porpoise oil: wnn pw , 154. rose(s) oil: onm pw ,m pw , 134, 150, 152, 160. satyrion oil: nnww pw , 140. simple oil of spikenard: nm pw vnwD, 154. spikenard oil: nm pw , 162. sweet almond oil: onpw pw o p m n , 126. tar oil: pwybN pw, 124. olive; olive oil: nn pw , 110, 122, 156, 160, 162, 164, 166. olive tree root: nn ^y wmw, 122. onion; onion peels: bin nmbp, 114. onion seed: bin ym, 140. opiate: NWNnm, 118, 152 (197). opium: *>£T)N, 162, 168. opoponax: pimsN, 154, 158, 162, 170. oregano: nnN /optin, 138, 144, 146, 148, 150, 172 (274). orifice: npy 122, 146. orpiment: vnnmmN, 120 (43), 122. ounce(s): nnpiN ^npiN, passim, owl: nm nn, 120. oxymel of squills: bm p iN NwnbpwN, 132 (107). pain (see also ache): 2ND, 132, 134, 136, 138, 172. pain after childbirth: nnN 3NDH nnmb nnN und ,nmbn 172. pain of the womb: ,om n nND ONnwnND, 152, 160, 170. stabbing pain: mnpy, 136. palm (tree): nnn ^y, 136.

234

English - Hebrew glossary

palm of the hand: id, 148 (179). parsley juice: b’inn p>o, 120. parsnip: vy^ovyf) 140. roman parsnip: nidd N^ovy^D, 118(32). passularum (raisins): o n b im , 138 (128). paste: ntny, 124, 150, 156. pastilles: mny ? p x w i o ,N p ^ n o , 126, 130 (85), 132, 136, 140, 146, 148, 170, 172. pearl; all kinds of pearls: bD JTPbnn, 166. ground pearl: pm\y nb m , 140. peel; chestnut peel: pm y nmbp, 164. onion peels: b^n nmbp, 114. outer peel of colocynth: nmbp N i>w pbp nn^n, 162. peel of a walnut: n>N JiD’bp, 138. pistachio peel: *>pi\yu£) nmbp, 138. pomegranate peel: p e n nmbp, 132, 134, 138, 166. pellitory: ,n\mbD />bon\mD HNn^b£), 132 (104), 134, 144, 154, 158. penis (see also male member): ,ni3N nimpTO, 110, 112, 118. bull’s penis: “m n mi pivyn to, 118, 124.

pennyroyal: ;bNn >>bi£> ,bwbi£> wbia, 132, 138, 144, 146, 148, 150, 156 (210), 158, 162, 172. dried pennyroyal: vym NPbiD, 148. fresh pennyroyal: nb ”biD, 170. peony: y m ,dn’DW£), 170 (259). peony root: rwiWD vnivy, 162. pepper: bDb£> p m s />t >£PD, 114, 118, 132, 170. black pepper: “iinvy bsbs, 132, 134, 158. ground pepper: pinvy bsbs, 166. long pepper: “[tin nm s, 148. three kinds of peppers: cpbDbs, 132. white pepper: p b >m£PD, 146, 168. perfumes: o’Qvyn, 120. peshitin (measure): y\m\yD, 122 (55). pessary(ies): jid ,nb*>Ji£), 148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 160, 162, 164, 166, 168. astringent pessaries: mb’TiD mmiy, 164. pessary in an acorn shape: nbmD vyib} jiidtd, 170 (261). pessary like a finger: im “[UD yn^N im nbms ,yn*N 154, 158. thick pessary: m y nb’nn, 168. phlegm: nrvb, 132. pig; dung of a white female pig: rmb rm n tinis, 168. pig’s blood: mtn o i, 120. pig’s dung: “inn bm, 168. pig’s milk: “inn nbn, 156. testicles of a castrated pig: nyDN cpununnnn, 138. unsalted pig’s liver: “inn 122 bon, 124.

235

The Book o f W omen’s Love

pigeon; blood of a young pigeon: nrp p err, 112. pigeon’s blood: mv 07,112, 132. p i g e o n ’s e g g s h e l l s : bw nnmaw nrpn^n, 110. pigeon’s excrement: nNi^, 120. young pigeon’s heart: mr> p nb,

164. polypody: nimbia, 144. pomegranate: ,w otnbn pNWtnba n^o pwwiba pN^ouibn p^ooibn pon p o n ,Nir)}, 136 (121), 144, 146, 148, 164, 166 (244), 168. juice of bitter pomegranate: >o p o n yion, 132. pomegranate leaves and flowers: m m p o n nby, 172. pomegranate peel: p o n nmbp, 132, 134, 166. pomegranate peel and flowers: p w o tn b n pon nmbp, 138. poppy; black poppy: mnw thdd, 118. white poppy seed: pb “mnn ym, 134. porcelain: pPnTiD, 124. sea porcelain: hono N^b^mn, 128 (81). porpoise oil: wnn pw , 154. poterium [red]: norrN Nmw, 124 (70). poultice: nwmnn ,wmn, 118, 120, 124, 140, 148, 150, 152, 154, 160, 164, 168, 170, 172. astringent poultices: mwinnn nnmy, 164. pound(s): niK iub ,N7\mb, passim, powder: paN, 108, 112, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 136, 138, 140, 146, 148, 150, 152, 154, 158, 164, 166, 168. acacia powder: w v p n paN, 156. black cumin powder: [paN] Nbwo, 162. chaste tree powder: to p3N wiowp, 140. cinnamon powder: Nb'Op npxiND, 118, 150.

112 .

young pigeons: rm> m , 118. pigeon seed: nn> y*n, 134. pills: wbib^a bbib^a, 138, 144, 146. a s a f o e tid a p ills :

w noa

w b ib n ,

162. small pills: onop o n ro , 162. pine: pn, 118 (30), 148. pine kernels: wrmo, 148. pine nut: pnf), 142 (146). pips [raisins without]: Nbn o p im pn>, 138. pistachio(s): pnwoa ;o^on pnwwa ,wpnwoa, 118, 146, 148. pistachio peel: pnwoa nmbp, 138. pistachio seed: o ^ ra ynp 142. skinned pistachios: o p n o o^on, 140. pitch: nm, 122. p l a c e ( g e n i t a l i a ) : oipon, 144, 148, 150, 154, 164, 168. p l a c e n t a : N>bw ,N ’b>w, 140, 162, 164, 170, 172. p la n ta in :

ppobn

pnoba

pp^obn

m o b s , 160, 164. p la n ta in ju ic e :

p o

ppobn

p o

opn?bn, 164, 166. p la n ta in p re s e rv e :

154. plantain syrup:

op>obn

N am w np,

ooobn

WN,

236

English

-

Hebrew glossary

148.

c o m p a c t p o w d e r: p tn n sy , d rie d b rio n y p o w d e r:

nNmnpWN, 162-164.

p3N

s p ik e n a rd p o w d e r:

nvn’ nwriNna, 130. pi

fin e p o w d e r:

p3N ,

’773,

152, 166,

p ’ DWN [p 3 N ]

164. 138

ta lc u m p o w d e r: p b o b N p3N ,

172.

(132).

g a z e l l e ’s p o w d e r s ( m u s k ) :

n s , 122 (57). Greek tar powder: rwDDibip, 168. herb bennet powder, N7bDm, 118. honey powder: b N ’Q

*>p3N

v a le ria n p o w d e r:

JonbM

[p 3 N ],

166.

p3N

p re g n a n cy : p n n ,

p3N

150, 152, 176.

h e lp fu l/u s e fu l fo r p re g n a n c y : p n n b b ’y i o ,

p3N ,

168.

t o p a z p o w d e r : p ’p y p 3 N ,

132

146, 152.

to [ f a c ilita te ] p r e g n a n c y :

pnnb,

146, 148, 150, 154, 160, 164.

( 101). lu p in p o w d e r:

o m tx m n

to p r e v e n t p r e g n a n c y :

p3N ,

m D nb

176.

122 .

pnnn,

KI Hipvm, 144.

to te r m in a te a p r e g n a n c y :

m e d ic in a l p o w d e r:

pnnn,

p re s e rv e ; b a lm p re s e rv e :

o ’ s n v y o n n n m y n a [ p 3 N ],

b a s il p re s e rv e :

p p ’b u

134.

b o r a g e p r e s e r v e : m n n N a n ’v m p ,

142.

p3N

p la n ta in p re s e rv e :

p o w d e r o f m a rjo ra m , b a lm a n d

Nnn’wip, 154.

oyt nwbiom NrmnD p3N pntu, 138.

ro m a n p a rs n ip p re s e rv e :

p o w d e r o f so w b read :

(32).

g re a t p la n ta in p re s e rv e :

N 3 )3 n

p3N

NMVW ’ D

m ” ob£>

N 3 7 ’vy33p,

p b p ^ , 162.

ro se m a ry p re serv e:

p o w d e r o f th e f is h e s c a lle d

vy'iooN, 140 (139).

o ’n

m ” ob £ )

n n a H2imp, 164.

b ra n :

pm pvy

N 3 7 ’\in p ,

152.

N”b’3p3\yy, 118. p o w d e r o f dyanthos e l e c t u a r y : w o jn h nnp*U) p 3 N , 138 (127).

s tu rg e o n :

N 37>vm p

NV^bn, 142.

p o w d e r o f b u r n t d a te k e rn e ls :

p o w d e r o f c in n a m o n h e rb :

b ra b

144.

p3N

118

t n ’Vimp

s a ty rio n p re s e rv e :

Z'CTPV’m p

pmpwvyN, 152.

pnovy

p o w d e r e d d r ie d b u l l ’s p e n is : T )

140-142.

3)iw nwn, 118.

v e t c h p r e s e r v e : \ y n n N N 7 3 7 > \y tp ,

p o w d e rs o f

dyaqaron p2H'\

and

p 7 N p N ’7

dyasatirion o f dyamusk : p3N l

, p n u ’u ,

118,

118(31).

of p3N

p r ic k ly le ttu c e s e e d :

N b v m p v y N y 7 t,

154.

p N n ’D ’U ’7

p uiaw 7, 116 (23,24). sc a m m o n y p o w d e r:

N 37w p

p r in c ip le o f th e b o d y (m a le p3N

m e m b e r ) : n m n vyN7,

237

118 (39).

The Book o f W omen’s Love

private parts, privates (see also genitalia); privates [your]: in n y , 112. private parts of a mouse: nimn nnnyn, 176. pubic hair: nnwn n m Kxmn ny>w, 170. pulp of colocynth: Nmonpbtp mo, 158. pulse light and quick: p i pom mnEn, 166. pulse(s): noop,ooivm, 132, 150. boiled soup of pulses: pnn D’bw'onn omymn, 124. dish of pulses: omym b’wnn, 140. flour of pulses: omym nnp, 140. pumpkin; fresh pumpkin: nybn

yym, 138. raven; raven’s eggs: o w n pimy w n om 'iyn, 150, 152. raven’s tongue: nmy pwb, 152. small raven: p p nmy, 142. razor: nyn, 124. recipe: 162. refreshing remedy: i pm, 154. regimen; Book of the regimen of women: n)mn now, 108, 176. resins (see also tar): om w , 154. black resin: nmnw not, 124. tar resin: Nnnnm , 164 (238). retention: nm^y, 154, 160. great retention: nbn) nm^y, 166. rhubarb: nnnnn, 158. ribwort: HNnm) npnp, 168 (254). ribwort seed: Nibn^b ym, 168 (251). rice: pn, 124. rice flour: pn nnp, 128. rind; aromatized rind of citron: npn n >nriN nmbp, 118. citron rind: ^w m p prmN nmbp 138, 146, 148. dried citron rind: nmnN nmbp wm, 118. ritual immersion: nbno, 150. ritually fit parchment: nwn qbp, 136, 172. rock crystal: b^wwnp, 128. rock salt (see also salt): Nn» nbn, 124, 126. rocket: ,Nm ,n)dn , 148 (173), 158. root; berberis tree root: wmw w nm n, 170. bistort root: wmw pmwwn wmw mm\)wn, 144, 146. bitter cucumber root: wmw

nnb, 122.

oil made of pumpkin seed: pw Nnpymnnwy, 126, 128. pumpkin seed: Nip ym, 128. purslane seed: N)bm\ra ym, 154. pryq twr’m [electurary]: nnplD ONmupmN, 170 (264). Quarter [a]: y m , 116, 120, 130, 148, 154. quicklime: Ti t d , 120, 124. quina ; charcoal of the quina tree: N np^ynom o, 124. the oak called quina : pmpw ny Nnp, 114 (16). quince seed(s): o m n n ym, 154, 166. qwst’bw: nNOWp, 148 (176). qytwfT: Nbmwp, 108 (4). Tadish: nfn, 144. raisins whithout pips:

Nbn o p tm

238

English - Hebrew glossary

onD o>Ni\y>p, 156. burnt garlic root: ow w wnw DNwnw, 134. chicory root: nwm pn wnw, 142. comfrey root: Nnbwp wnw, 168 (252). cuckoo-pint root: wnw wim/wnp 128 (82), 130. dwarf elder root: ,wPmN wnw w’bixiNwnw, 134, 144. flax root: p w s wnw, 160. Florentine iris root: wmw DW 1 N T O ,D O T N , 132, 162. greater madder root: nwmn wnw mw, 162. henbane root: W”pwr> wiw, 132, 134. laurel root: mnnbn wn, 132. liquorice root: nwm bn wnw, 168. lily root: ’b’b wnw, 156. madder root: pmww N nn wnw, 162. mandrake root: Nbmnnw wnw, 146. marshmallow root: ,Nnb)3 wnw pwnbDwmw, 120, 156, 160. Mary’s seal root: omn wnw DNnD, 176. olive tree root: nn pj wnw, 122 . opoponax root: pwnN wnw, 170. peony root: rwmN’Dwnw, 162. root of dried great plantain: nwm NwtmnN wnw, 168. root of ground ivy: ww n n ’N wnw pwwnwwnnw Nwwnw, 132 (100). root of herb horsetail: nwy wnw

wnnNH, 134 9114). root of Solomon’s seal: wnw nwbw omn, 128. root of walnut tree: tnN wnw, 132. roots of galingales: unm u wnw, 138. satyrion root: yiNnww wnw, 118. serpentine root: w w sn n wnw, 128, 132. swallowwort root: wnw nNnmnw, 132. thick root of madder: tnn wnw pnww nN’nn, 162. turnip root: NDNn wnw, 134. white lily root: p b ’b’b wnw, 160. rose(s): wnn ,onm pm, 146, 158, 166. good shlgytym roses: o n n im w onm bw , 148 (184). red roses: piwrrN onm ;oriK nm o w m onm, 134, 136, 138, 154, 162. rose oil: onm pw pm pw , 134, 150, 152, 160. rose syrup: wnn qrvwN, 166 (240). rose water: o n n ’a ,m >n, 128, 134, 136, 140. the sages of Roses: ,vyrn ’ODn vyh’oon, 108 (3,5). white rose: Nminvy i n , 150 (192). rosebuds: nm p w n , 128 (83). rosemary: wn pw n qnxnn ,wiojn p w , 146, 150, 152, 170. fresh rosemary: nb p w wn, 144. rosemary flower(s): pw n nns wwdn nns, 144, 148, 150, 152, 162.

239

The Book o f W omen’s Love

rosemary preserve: T O ) ip m om , 140 (139). rubbish: n s n N , 116, 144. rue: h im , 148, 158, 170. dried rue: n n m h im , 140. rue juice: N in po, 122, 164. rue leaves: h im ’by, 140, 148. wild rue: mnmro Nin, 170. rye: pmn, 150. rysws (roots): v w m , 138 (129).

148. saphenous veins: m ’D'in, 146. sapphire: nmn, 124, 166. sarcocolla: Nbippnn, 124, 128. sarquina nut: NPpno mN, 148 (177). satyrion; satyrion oil: n n n n inn, 140. condito of satyrion: >npnnp p n ’o n n , 150 (187). satyrion preserve: Nnmnnp p n n n N nm np q m o ’o, 118, 140-142. satyrion root: p N n n u nnn, 118. savin: Nmn ,Nmnn ,Nmn, 140, 148, 150, 158, 170. savin leaves: ND’nn ’by, 146. savin water: Nmn ’O, 162. saxifrage: ’n o u p n , 144. saxifrage water: N’n s ’n p n ’o, 170. scab: pm, 124. any scab, old or new: pn pm bn m m N p n , 124. dry inveterate scab that has grown old: m n”m n nnm pm, 124. scabs and ulcers on the head: nNnn mm pm, 122. scabious: nN’ONpnN, 148. scammony: nNmnpnN, 160. scammony powder: pnN nNmnpnN, 162-164. scarification [cupping glasses with]: n n n n ov nm^on ’n p , 166. scruple(s): bmnpnN ,’mnpn’N, 118 (35), 128, 144, 146, 148, 154. sea bramble: N^nNO ’bimno, 144 (153), 162. sealed earth: omn >pN, 148.

Saffron (see also crocus): ^Nnoyt d v td /pDyt, 122, 136, 160, 170. saffron-coloured sulphur: nnD) n ’mono, 124. saffron-coloured water: D’O O” )mono, 130. wild saffron seed: dotd ym M21Y2, 158. sage: nNnbn ,nNnbn, 124, 132, 134, 144. salt: nbo, 120, 122, 124, 126, 132, 134, 136, 144. burnt salt: qno nbn, 138. natron salt: n n n nbn, 120. rock salt: Nn” nbn, 124, 126. sweet natron salt, white and clear: mnm p b pinn n n n nbn, 138. salvatela (vein): Nb’o n n n , 166 (248). same measure/quantity (of each): pbno pbn ,nw2 nw ,mvya, 122, 132, 136, 140. sandalwood: pbTJO ,’bmu, 166. all kinds of sandalwood: mn bd pbmn, 166. fine sandalwood: o’bmo ’bn:u, 118(34). red sandalwood: oiin ’bmu,

240

English - Hebrew glossary

sebesten: N>wpo, 148 (182), 168. secret parts [her] (see also genitalia): nnnu, 142, 144, 146. seed: vat, 158. amberseed: Naa^v vat, 146. aniseed: DPNVat, 140, 142. ash seed: aw, 124 (75), 170. serpentine root: NPwaam waiw, 128, 132. serpentine grapes: ,N3W£nm >mv np waamftomv, 128, 130. shape; acorn shape: wPr nuna, 170 (261). shape of an apple of amber: aNn NaaDNman, 146. shape of the male member: aaNJPDia, 154. shekel(s) (measure): bpw, 124, 138. shlgytym (see rose): onjobw, 148 (184). silk: W), 116. coloured silk [threads]: mva^ >wd, 114. silk cloth: >wd am, 154. silk thread: w n bw nbma, 116.

vat

154. pumpkin seed: Nap vat, 126, 128. N bm pw N ,

241

The Book o f W omen’s Love

s i l v e r v e s s e l : °|DD

126. 126. ’bD, 126.

s u b lim a te s ilv e r:

,\m D ib iD

boiled soup of pulses: pTD □’bvynnn o’tytmn, 124. southernwood: pDorQN ,’tNDraN DUOnDN, 150, 160, 162. sowbread powder: yi'ppw p2H, 162. spices: o ’j d i d , o ’)d d , 120, 128. spider [live]: mn D’DDy, 110. spikenard: p’DDN ,im p’DDN ,p’DDN nm, nm, 118, 132, 138, 144, 146, 148, 152, 154, 158, 164. spikenard oil: nm pw , 162. simple oil of spikenard: nm pw d i d d , 154. spikes [three kinds of]: ’t’D T p’DDN, 162. spine [her]: mivy, 156. spodium: niDDN, 136 (120), 138, 146, 154. sponge: ,V)DD ,NmtDDN ,NXnDD’N o ’ Vi d d , 120, 150, 166. spoon; half a spoon:

nnnm , 170. saffron-coloured sulphur: n n m n>DiDT, 124. sumach: pxnp, 136. sun: wdw, 116, 124, 126, 128, 176. sun’s rays: wnw ymy 128. swallowwort root: nN'omm wmw, 132. sweat: nyn, 150. smell of sweat: nyn nn, 138. sweet flag: ” WimN mbp ,nipN ,mwixnN mbp ,w” wm*iN mbp ,V)” WmnN mbp p>P\7imN mb p owm nip ,mp ,mwmnN mbp, 118, 138 (125), 146, 148, 152, 154, 162, 172. juice of sweet flag herb: nwy p n mpN, 134(113). smell of sweet flag: nip nn, 138. two kinds of sweet flag: nm 'n mpN, 144. swelling: nm, 134. swollen cheeks: nm n: onnb, 134. syrup: qrpWN, 144. plantain syrup: nnwbn qrpwN, 164. rose syrup: wm qwwN, 166 (240). talcum powder: pbwbN pnN, 138 (132). tamarind: m nnw , 160. tamarisk seed: pnnw ynt, 138. tar: pwy ,pwybN, 132, 142. Greek tar: nNmmbip, 120 (45),

243

The Book o f Women ’s Love

166, 168.

134, 136. big tooth that all hare have: obnnw nbm nninN , 136. black or green [teeth]: [onny] nipnnN nm nw , 132. cavity in the tooth/teeth: mn oown, 134. healthy teeth: n w n n o w , 134. heat in the teeth: omwn oumn, 134. teeth with cavities and caries: ninpiioni niwmyon o w n , 134. [teeth] holes: nipini [ o w ] , 132. [the teeth] will be white as snow: )bwn nunb im o w , 136. to whiten the teeth: ynbnb o w n , 136, 138. tooth of a dead man: ^w ,non iw no 07N, 114, 136. tooth of a wolf: iNt bw py, 136. tooth of the fish called dolphin: y3b7N7pin )7 1W, 136. toothache: o w n 2ND, 132, 134, 136. viper’s tooth: n^DN yy, 176. worms in the teeth: onbin o w n , 132, 134. topaz powder: p^pyn p 2 N, 168. tragacanth: 0 1 ) 7 7 , 124, 148. tree(s): 162. berberis tree: w nnnn p w , 170. olive tree: nn [^y], 122 . quina tree: N l ^ p ^ 124. terebinth trees: Nb*>oono niib’N, 136(118). walnut tree: ri)N N(y, 132, 142. triasandali: Nbnnno, 156 (216). trifera: Nnnno ,N7 imno, 146, 170. trifera magna : NDW ,nino NSW ,N10 N£P70 ,1)0 NSW ,nbl7) ON)D ,N1)Q N7DW ,N1NO N7DW

124. t a r r e s i n : N in 7 n m , 164 (238). t a r t a r : 0 1 7 0 7 0 , 124 (63). ta r o il: p o y b N yaw ,

te r e b in th tre e s :

N b^oono

136(118). fruits of the terebinth: 118.

n n b ’N,

0002,

te s tic le s ; te s tic le s o f a c a s tr a te d p ig : o > u n o n n n w n ,

138.

y o u n g c o c k ’s t e s t i c l e s :

nnn

b n n n , 112.

theodoricon enporiston : ponrrNO ppnDN, 148 (172). theriac: NpNW, 134. t h i g h : p w ,-p m , 174, 176. blood from your thigh: *pm D7, 110 .

things: onnn, 144, 146, 148, 158, 160. any [bad] thing in the world: nm obiyno, 130. aromatic things: om nn onnn, 154. foul-smelling things: onnn om nu, 154. marvellous and benefitial thing: N bfU D b W > 7 2 7 , 174. strengthening things: onnn o>ptno, 164. third [a]: w*>bw, 126, 142, 146, 172. thirst; very thirsty: nbn) Non, 120 , 166. thyme: 146, 148. tongue; raven’s tongue: nniy pob, 152. tongue of a deer: ni* yiwb, 176. tongue of a goose: iiin yiwb, 142. tooth, teeth: o*w ,py, 114, 132, 134, 136. aching tooth: nnNinn ton, 132,

244

English - Hebrew glossary

n^d Nnsnw, 114 (14), 144, 146, 150, 156, 158, 162, 164, 168. trps (parasite): wfnw ympw omnn, 122 (58). tube (for fumigation): mmDW, 132, 142, 148. turnip root: NDNn w iw , 134. turpentine: ,kpw^ iiw w n M io jW W ono, 124, 130, 148, 152, 154. white turpentine: NnbN m’wmw, 148 (185). turtle’s fat: K)n*in loiw, 118. turtledove’s blood: mnn o i, 112 .

ym^ in dun , 156. urine of a wolf: nmn pw , 176. urine of boys and girls: pw n m n N o n y y 150. white urine: p b Nm pw , 156. Valerian: fONnbi ,N^nbN% 152, 166, 172. vapour: yiw*>y, 150, 164. vegetable turpeth: w*amw, 144. vein: pmy, 166. both the saphenous veins: mw w^mwn, 146. heel vein: bw pmy ppyn pmy apyn byw pmy ppyn, 158, 160. liver vein: nann pmy, 158, 160. vervain: Nrann, 134. herb vervain: N^nni nwy, 140. vessel (see also bowl): ,nnyp ,>bn b£>w, 112, 120, 124, 130, 144. clay vessel: wnn, 174. earthen vessel: wnn ^D, 112, 114, 116. glass vessel: mmm Pn, 116, 118, 122 , 126. pierced vessel: npnmPD, 150. silver vessel: Pn, 126. vetch preserve: w unN Nnnmwip, 118(31). vine shoots: 140. vine shoot ashes: om£» bw n£)N,

Ulcer; any ulcer or head disease: WNnnm nbnm bm ym 2d, 124. bad ulcer: yn ym, 130. ulcers on the head: ,WNnnm ym WNrnvym, 122. ulcer(s) of the face: ym ,omDn ym omonm, 130. ulcers and spots on the face: bn omDnm oro bm ym, 128. umbilicos marinos: Nmnm wpbmimN, 124 (73). underneath [from] (see also below): nwmb, 150. unguent: npn ,nmwm, 120 , 122 , 124, 132, 140, 152, 154, 158. black unguent: Nmm pwwfmip, 150 (189). Book on unguents by al-Zahrawi: nswm mnm nmND mmwmn, 124 (68). cetrine unguent: ynvmw onmN, 130 (86). urine: pw , 114. dog’s urine: nbn p w , 122 . red or colourful urine: Nm p w

122 .

vinegar: ^Qin, 112, 118, 122, 124, 128, 132, 140, 164, 166, 170, 172. red vinegar: orTN^D'in, 122 . strong vinegar: ptn p in , 122 , 124, 126, 132, 134, 164, 168. white wine vinegar: pb p ^mn, 126.

245

The Book o f W omen’s Love

violet(s):

jVPbW'i pbwi 144, 158, 160, 164. herb violet: NobTO'i nwy, 150. violet water: vj^bW'PD, 130. viper; viper’s head: DVDN WN“i, 176. viper’s tooth: nyDN w , 176. virgin: ntnra ^ r a , 114, 142, 144. virgin date palm: b'inn nnn >(y, 136. virgin parchment: nbma Dmvy o^D cpsnw, 122 (54), 128, 132. burning water of the simple: am noiwn o^dtiw, 128. clean water: cpd ,o”p^ o*>o o ^ i ^ , 112 , 118, 122 . cold water: o n p D’O, 144, 168. distilled water: mm cpd, 132. fine water: mo ow, 126. fine water to whiten the face: o m n pnbnb mmo o>d, 126. fresh water: o»n O’D, 112 . gold-like water: O’O, 122 . henbane water: >mpvyv 140. honeywater: o i l o>D, 170 (263). horehound water: xino *>£, 150. hot water: o’on o>d, 120, 124, 144, 162. mugwort water: ow ,NPDYnN W npdwin, 160, 170. myrrh water: m m w, 128. nettle water: n p o t i n w , 156. rainwater: “ion w, 122, 164. rose water: o n n ,im ’D, 128, 134, 136, 140. sacred water: o^vmp o^o, 126. saffron-coloured and golden [water]: o>mnn o^mmo ow, 130. savin water: n p w w , 162. saxifrage water: wnD nypvy w, 170. simple water: oww d>d, 128. spring water: y>yo ow, 124, 130. strongly burning water: o’D nnm oo^m o, 132. sweetwater: o*>pm>3 144, 160. violet water: ypPw'PD, 130. warm water: onvm ow, 124.

English - Hebrew glossary

water made from rosebuds: cpd '|\ji\tqd rmvyy, 128 (83). water of bean flowers: m s *>D o^bm, 128. water of decoction from hypocistis and pomegranate: m nmotnbm urpoDp'iDN bwn, 164. water of elder flower: nnn pnow, 130 (87), 162. water of hot fenugreek decoction: on pn>PD w m p n m, 162. water of mandrake root: vym\y m Nbirma, 146. water of roots of galingales: o n m o vnivy, 138. wax: nmw, 110, 120, 152, 154, 156, 172. bees-wax: )yrr, 154. red wax: nDVTNmyw, 148, 156. virgin wax: nbmn nmw, 110 . weakness: nivy^n ,nv^!7"in, 164. weakness of the nature: nwbin yn on, 156, 160. wheat; boiled wheat: o’bwtnn o*>wn, 150. large starchy wheat: nwnn nNwnnbmn, 172 (279). white wheat: om b o^wn, 168. white lead: mnmu, 122, 124. white radish seed: ym, 140. willow; burning coal of willow wood: nmrnonbm, 136. willow juice: nnny po, 122 . wind (in the womb): nm, 158. wine: y>\ 112, 118, 122, 124, 128, 132, 134, 142, 144, 156, 158, 170, 172. aromatized wine: owno p>, 140. astringent wine: pny p>, 170. boiled sweet wine: pinD p>

bwno, 132. fine red wine: mwn ovtn y>\ 118. fine white wine: mwn p b p*>, 128, 148. fragant pure wine: mo “ft p*> nnn, 146. good white wine: mo p b p>, 136. good wine: mo p , 132, 134, 138. good-smelling white wine: nnn mo pb, 144. hot wine: on p>, 158. old wine: p*>, 132. red wine: ovtn p>, 160, 166. white wine: pb p>, 120 , 126, 128, 134, 136, 148, 150, 154, 170. wolf; tooth of a wolf: nmn py, 136. urine of a wolf: nmn piw, 176. w olfs dung: nmn bm, 116. womb: onn ,on, 114, 142, 144, 148, 150, 152, 154, 156, 158, 160, 162, 164, 166, 168, 170, 172. abscess in the womb: Nomo omi, 156. cold humours and wind [in the womb]: [oNn] nnn...nnp mn>b, 158. disorders of the womb: >bin own, 172. for ailments of the womb: >btnb own, 156. [for] hardness of the womb: ’Wtp o Nn, 156, 160. [for] pain in the womb: nm) □nnn, 152, 160, 170. for the womb disorder: bnbnb own, 156. mouth of the womb: onnn ■>£),

247

The Book o f W omen’s Love

150, 170. suffocation of the womb:

144. red worm: dvtn nybm, 144. worm(s) in the teeth: ybm o t o w o>ybin pnwnw, 132, 134. worm-like human figure: p nnn nybm im Nim d in , 108. wormwood: mwnN ,wnunN, 124 (77). worry: n n n , 166. wrinkles: o>OQ’p, 126. wrinkled [breasts]: [nmn] nipim , 138. wynwysyT: Nbwmi, 124 (76).

o m n , 154.

superfluos moisture of the womb: o m n p nn*>b, 150. to return the womb to its place: nmpnb onh nnnnb, 156. womb moist or dry: in nnb ONn nwn*>, 156. womb that moves out of its place: [minn] nyw n ONb, 154, 156. wood (see also aloe and cassia); eyebright wood: mnD 134. white ivy wood: p b n*itn 122 .

yellow amber: pQNpp ,NWNbp nnpp, 124 (71), 132 (102), 148 (181). ym yq: p w , 172 (273). yw dq’ry: nNpnv, 148 (175). yw ’n tw tws ‘mgwny : DIWIWONV vmm, 170 (265).

wood sage: mr)Dn>N, 144 (152). wool: nm ,710, 114, 120, 158, 160, 162, 166, 168. fresh wool: nnb nm, 132. white wool of a living lamb: nm nn nw bw pb, 168. white woollen cloth: pb n n n m p 126. woollen cloth: nm m , 136. worm; black worm: mnw nybm,

Zedoary: bNiwn, 132 (103). zyyr: n>n, 142 (148).

248

Hebrew - English dyasatirion of dyaqaron and of dyam usk , 1 1 7 .

VPbmN jVy’b'QiN dwarf elder, 151. o^zPN/o^onN otio : dwarf elder root, 135, 145. pN (see also o^DNb): stone, 137, 141, 177. raNion pN: lodestone, 143. nn^n nDO by pN: stone from the river bank, 117. pDun m om no\y pN: stone for sharpening knives, 140. 7*m mbDnn o>d n : hailstone, 141. pnN (see also 22))): powder, 109, 113, 117, 119, 121, 123, 125, 137, 139, 141, 147, 149, 151, 153, 155, 159, 165, 167, 169. pbobN p2H: talcum powder, 139. wopN p3N: acacia powder, 157. nNmxDpON p2H: scammony powder, 163, 165. non> nNTONnn p2H: dried briony powder, 131. NibDrro p2H: herb bennet powder, 119. “non TO p2H: bull’s penis powder, 119. pmpnooN ympo o ^ i pnN: powder of the fish called sturgeon, 153. I'DNpN’T’ p2H) pNTOO’OH p2N puiDNH piNi: powders of

p i p2H: fine powder, 153, 167, 173. P in p2H: myrtle powders, 167. NPlbN'i [p2N]: valerian powder, 167. oioop to p2H: chaste tree powder, 141. ymo ovi Nvy’boi Nrrooo p i n : powder of marjoram and balm and bran, 139. vyiv^N’T nnpiD pin: powder of electuary dyanthos, 139. nm [pHN]: spikenard powder, 165. p’py p2H: topaz powder, 169. N”bnp io y p2H: herb cinnamon powder, 119. 'IDbp’S pnN: powder of sowbread, 163. nNnmbp p2H: powder of Greek tar, 169. OTOEmn p2H: lupins powder, 123. ">22 pON: gazelle’s powders, musk, 123. 22H (see also nDN, n ro t and to): male member ^doiin pnoiN : wormwood, 125. nTON: a bunch, 145, 147, 158. TON ^y ,ton: walnut (tree)

249

The Book o f W omen’s Love

N

,NWwnw n i ’N ,Nowno N ii’N ’OW’l ’OWiiN: ground ivy, 133, 135, 139. ’ow’i ’OWii’Ni W”n: ground ivy berries, 133. niN m yi}: ivy berries, 135. Nbit’N: leafy spurge, 145. b” N: deer; b>y in b” N nio: marrow of deer’s or calf s brains, 153. b” N n y : deer’s skin, b” N nb o^y : deer’s heart bone, 167. ‘piw b”N pp : burnt deer’s antler, 137, 139, 165. rmb’N ,ib>N (see also p>): tree(s); W’l ’ir a ib’N: berberis tree, 171. Nb’ODiiw mib’N: terebinth trees, 137. oiN’iN piN’i ’N: Florentine iris; p b DiN’i ’N: white Florentine iris, 139. oiN’iN/oiN’i ’N wmw: Florentine iris root, 133, 163. oiN’l ’N pw : Florentine iris oil, 163. noidwn ,noidw’N (see also nso): sponge, 151, 167. bN (see also oiw): garlic, 133. ’NibN: aloe, 123, 159, 167. ’NibN mb: aloe wood, 119, 131, 139, 147, 149, 153, 155, 159, 171. p io ip ’u wbN ,’io ip ’o ’NibN: socotrine aloe, 121, 163. oibN: alum, 127, 137, 139, 149, 165. NDibD ’1 oibN: alum de pluma , 125. p b oibN: white alum, 145. bny oibN: round alum, 167.

H3ion)N: clean walnut, 153 obiyo nD NW1 Nbw 11)N [N(Vl: walnut [tree] that has never borne fruit, 143. i p p i o n> N : nutmeg, 131, 133, 145, 147, 147, 167. N ip w io

ti) N

’b y : n u t m e g l e a v e s ,

119. vond nwv pw , oild made of nutmeg, 151. [oioin] ww>n (see also u o iy ): heron’s beak, 137. W’bmiN (see obmN): dwarf elder, ru ’i o h n : egg yolk(s), 133. niiinAiin bw r u n d u n : goose’s egg yolk, 163, 165. n ’l b * r u ’n o i i n : roasted egg yolks, 157. nmbN ,m ’biN (see also nmb): frankincense. N i’b n p N b o iN : coltsfoot, 123. ’DIN: opium, 163, 169. m’piN ,n’piN: ounce(s), passim. N’Oib’pWN bo’WpiN: oxymel of squills, 133. n po h n : nettle; nbrnn n po h n : big nettles, 123. omip nb pNW npohn: nettle without prickles, 143. n p o iin ym: nettle seeds, 165. n p o iin na: nettle water, 156. n p o iin \>q: nettle juice, 141. o y n i N (see also n itN ) : oregano, 139, 145, 147, 149, 151. oio’DUN: orpiment, 121, 123. x k n : oregano, 173. tw in : asarabacca, 145. N ip o io

W’bn’N ( s e e obmN):

d w a r f e ld e r.

’T i o d z p n : w o o d s a g e , n i ’N , N i i ’N: i v y ; iv y ,

pb

145. N i i ’N: w h i t e

123.

250

Hebrew - English glossary

pbN (see also ny): oak; pbtt ynv. oak seed, 127, 129. yt>K nmbp: oak bark, 121 . N"P)tbN ,NT>mbN: civet, 153, 155. bN: caper spurge, 135. nnmbN: alexanders, 155. Nwmb ,NwmbN: alipta; m p ’b NwmbN liquid alipta, 147. Niptnft mmb/mmbN: musk alipta, 147, 149. pmbN ,pnDbN: alembic, 127, 129, 169.

Nnm (see jn a m ): amber pn\j>u \m m (see also nn^wn): cetrine unguent, 131. rompNbm: elecampane, 151. wivm (see also pnm n and urm): rosemary w iim nnm rosemary flower(s) wicm iimwup: rosemary preserve, 141. w^bWDN; antales, 121, 129. (see tDWbl): ‘n trpsyly. N w m p m : dill, 173. N om p w ,wm pw: dill oil, 121 , 149, 155. >um p m : anise, 139, 145, 151, 159, 163. om ym : aniseed, 141, 143. [pb’D] nnpDN: marking nut honey, 133. p*>wm (see also pmw): incense nt>wd h v h : asafoetida, 155. wt>wd wbtbm asafoetida pills, 163. Ontom : stomach, mpiq HmpVH: meerschaum, 139. p m m : opoponax, 155, 159, 163, 171. wmwup'im: hypocistis, 165, 167, 169. m nm : euphorbia, 121 . *>m: celery, 157, 159. ’D K p : celery juice, 157. ^m w tiw : celery root, 135. nvm : viper; nym WNn: viper’s head, 177. nym p : viper’s tooth, 177. n m (see also nsy): ashes inmbpDi p b NnTN ^b’N nm: ashes and bark of white ivy wood, 123. p m wnmtb nm: ashes of green liquorice, 121 .

nnntD pnnbN pmm bw pnDbN: glass alembic, 119, 129, 131. [pw] pwybN (see also pwy pm): tar oil, 125. pby] NVJOpbN: henna leaves, 139. o h (see also om): womb, NPin wpb'inm/ umbilicos marinos, 125. N n m p n n m : amber, 143, 147, 149, 155, 159, 169, 173, 175. mo Nnnm: fine amber, 153. NPm N“DDN: ambergris, 119, 129, 153. Nwtb^m ,nwib u m (see NWtbmN): great plantain n m (see also mnm ,nm): male member, w w m : bishop’s weed, 153, 159, 161, 163. m m : starch, 125.

251

The Book o f Women ’s Love

OD£n bw nntt: vine shoot ashes, 123. nnDN: baby bird, 113. ONmwpnnN (see nnpnD): ’pryqtw r’m. ntpN: sweet flag. mpN *>PD 'a: two kinds of sweet flag, 145. mpN nwy juice of sweet flag herb, 135. [pnN]N*>wpN: acacia powder, 157. wmw NnnN: herb from Tunisia, 159, 171. m n ,Nvn rocket, 149, 159. ruarTN >bnnN: red clay, 165. NPDwnN (see also NPDwnN): mugwort [Nnnmwip] wnnN: vetch preserve, 119. v w i h (see w w tn ): Florentine iris. nNmbiwwnN ,DNmbwwnN: birthwort, 171. nbimn nnnN nNmbiwwnN: long and round birthwort, 159. HNmbwwnN y d : juice of birthwort, 163. Y^WTiDnN: meadow-saffron, 123, 145. pNmDnN ,mD2N: ammoniacum, 125, 163. nnnN: hare, nnnN on: hare’s blood, 131. rnnN bnp hare’s excrement, 177. nnnN thd: hare’s gall, 113. rinnNnmp: hare’s stomach, 153. TD31N yu: hare’s tooth, 137. D: mugwort water, 161, 171. NJHD KWWK: asta marina, 137. pmwwN: storax, 147, 153, 155. H ’p ’b pmwwN: liquid storax, 155. *>wmbp pmwwN ,*>wmbp pm w w nc storax calamita, 131, 147, 149, 153, 155. w n p ’WWN: French lavender, 145, 155. ympDWWN, sturgeon, 119, 153. N2>P3WN

,NmPDWW

,NmPDWWN:

stavesacre, 123, 141, 149, 155. pOD oown: skinned pistachios, 141. crown ym pistachio seed, 143. w»n: berries; W’Ni w»n ’ow n’ow i’Ni: berries and root of ground ivy, 133. onn p n n ,n*n: egg(s), 109, 111, 115, 127. o*>bxnnn: ants’ eggs, 119. oP w no onn: biled eggs, 129.

Npwbw pw: Cetic nard oil, 155. [ntb/Nnwb] oiwbnwN: aspaltum [V zr’/lzry], 171. onnwN: asparagus, 145. rwziNpWN: scabious, 149. [bn] bmpWN: squirrel’s foot, 115. [yot] NbmipWN: prickly lettuce seed, 155. wnpWN: camel’s hay, 145. nNOinpWN, scammony, 161. HNO'iDpWN pnN, scammony powder, 163, 165. bmnpWN: scruple, 119, 129, 145, 147, 149, 155. [nbn] yr)H: ass’s milk, 141, 151, 153. mnN (see also nwn?): citron; nby ynriN >by ,mnN: citron leaf(ves), 135, 171. ynnN nn>bp: citron rind, 139, 147. wx> mr\H nfnbp: dried citron rind, 119. n p n n mr\H no?bp: aromatized rind of citron, 119. [ottn'i pb] )h2 : white and red ben , 147. i n : cloth, 113, 123, 169. orrN i n : red cloth, 137. p i i n : fine cloth, 133, 167. on i n : hot cloth, 173. N(DTa bnw m : a cloth soaked in vinegar, 141, 165. nm n p b i n : white woollen cloth, 127. po p b i n : clean white cloth, 145. >WD m : silk cloth, 155. piW£> m : linen cloth, 157. p i pw n i n : fine linen cloth, 147.

253

The Book o f Women ’s Love

amy o >2 ,o*amyD o o o : raven’s eggs, 151, 153. omto o m : roasted eggs, 151. o o *>2 (see also own): testicles; o*a tmrm: cock’s testicles, 113. tnwa fw>2 (see also iN opn): concoction, 131, 145. ^OTiovra ,wmwwo pwNww^a: bistort; >wnwwo /wmwwo wmw: bistort root, 145, 147. [ay>w] nnwn no: pubic hair, 171.

,wwwPa

,wwwf72

,>NWwito

^wwttn ^N^wwito (see also pon): pomegranate, 137, 139, 145, 147, 149, 165, 169, mwmwpDba: blanca bisangia, 155. Dawta powba pw ba powba: balsam, 147, 155. *>Dwba /iwwba /yawba ifnp: balsam fruit, 131, 147, 149. ojwban ,atwn tDwban piwn Dawba a'iwn: fine balsam, 131. *>bmw3 in ^waaw^N Dawba: balsam 7z trpsyly or natural, 131. *>DWba *>D: balsam water, 131. lowba ib’W: balsam tree bark, 131, 149. Dawba pw: balsam oil, 131. N^DWba: garden balsam, 119. aawba powba (see iDWba): balsam. Nwaawba: horsemint, 147. nm p (see also nm): young pigeon; mr> m : young pigeons, 119. nm p om blood of a young pigeon, 113. run p ab: young pigeon’s heart, 113. ton: onion; b*2 ym: onion seeds, 141. t0 2 n£Pt?p: onion peels, 115. [m no] npa (see also brn and 22 ):

calf s gall, 163. N^ana: vervain, 135. NP222 awy: herb vervain, 141. ['jtw wmw] wnona: berberis tree root, 171. bna: iron; bna nNO: slags, 135. bna nmbp: iron shavings, 123. [ym] N:\bmwna: purslane seed, 155. nNmNna: briony; nwa> nmnNna: dried briony, 131. rwriNnn pn: briony juice, 129. NX>wmN Npna: bear’s breech, 159. mwa mw ,mwa: the same measure/quantity (of each), 123, 133, 135, 137, 141, 147, 151, 153, 161, 163, 169, 173. o^awa: perfumes, 121. nwa: meat, flesh; mow nwa: fat meat, 151. nnwa: her flesh, 111, 113, 173. nbinajbma: virgin, 115, 143, 145. bina non virgin date palm, 137. nbma ^bp: virgin parchment, 111. nbma myw: virgin wax, 111. CPtnra: virginity, 145. m b u m hwn mtnnb: to restore a woman’s virginity, 143. m b)

jNTpDID

Nb>

,NnpW1D

NbN>

NiputD: French musk, 139, 147. pbNpNbNX oak gall, 145, 157, 169. [mp] Nwn (see also mp)): cold gout, 131. *>b'i2'iD')p ”bu- gwlyy qwmwfwly , 171. ma^bNNmx gum elemi, 131. ponN NDtx gum arabic, 121, 129, 149, 169. pm n nd'O p r o nod: gum dragant, 129.

254

Hebrew

rm b

in )

-

English glossary

Not): white gum

dragant, 129. [pnN] Nnbam): herb bennet powder, 119. nm p) (see nnp)): ginger w npp) (see also o ^ n ): gums, 139. mwn to (see also mwn nn): bull’s penis, 119. Nnnnp) ,nnm) ,nm)P) ,nnp) ,nmp) (see also bnpt): ginger, 117, 133, 147, 149, 159. prp nnp): fresh ginger, 151. p b nanp): white ginger, 129. m)DD nnm): false ginger, 123. nnm ) ym: ginger seed, 159. nmomby: ginger leaves, 159. Nnn»P) pw: ginger oil, 123. pwnpb Nm): hieralogodion, 133. N ^ b ) Nnpn Nm): hierapigra Galieni, 133, 159. >bmm) ,Nbmm): clove, 119, 129, 131, 139, 143, 147, 149, 151, 155, 167, 173. ’brnnmby: clove leaves, 153. N Dw npN b): clary, 163, 171. nNb): g l’rw, 149.

mnnD): live sulphur, 171. mxmnn nnn): saffron-coloured sulphur, 125. nn ) ,mn) (see also onn) and pwimp): grain (tiny apothecary’s measure), 133, 163. o n n ): gargle, 135. nnwn): gargle, 133. nnn) (see also wnrrmb): filings; b^nn m n ): grated elephant [tusk], 147. m om 7p m ) ,bnnn) ,wnDn) ,no): couch-grass, 119, 145, 159, 171. w nnn) *>by: couch-grass leaves, 171. pm\PU Nn): grana tintorum, 119. pym: kernel, berry, pip, grain (tiny apothecary’s measure), 135, 143, 167. nnNmym: ivy berries, 135. o n o n myn): date kernels, 135, 139, 173 pyn) Nbn opnm : raisins without pips, 139. worry, 167. WY2H1: dyamace, 145. onm : things, 145, 147, 149, 159, 161. Nbmo bm o nnn: marvellous and benefitial thing, 175. obiynw nnn: any [bad] thing in the world, 131. opnno onnn: strengthening things, 165. ontnw onnn: foul-smelling things, 155. om nn onnn: aromatic things, 155. wnn (see also bN*>o): honey, 119, 121, 127, 129, 131, 133, 141, n )N T :

pub) ,p n b ) ,m b ) ,PNnb): galbanum ,

149, 155, 171. b))y mb): round galbanum, 151. b)b) (see bpb)): galingale. bvmwb): g ly ’ntl, 125. wwb) (see NbN)): oak gall, npb) ,b))b) (see also nmw): galingale, 119, 131, 133, 139, 149. W)b): acorn, 171. n n ) (see wnnn)): couch-grass, p ): vine shoots, 141. o m ) bw nDN: vine shoot ashes, 123. nnn): sulphur, 123, 137.

255

The Book o f W omen’s Love

W’TiDN’7: horsetail (herb), 135. pNnnpNH: dyacodion, 167. pp’bwpN’7: dyacatolicon, 167. ynpN’7: dyaqaron, 117, 157. ynnN’7: dyarrhodon, 147. ynwwN’7: dyasatyrion, 117, 157. ’nwnn: jasper, 167. p n ’WW’7 p w n u ’un: dyasatirion,

143, 145, 147, 151, 161, 163, 171, 173. ’n wa7: raw honey, 121. HipVMO wn: musk honey, 149. unu nnnn own 07: blood of the testicles of a castrated pig,

139. mn p 07 : blood o f a young pigeon, 113. W’n r r n p ntn 07: blood that flows from the gums, 139. nnn 07 : pig’s blood, 121. mn 0 7: pigeon’s blood, 113, 133. ~pn’ 07 : blood from your thigh, 111 .

256

Hebrew - English glossary

n n ] 0 7 : menstrual blood, 115, 159, 161, 165. nv 0 7 : thick blood, 159. n bo o i: man’s and woman’s blood, 111 . m in o n b n n n i 7ino b n n n 07 mob: blood of a black cock and

in

of a black or white hen, 111 . mn o i: turtledove’s blood, 1 13. n m 0 7 nbtn: excessive menstrual

blood, 169. n o n hd i n 0 7 0 N 0 7 1 D : blood or red humor abcess, 161. 07D oifnv: corruption of the blood, 157. n m 07 oioy: corruption of the menstrual blood, 165. O 7 n o i 7 : excess of blood, 165. pm 0 7 : dragon’s blood, 165, 167, 169.

trrn p o : myrtle oil, 141, 149. n m n : regimen, diet; nbp n m n : light diet, 161. o ^ n n m n noo: Book of the regimen of women, 109, 177. [on] ^ODn: hot hepatica, 151. ntpn: bleeding, 109. nnopn (see also p o n and mop): fumigation, 163. pnn: pregnancy, 151, 153, 177. pnnn boob: to terminate a pregnancy, 145. pnnn ymnb: to prevent pregnancy, 177. pnnb: to [facilitate] pregnancy, 147, 149, 151, 155, 161, 165. pnnb bnio: helpful/useful for pregnancy, 147, 153. N i N n b i ,N v n b N l:

173. o m m : warts, 133. o b w i ,o*>bwi ,’bw i ,Nobwi: violet(s), 145, 159, 161, 165. O’b w i 73: violet water, 131. NObwi ooV: herb violet, 151. biNnon: vitriol, 125. Nbmmi: wynwysyl\ 125. moo on (see also 7ion 77): bull’s penis, 125. N i N n b i (see N i n b N i ) : valerian. Ntion (see also >bo ,n^non moio n^^on and n^non nnp ): cupping glasses, 157. not (see also n m and d ttid ): menstruation, 147. (opnm (see also onn): rose(s), 159, 167. 771 pioin: rosebuds, 129. O n71 ,niD17N O n 7 1 , 017N 771 om7N: red roses, 135, 137, 139,

niD7: s h a p e , s i z e , 1 1 1 . 70N niD70: shape of the male member, 155. Olb) nimo: acorn shape, 171. PD7V nimo: the size of a chestnut, 159. [nby] 7D7 (see also m b): laurel leaves, 119. [t d d i

p7]

p £ )7 : p u l s e l i g h t a n d

167. '7 7 : drachm(s), passim, o im : tragacanth, 125, 149. q u ic k ,

boD:

s te a m ( o f fu m ig a tio n ),

D 7n: m y rtle ,

valerian, 153, 167,

133.

147, 157.

167. v in V 7t: m y r t l e s e e d ( s ) , 125, 137, 155. 0 7 n >by /nby: myrtle leaves, 135, 139, 143, 151.

0 7 n pnN : m y rtle p o w d e rs ,

257

The Book o f W omen’s Love

123, 127.

155, 163. woibiw m : white rose, 151. nimo omnbw o m i: good shlgytym roses, 149. o m i m ,ioi no: rose water, 129, 135, 137, 141. onoi vow ,i“ii yow: rose oil, 135, 151, 153, 161.

nm o t pinw: crushed glass, 127. moot (see also tmoh and om): penis, 111. bnmt (see also nnm ): ginger; bnmt

pnn fresh ginger, 119. p b bnmt: white ginger, 129, 135, 143. p o y t ,yoovt (see also oiooo): saffron, 137, 161, 171. not (see also w no ,p>vbN and onow): tar, resin, 123, 143. noinw not: black resin, 125. w no not: tar resin, 165. Viot: arm, 113, 177. pn> viot: right arm, 159. “[not: arsenic, 125. VOt: semen, 109, 115, 151, 155. vot: seed, 159. votn wp*>bnn: basil seed, 141. mmoiN vot: nettle seeds, 165. nw nnvw vot: endive seed, 155. pbN vot: oak seed, 127, 129. tm ttvot: aniseed, 141, 143. NbinipWN vot: prickly lettuce seed, 155. om\on vot: pistachio seed, 143. mboiwon vot: purslane seed, 155. nonm vot: ginger seed, 159. uon vot: myrtle seeds, 125, 137, 155. onyinn vot: quince seed, 155, 167. p o d o vot: tamarisk seed, 139. nm vot: pigeon’s seed, 135. nmpwn vot: henbane seed, 135, 137, 167, 169. nni)o oidod vot: wild saffron seed, 159. wrbiwb vot: ribwort seed, 169. non tv bnt: dried excrement of a wild goat, 167. onv bar. goat’s excrement, 165. byi\y tot: fox’s dung, 153. nbmnn b\y bnt: hen’s excrement, 173. onv. gold, 123, 127, 129, 131. nnt vniomb: gold filings, 127. bw\on: zedoary, 133. on: zyyr, 143. nvn: sweat, 151. nvn nn: smell of sweat, 139. nn: olive; nn n(V vmiw: olive tree root, 123. nn yaw: olive oil, 111, 123, 157, 161, 163, 165, 167. nmot: glass, 111 . nm ot bw pnnbN ,nmotD pnmbw glass alembic, 119, 129, 131. nm ot >bo: glass vessel, 117, 119,

258

Hebrew - English glossary

pibn ym: melon seed, 139. Nbwnip nnpi ym: female coriola seed, 153. onw m ym: garden cress seed, 159. Nnnoyym: amberseed, 147. yiPoois ym: cinquefoil seed, 145. p b miss ym: white poppy seed, 135. p io s ym: flax seed, 159. NOipn* ym: hemlock seed, 163. ym* ym: white radish seed, 141. nmn Nbwmp ym: male coriola seed, 153. b w p y m : coriola seed, 153, 165. omip ym: hemp seed, 171. Nnp ym: pumpkin seed, 127, 129. o P m ™ o w o ym: garlic and onions seed, 141. n m ; ym: fennel seed, 141, 143. mnoo ym: chickpea seed, 153. *>D3>w ym , mustard seeds, 119. o n n n o>ym: seeds which make the menstrual blood flow, 159. omym (see also moop): pulse(s), 133. oPoinon oniymn pno: boiled soup of pulses, 125. omym nop: flour of pulses, 141. omym Poan, dish of pulses, 141. ['7] o n p o’ym: seeds [the four cold], 155.

137 >bin: ailments/disorders of the womb 157, 173. om (see also ow n): heat, 117, 161, 173. omn: skink, lizard, 121, 133 rmbwn byo iop ODin: small lizard that lives in the trees, 163. p m : vinegar, 113, 119, 123, 125, 129, 133, 141, 165, 167, 171, 173. ovTNymn: red vinegar, 123. pm ^mn: strong vinegar, 123, 125, 127, 133, 135, 165, 169. p b p p m : white wine vinegar, 127. pnn: clyster, 153. [omo] nNnn omn: Mary’s seal root, 177. [omo] mobo onm: Solomon’s seal root, 129. nnnn ,nnn: pig; o w n o nnnn >odn: testicles of a castrated pig, 139. nnn on: pig’s blood, 121 . nnn bin: pig’s dung, 169. nnn abn: pig’s milk, 157. ban nnn ina: unsalted pig’s liver, 125. nnb nnnn nNis: the dung of a white female pig, 169. non: wheat; nyon nbrnn non: large starchy wheat, 173. o^borno onnn: boiled wheat, 151. onnb o*>on: white wheat, 169. obiyb >n: houseleek, 159, 161. omon o w n (see also oin): heat in the teeth, 135. o”bn ,onsbn: illnesses; onyp o>Nbn omDD: serious fatal illnesses, 157. o m io n o*»bn: complicated ond

[ym] onraH : quince seed(s), 155, 167. nnbnn *>bnn: birth pangs, 163. oain (see also nvmnn): poultice, 161. Pin: disease, ailment, 163. o m ra '>b'in: ailment in the teeth,

259

The Book o f W omen’s Love

baan pw : mustard oil, 141. ww>wi ownn: heron’s beak, 137. Pbn] wan: earthen vessel, 113. wan wan ^bn: new earthen vessel, 115, 117. wan: clay vessel, 175.

illnesses, 157. nbn: milk, 127, 131, 141. n m nbn: woman’s milk, 141, 153. nnn'i n m nbn: milk of a woman and her daugther, 111 . pnN nbn: ass’s milk, 141, 151, 153. o m n nbn: figs’ milk, 133, 163. onv AV nbn: goat’s milk, 119, 127, 141. on nbn: hot milk, 131. w m w nbn: mare’s milk, 173. n nm nnbn nbn: milk of a female dog and a female bear, 153. nnn nbn: pig’s milk, 157, 163. nnb tv nbn: white goat’s milk, 127. omnbn ,pnbn (see also pib): egg white(s), 129. o^bwun om n pnbn: boiled egg whites, 129. vnon mwbn: weakness of the nature, 157, 161, 165. non ,on: hot, 135, 157. o n n n : hot cloth, 173. on p m hot ashes, 135. on n n n : hot hepatica, 151. on nbn: hot milk, 131. ynwn non: hot nature, 167. on pn hot wine, 159. o*>on ona: hot water, 121, 125, 145, 163. mnn mnpan: hot electuaries, 157. on pnm n ,on pnnn: hot fenugreek, 163. mnn mmna: hot medicines, 161. nan n^nn: cow’s lard, 161. o m n (see also wnmo): gums, 139. baan (see also mny): mustard, 135.

ppnoN pwm ittO: theodoricon euporiston, 149. omnw pnnw: navel, 151, 155, 157, 169, 173. nbnw: ritual immersion, 151. vnw: nature, 145, 159, 161, 167. vnwn non wn: she has a hot nature, 167. vnwn nwb'in: weakness of nature, 157, 161, 165. ptnvnw: strong nature, 163. nanw: ritual purification; nnN nmaon nmnw: after having purified of her menstruation, 145. womw: vegetable turpeth, 145. [pnwj Nvuaiu: turtle’s fat, 119. wmw p a io (see also pm N ): incense, 149, 165, 169. pb pa'iw: white incense, 125. wm nm w (see wmnaw): turpentine, wiwwptw: chaste tree, 141. wiwwp tw pnw chaste tree powder, 141. omnw: haemorrhoids, 159. bwnmw ,W’W: spurge; bwnmw pn: spurge juice, 163. w^w nwv pn: juice of the herb spurge, 135. pw pon?: thyme, 147, 149. nbw (see also wnn and nw): lamb; nbn nbw: suckling lamb, 113. m now : tamarind, 161.

260

Hebi'ew - English glossary

nnp (see also

mnn and nonp): cauldon, 151. W ’pvyp: henbane, 133. >D”pwn vm: henbane seed, 135, 137, 167, 169. ’WpWP’E: henbane water, 141. pmpwv wmw: henbane root, 133, 135. *>D” pwr> paw: henbane oil, 121 , 135. pp wine, 113, 119, 123, 125, 129, 133, 135, 143, 145, 157, 159, 171, 173. o v w p p red wine, 161, 167. mwn optn pp fine red wine, 119. n n n mo it pp fragant pure wine, 147. on pp hot wine, 159. mwpp good wine, 133, 135, 139. pp pp old wine, 133. pb pp white wine, 121, 127, 129, 135, 137, 149, 151, 155, 171. mwn pb pp fine white wine, 129, 149. mw pb pp good white wine, 137. n n n mo pb pp good-smelling white wine, 145. o w u d pp aromatized wine, 141. bwno puna pp boiled sweet wine, 133. pay pp astringent wine, 171. p w . ymyq, 173. wmrnoyp honeycomb, 127. [wnw] w n” ,wnp cuckoo-pint root, 129, 131. nm (see also mob): moon, 177. pm (see also piw): thigh, 159, 175. 7 mm 0 1 : blood from your thigh, 111.

[ym] poow: tamarisk seed, 139. n b m nwmo: greater atanasia, 167. p i mm y uw: fine lamina of lead, 141. NPVmDOW ,NP\m*>DnW turpentine, 125, 131, 149, 153, 155. NobN M 21 0 : white turpentine, 149. Nb^oono: terebinth; nub’N Nb*>WD'no: terebinth trees, 137. pmmow ,Npmmoo (see also nny): pastilles, 131, 137, 141, 147, 149, 171. onwow: tartar, 125. NpNno: theriac, 135. npono ’b u n o : sea bramble, 145, 163. Noano ,Nm£)no: trifera, 147, 171. ,nbm pw d Nono ,n3nq Nano Noono NDno Nono kdd Nonno ,NmnNosno trifera magna , 115, 145, 147, 151, 157, 159, 163, 165, 169. wsno: intestines, Nbmmoo: triasandali, 157. NP\mxno (see NP\m:nw): turpentine, [pmpw onon] W£nw: the parasite called trps, 123. tnwiOPttV*: yw ’n tw tws ‘mgwny, 171. [Nbo] T>: a fistful, 173. 'nxpiv: yw dq’iy, 149. mr> (see also dtp p): pigeon; o i nm: pigeon’s blood, 113, 133. o w nm*: pigeon’s excrement, 121 . mr> n*n bw nnmow: pigeon’s eggshells, 111 . [ym] dpp pigeon’s seed, 135.

261

The Book o f W omen’s Love

^WD^bn: silver vessel, 127. npmpbn: pierced vessel, 151. n ^ o n ^bn (see also mwo ,NOw:n n^^Dn and *>np): cupping glasses, 159. nr>bn: kidneys, 117, 119, 149, 169. nwNn nrbo: the woman’s kidneys, 115. XPDp p o ip ,yiDD: cumin, 121, 123, 135, 141, 147, 159, 167, 171, 173. ptnw yiDD: ground cumin, 157. roDD (see also m o): dose, size, 147. mN mmb: the size of a walnut, 147. N m m p ,NnDDp ,Nm£>ND ,Nnt£>ra: camphor, 125, 129, 167. (see H3p Nnpt^): candy sugar. Nwmr> (see >wpmnp): condito. ^wd: silver; ^wn win: silver glass, 127. °]WD^bn: silver vessel, 127. °)WD): moon; pnunn nnbn: waning moon, 115. nnnb ,nnb (see n’bnb): laurel. [’by] Nbwnnb: spurge laurel leaves, 159. r o n ptb (see also ymbn): egg white(s), 127, 137, 165, 167. \nNnb (see also o n ’pb and nm xbn): liquorice; p n ’ \rw tb: green liquorice, 121. o”ibp ontb: roasted halzelnuts, 119. nbtb (see also raw): branch; ’nbib o n tn )2X. clean branches of vine shoots, 141. ponb: small bread roll(s), 125. o m n yn nn’b: moisture of the womb, 151. nn’b: phlegm, 133. m n’b ,nn’b: humor(s), 153. iiriMH in o i: blood or red humor, 161. nNWinn nn’b: corrupted humor, 161.

nth /W 2H? (see oiobD^N): / r z 7 Izry. VTONb ,D’DNb: stone; W’O’ODN u’SNb : hematite stone, 169. VTONb: jet, 171. ob: heart, 111, 143. [mb] x d : heart of gurab (raven), 143. nnoN b v "QDm nbn: heart and liver of a baby bird, 113. nm p ib: young pigeon’s heart, 113. b”N 2b o^y: deer’s heart bone, 167. D m b (see also m ’bth): frankincense, 125, 167. n x nmb: pure frankincense, 131, 133, 153, 167. o>diin omnb: red bricks, 137. nnnb , m b p ’bnb (see also ro i): laurel,

263

The Book o f W omen’s Love

npn in nnv nmb: humor thick or thin, 165. m n y m n^ ,nny nmb: thick humor(s), 157. m n p mmb: cold humors, 159. onnn p nmb: moisture of the womb, 151. mNOO*>b ,NOO>b: pound(s), passim. nN>no*>b: litharge, 123, 125, 127. n m o nN*>no*>b: golden litharge, 127. *>b*>b: lily;*>b*>b wmw: lily root, 157, 161. *>b*>b pw: lily oil, 155. nm wnrrmb: gold filings, 127. [*m] WDimb ,p*imb: lemon juice, 125, 129, 131. Nomb (see NombN): alipta. honeysuckle, 169. nN*>w*>b: cleanser, 121, 123. noob: below, underneath (genitalia), 147, 149, 151, 153, 155, 165, 171. [ym] N ib 'll (see also np:pp nN*>rro): ribwort seed, 169. N30b (see mmb): lupin. [WNn] pn*> o n p b (see also ooNob and nNO*>b;n): green liquorice head, 123. pwb: tongue; mN pwb: tongue of a goose, 143. nmy pwb: raven’s tongue, 153. *>n^ pwb: tongue of a deer, 177. py pwb: ash (tree), 117. d ,nn*on: marjoram, 163, 167. Nnm nD pnN: pow der o f m arjoram , 139.

0*0>d : magnet, 143. nno: measure, size, 129, 173. von m m : the size of a walnut, 149. n*id: brains; b>y in b” N mn: deer‘s or calf s brains, 153. o n o 3 mo pnmy mn: birds’ brains, 119, 153. N'POPpb'ip muo: co locynth pulp, 159. *03 mn3y nio: marrow from deer’s bones, 161. po: (cotton) wool, gauze, 115, 121, 163. p o (see also nboo): pessary, 115, 151, 153, 155, 157, 161, 167. yn3N *im p o : pessary like a finger, 159. □Nn ODnb pm pessary to warm up the womb, 149. NWb*im honey water, 171. poim musk, 117, 119, 143, 147, 149, 153, 155, 159, 163. Nipu*iD: musk [of]; Nomb/NombN Nnpo*i)n: musk alipta, 147, 149. NTpotD wnn: musk honey, 149. Nnpu*iD ” Wp: musk cassia, 147. mbwio ppbw'Dn ,pb3*m ,pbo*im musk [of], 167. mbwiD ^bn^u: fine sandalw ood,

119. PW ,pb*>3*lD PW ,pb3*lD PW mbwiD pw ;n*>bwiD: musk oil, 117, 151, 155, 159, 163, 165, 169. op*)D: refreshing remedy, 155.

oo>d pVD ^v h D: mace, 119, 139, 147, 149. [nnny] o*>wod (see also mny): private parts of a mouse, 111.

264

Hebrew - English glossary

Nmiwn *>n ,N:mon >n, betony water, 151, 163 ncwbn >n: balsam water, 131. nwowtbm wmwDptDN bton *>n: water of decoction of hypocistis and pomegranate, 165. on p n ^ o w m p n *>n: water of hot fenugreek decoction, 163. mnn >n: myrrh water, 129. o*>bwn >n: violet water, 131. onm *>n ,m >n: rose water, 129, 135, 137, 141. nmpym *>n: henbane water, 141. n rm n : cabbage juice, 163. Winn^b >n ^:nn>b >n ,pn^>b >n: lemon juice, nwmn: rainwater, 123, 165. NW’bm n: balm water, 139, 151. onnn *>n: horehound water, 151. ^nnn on: bath water, 147. pmw on: bran water, 131. n: wdoo* ony on: juice of serpentine grapes, 125, 129, 131. o^biD on: bean water, 131. o>biD non on: water of bean flowers, 129. poinw non on: water of elder flower, 131, 163. Npon pon on: bitter pomegranate juice, 133. Nmw no: savin water, 163. N birm n wmw on: water of mandrake root, 147. ovn nNono wmw on: water of greater madder root, 163. onm u wmw on: water of root of galingales, 139. omyw *>o: barley water, 151. Noon *>wpw on: saxifrage water, 171. wnn oon: honey water, 171.

mo (see also n t d ): myrrh; mo mn:

fine myrrh, 129. mon na: myrrh water, 129. mnn p o : oil of myrrh, 127. Ntmo: abscess, 157, 161. ono

Ntmo: abscess in the womb,

157, 161. nonNO in o m Nwmo: blood or red humor abscess, 161. NnpNDTio: cold abscess, 161. (pbmo n m ) mbwio: musk [of], ynwin: mucilage, 137. rano: frying pan, 121, 153, 169,

173. ono: needle, 111, 113. [onon] row: [needle] eye, 113. o m wnn: new needle, 111. pwnnn pDD: needle restorer, 113. nbnn: disease, 163, 165. WNnnn nbnn: head disease, 125. o m n / onh pmn: suffocation of the womb, 155. >bn ,bN>n (see also win): honey, 149. bN^nnoy: honey powder, 171. n n p w 'pbnc: marking nut honey, 133. N n ra ,NwnvD (see nrran): marjoram. >pb’n (see bwn): honey. ’biwb’n: gromwell, 145, 159, 165. o*>n: water, juice, 113, 117, 121, 123, 125, 127, 129, 131, 133, 135, 139, 141, 143, 151, 153, 157, 159, 161, 165, 169, 171, 175. NPwmN >n: nettle water, 157. NWOWIN o>n ,NPDOnN *>n: mugwort water, 161, 171. ip^bu *>n: basil water, 141.

265

The Book o f W omen’s Love

O’nt o ’o: distilled water, 133.

’WNnn y o ,’m n y d: leek juice, 159, 161, 163, 171. o n o o’Niw’p p p ra y o : filtered juice of bitter cucumber, 157, 159. nNnow yo: coriola juice, 165. n n v Y^: willow juice, 123. Nwwnw Nni’N nwy y ^ : juice of ground ivy herb, 135. ’mpN nwy Y ^: juice of sweet flag herb, 135. hv nnn nwy y ^ : juice of herb vervain, 141. oP ’wbn n(’o yo: plantain juice, 165, 167. b”nn y e : parsley juice, 121. ivo’obp Y ^: calamint juice, 163. N i n Y^: rue juice, 123, 165. Yon pon y o : juice of bitter pomegranate, 133. O’Oiw y o : garlic juice, 163. mN wmw y o : juice of walnut tree root, 133. t r n n ’N wmw y ^ : juice of Florentine iris root, 133. ’W’OO’WYO: comfrey juice, 169. NW’bp’O: micleta , 167, 169. Ni’O (see also mo): myrrh, 129, 131, 139, 147, 149, 163, 171. norTNNi’o: red myrrh, 127, 129. w^btimo: myrobalan, 161. wnno: mortar, 155. wnbo ,’pwmbo ,Nnbo (see also HN’wbN): marshmallow, 143, 159, 161. Nnbo wmw: marshmallow root, 121, 157, 161. [ym] y ^ £ : melon seed, 139. nbo: salt, 121, 123, 125, 127, 133, 135, 137, 145. N O ” nbo: rock salt, 125. 127.

gold-like water, 123. 0 ” n o ’o: fresh water, 113. o ’on O ’O: hot water, 121, 125, 145, 163. m o O ’O: fine water, 127. oonn pnbnb m m o O ’O: fine water to whiten the face, 127. om m

O ’O:

0” 0'innn

om nn

o ’o:

saffron-coloured and golden water: 131. p’yo o’o: spring water, 125, 131. o’p'ino O’O: sweet water, 145, 161. O ’b ib * O ’O ,D ” p : O ’O: c l e a n w a t e r ,

113, 119, 123. 'ivrnvmno mnwy o ’o: water made from rosebuds, 129. o n w m O ’O: warm water, 125. O’w n p O ’O: sacred water, 127. o n p o ’o: cold water, 145, 169. o ’\mw o ’o: simple water, 129. nwiwn ommw o ’o: burning water of the simple, 129. nnmo o ’nmw o ’o: strongly burning water, 133. o’Dnw O’O ,o’nmw o ’o: burning water, 123, 129, 133. N \m o ,N w m o : mint, 135, 141, 149, 167. n’oa N w m o : garden mint, 177. >(’o: juice, 155. y o : n e t t l e j u i c e , 141. nm

N W 'ibm oN p la n ta in ,

^ ’o : j u i c e o f g r e a t

165.

’ D N ^ ’o : c e l e r y j u i c e , N’n b w w n N

157.

VO: b irth w o r t ju ic e ,

163. nN’mNnn yb: briony juice, 129. b N O ’W’ W Y^: spurge juice, 135, 163.

266

Hebrew - English glossary

D O iiD p in : horehound, 149, 151, 173. u iiq >d : horehound water, 151. p i a : bath, 139, 145, 147, 149, 151, 159, 161, 163, 165, 173. WIP N (m D : dry bath, 151. win nb ^nnD: dry and wet bath, 159. opnnD o>m ^nnn: sweet water bath, 145. nwnD (see also :>bipnn and nDiw): fennel, 145. nnD ,m n Q : gall; nnD /npn nnnn non: calf s gall, 159, 163. nnnN tod: hare’s gall, 113. nbn nbw nnD: gall of a suckling lamb, 113. p b uriD: white marble, 125. pnn: soup, 135. cnbwinDn onyntn pnD: boiled soup of pulses, 125. N b n p n D : herb mercury, 155, 159, 161. nnpnD: e l e c t u a r y , 117, 119, 141, 147, 149, 151, 159, 165, 167, 173.

n w n nbD: natron salt, 121. m m i p b pm D nbD: sweet natron salt, white and clear, 139. bD(see bWD): honey. wtb^bD: melilot, 159, 163. wib^bD pNmpn: decoction of melilot, 155. NW’bD: balm, 147, 149, 153. NW^bDD p2H: balm powder, 139. NW’b D ’D: balm water, 139, 151. NW^bD >by: balm leaves, 119, 139. NW*>bD Nnmwnp: balm preserve, 143. N iro x m (see also wwtnbn and pnn): pomegranate, 167. N b irm D : mandrake; wnw w w p n NbirmD: decoction of mandrake root, 145. NbtrmD wnw *>d: water of mandrake root, 145.147. n w j d (see n w p d ) : mint. pnwwwDD nww^D

pw w w dd ,Nnwww:)D ,nww:)D (see also

NW’DWbn): horsemint, 141, 149, 151, 159, 167 mwD ,*>wd (see > w n d ): mace. pnwD: comb, 115. w v d : a little, passim. P^wwd ,p*>wm mastic, 125, 129, 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 147, 149, 151, 157, 161, 165, 167, 169. otpD (see also mny): place (genitalia), 145, 149, 151, 155, 165, 169. cnpD: spot; v n ^ n cnpDn: bald spot,

mnbn

m D rr m n p n D : s im ila r w e t

e le c tu a rie s , m m

157.

m npnxD : h o t e le c tu a r ie s ,

157. m znw

m n p n D : a p p ro p ria te

e le c tu a rie s ,

151.

O N m w pnD N

n n p n D : e le c tu a ry

’pryqtwr’m : 171. pw nm w N n

n n p n D : e le c tu ra ry

dyatozoriton, 149. w iw ^n h

n n p n D : e le c tu a ry

dyantos, 139.

121 .

wwpD: sebesten, 149, 169. [mD bn] m b n D (see also n b rrn ): all kinds of pearls, 167.

wm n n p n D :

d ry e le c tu a ry ,

NW ^bp^D p m p w c a lle d

267

167.

n n p n D : e le c tu a ry

micleta, 167.

The Book o f W omen’s Love

[my] om: snake’s skin, 175. Nbm ,Nbwo ,Nb*>NO (see also m*p): black cumin, 159, 161, 163. Nb’NO nop: black cumin fluor, 135. n o o (see also nm]: natron, 125, 139. n o o nbo: natron salt, 121. prnio n o o nbo: sweet natron salt, 139. o’boo ants, 117. o’bo^opn: ants’ eggs, 119. o>do ^nb vw o P m n o>bo^n: big winged ants, 117. yrno: experiment, 143. nDJ: swelling, 135. mmm omb: swollen cheeks, 135. npo orifice, 123, 147. NmoNnpo mother-of-pearl, 173. nnp} (see also n o o ): naqrah (gout), 131. nm (see nm p *>d o n ): spikenard, ontovo ,omono garden cress, 125. om om ym: garden cress seed, 159. pm: scab, 125. onn i n to> pn pm bn: any scab, old or new, 125. ONnn *>ym pm: scabs and ulcers on the head, 123. m onm o n o x pm: dr inveterate scab that has grown old, 125. nm (see also noo): natron, 141. nop p b nm: hard white natron, 123.

pwbpno: lozenge, 159. m o (see m n o ): gall, b^oo (see also oonon): coitus, intercourse, 113, 117, 119, 153. p^ooo (see pwxn): mastic. >oo: silk, 117. wn 1 )2 : silk cloth, 155. wn bo nboiD: silk thread, 117. wn oym*: coloured silk [threads], 115. nn wn (see also pw oDop ,om N and npn): unguent, 121, 123, 125, 133, 141, 155. mmoon 22Vn nnnt i m : Book on unguents by al-Zahrawi, 125. npoo: beverage, 119, 151, 155. xio npoo: good beverage, 119, 149. bp npoo: light beverage, 165. bpoo: measure, 117, 125, 127, 165. yO: ulcer; oosno o d d bm yo bn: ulcers and spots on the face, 129. ONnno nbnn bm yo bn: any ulcer or head disease, 125. ooDno yo ,ooDn yo: ulcer(s) of the face, 131. WNnn >yo ,on nnn yo: ulcers on the head, 123. yn yo: bad ulcer, 131. n m ,n n o (see also n tn and o ’nno): menstruation, 145, 159, 161, 165. bmn nm n on: excessive menstrual blood, 169. n m on: menstrual blood, 115, 159, 161, 165, 169. n m n o onn nb\n: menstrual haemorrhage, 169. n m on otDy: corruption of menstrual blood, 165. bDO: fainted [person], 131.

mboD: magical remedies, 117, 119, 151. pmo: bran, 121, 129, 139. pmo *>o: bran water, 131. Nmo ,n j >t io ,Nmu: savin, 141, 149,

268

Hebrew - English glossary

139. nmw vow: galingale oil, 163. mw (see also nnon and m n p ): cauldron, 173. noiTN N?>u: redpoterium, 125. NWimw: white lead, 123, 125. low: knife, 127, 137, 141. Npobw (see Np>obw pnwN): Celtic nard. crown? p^ww: drugs, 121, 129, 145, 163, 165. [pw] nNnww (see also Nbwmp): coriola juice, 165. pbnw /’b'nw: sandalwood, 117. pbnw mw bD: all kind of sandalwood, 167. onN ’’b'Tiw: red sandalwood, 149. mbwiw >bfiw: fine sandalwood, 119. cronsw psw (see also nwisw^n): sponge, 121. mow: sapphire, 125, 167. bsw (see also >bD): vessel, 113. pmw: foul odour(s), 139, 151. mmw: serapinum, 155, 163. Nbippnw: sarcocolla, 125, 129. m py Nbi nwinw: she is closed but not barren, 143. o>wmw: obstructions, 159. nnnw (see also nnwn n n and m iy): her secret parts (genitalia), 143, 145, 147.

151, 159, 171. Nmw >w: savin water, 163.

w nw >by: savin leaves, 147. owwiw (see o^ww): drugs, spices, pwiw: sumach, 137. wwiw ,wiw: horse, mare; wiwn bm:

horse’s dung, 171. wwiw nbn: mare’s milk, 125. r n p n ,nw * p p iw ,mpiw pNpiw:

sugar, 119, 141, 143, 147, 149, 155. p b npiw: white sugar, 167. n ip Nlpiii: candy sugar, 131, 139, 167. widow ,pn>ow ,pno>w qwmow: satyrion; pn>own ''opnnp: condito of satiryon, 151. pno^w Nmwnp: satyrion preserve, 119, 143. wnow iww: satyrion oil, 141. pNn^ww wnw: satyrion root, 119. pnow: ceterac , 155. t d : lime, 119. TiT>D: quicklime, 121, 125. nmw (see also mnN): citron; non? nn?Tip: citron rind, 149. nNmonw: common centaury, 171. [wnw] DNWiTmw: swallowwort root, 133. *>wiwnw (see also pwip and Nbwp) cinnamon, 131, 147, 149, 167. wwnw mn: cinnamon flower(s), 149. [mN] wnmw /nmw: cypress nut, 165. wnmw ,nmw (see also bwbf): galingale, 145. 'own nmw: roman galingale, 135, 139. non? *>by: galingale leaves, 147. wnmw wmw: root of galingale,

nmV: bottom, 165. b>y (see also npn and no): calf; mw biy in b”N: deer’s or calf s brains, 153. biy bw pw*> py: the right eye of a calf, 111. o nn y: freckles, 127, 131.

269

The Book o f W omen’s Love

goat’s excrement, 167. ty nNt* ,ocy bm: goat’s excrement, 121, 165. ony Ay nbn: goat’s milk, 119, 127, 141. [on] y: digestion, 161. non: paste, dough, 125, 151, 157. 07 wtmy: corruption of the blood, 157. n m 07 wioy: corruption of menstrual blood, 165. yiwy ,pw>y (see also mwp and nnwpn): fumigation, vapour, 147, 149, 151, 153, 159, 163, 165, 167, 171. mn wnny: live spider, 111. onnny pinny: mouse, mice, 121. nnnyn ^wmo: private parts of a mouse, 177. nonnny: dead mouse, 117. Py ,nby: leaf(ves); nnnN Py /nby: citron leaf(ves), 135, 171. p e n nby: pomegranate leaves, 139, 173. N7pmo m n Py: nutmeg leaves, 119. NoepbN Py: henna leaves, 139. n n c c Py: ginger leaves, 159. P n m P y : clove leaves, 153. w ix m Py: couch-grass leaves, 171. nybnPy: cabbage leaves, 159. CD7 nby: laurel leaves, 119. tn n Py: myrtle leaves mnnb /nPnb Py: laurel leaves, 147, 161. Nbwnnb Py: spurge laurel leaves, 159.

ocnn >W7yi onannn: spots and freeckles of the face, 131. croon ’W7y: freckles of the face, 127. nmy: foetus, 159, 171. non nmy: dead foetus, 165, 171. nny (see also Np*cnnw): pastille(s), 131, 133, 135, 137, 139, 151, 169, 173. nny: cake, 113, 153. n n m o i oy nny: cake with her menstrual blood, 115. by: balm leaves, 119, 139. nmt? ’by: galingale leaves, 147. obiyo n s h v ) n bv m n ^y ’by: leaves of a walnut tree that has not borne fruit, 133, 143. h i m ’by: rue leaves, 141, 149. Nnn\y ’by: savin leaves, 147. biby: affected [person], 137. m aoy (see also maoN): amberseed, 147. w o r n ’)* ’aiy o’niy: serpentine grapes, 129, 131. n’^sy pay (see also Hbny): oak gall; nb N(oy: fresh oak gall, 141. n ’aino n’^ay: bwbyt gall, 145. n£iy (see also aaN): ashes, powder, 111, 113, 117, 119, 121, 135, 145, 149, 151, 169. \mon’N n£jy: ’yrmn t ashes, 145. >pNn aay: some earth, 117. a r o a a y : cabbage ashes, 119. bN’O noy: honey powder, 133. ^y (see also 'jb’N): tree, wood, 163. p b Nni’N ^y: white ivy wood, 123. nn olive tree, 123. NS’na yy: eyebright wood, 135. N)”pp>: quina tree, 125. bum aon virgin date palm, 135. mn*y: retention, 155, 161. n b m m ’^y: great retention, 167. o^y (see also pyn) and bone, kernel, stick. ’a^n nim y mo: marrow form deer’s bones, 161. p w o^y: ymyq bone, 173. b” N ab o^y: deer’s heart bone, 167. w n p n o^y: liquorice stick, 149. N£pvl> /ND^vy osy: cuttlefish bone,

271

The Book o f Women ’s Love

pellitory, 133, 135, 145, 155, 159. wb'ib’D jW’bib’D pbib^D: pills, 139, 145, 147. wtwd wb'ib’S: asafoetida pills, 163. n o ’b’Q(see *>bon\PD): pellitory. ps: pine, 119, 149. pn^D ,pn^£): fenugreek, 161, 163. pnp>s p^'ip’T ,on p n p s pN’inpi on: hot fenugreek decoction, 163. wrms ,yrms: pine nut, pine kernels, 143, 149. nfPS pTfPD (see also bsbs): pepper; jn N n m s: long pepper, 149. pb n ’fPf): white pepper, 147, 169. wpwwd ,npww>s: parsnip, 141. NDon NPWW^S: roman parsnip, 119.

nD: mouth, 111, 113, 133, 135, 139, 143, 167. WIP HD: dry mouth, 167. o m n ’D: mouth of the womb, 151, 171. V'OD (see also nN'OWD): peony, 171. YMPiD ppNPD: paregoric, 141. pbi£) ,o^ns ,bif): bean, 157. pbiD no: bean water, 131. cnnbtpD pbiD: peeled beans, 129. cntno m s: bean flowers, 129. o'bns nnp ^b is nop: bean fluor, 141, 157. ^ b lS pPblD jNPblD ,bN*H ’P b lS /'Ob'lS

(see also bwbis): pennyroyal, 133, 139, 145, 149, 151, 163. WZPNPbiS: dried pennyroyal, 149. nb ”bis: fresh pennyroyal, 171. pn obis ^mwbis: maidenhair fern, 133, 155. bw bis (see also bNn 'ob'is): pennyroyal, 157, 159, 173. nimbis: polypody, 145. pb’S NW3D ,pb’D wns: cinquefoil, 145, 169. ib’£)W3£> V“tt: cinquefoil seed, 145. n ru s (see also ’DNns and >mD): leek, 171. "P'lb'oms ,NPb^*viD: porcelain, 125. njhd NPb^nis: porcelain, 129. om n *>£>: mouth of the womb, 151, 171. orpD ,ons: charcoal; m onso wn: gentle charcoal fire, 129. O’JXPD bw wn: fire of charcoal, 173. N3” p on>D: charcoal of quina tree, 125. [wnw] dn^ w d (see also 'pos): peony root, 163. nNno’bD nvpb’s pbwnvps:

m^wbD p^pwbn ppwbs prowbs: plantain, 161, 165. rwwbs qrvwN: plantain syrup, 165. •op^wbs P3PWbs po: plantain juice, 165, 167. NOTWPp 'OP^wbs: plantain preserve, 155. [Nznwip] n v o -op^wbs (see also NW'ib'imN): great plantain preserve, 165. nNnvpbs ,n\Pbs (see >bwn\ps): pellitory. >bsbs ,bsbs (see also nm s): pepper, 115, 119, 133, 171. o*>bsbD >pd 'p three kinds of peppers, 133. p'inw bobo: ground pepper, 167. Tinw bob£): black pepper, 133, 135, 159.

272

Hebrew - English glossary

o o n nnn: rosemary flower, 145, 149, 151, 153. pnow mn: elder flower, 131, 163. Nbnnb mn: lavender flower, 149. onnn: flowers (menstruation), 157, 159, 171. OW) Tnn: women’s flowers, 157. n m n ,N m n: eyebright; N^nn p>: eyebright wood, 135. ’won OPomp: eyebright bark, 139. [po] bonn: parsley juice, 121. pnown (see pnoun): pistachio, wrown (see wrow>n): parsnip. po>wn: peshitin (measure), 123. prwn: linen, flax; piwn nn: linen cloth, 137, 147, 157. prwn ym: flax seed, 159. pnwn nn: flax juice, 155. piwn wmw: flax root, 161. nn (see also onb): bread; nn ontyw: barley bread, 121. nn now: leftovers of bread, 111. nborn (see also po): pessary, 153, 155, 157, 161, 163, 165, 167, 169. mmny mbmn: astringent pessaries, 165. W3b) monn nbmn: pessary in an acorn shape, 171. yn^N ion nbom: pessary like a finger, 155, 159. m y inborn: thick pessary, 169.

p n n n (see pnn*>n): fenugreek. pb^OODn NU3n (see pb^n Onn): cinquefoil, oon: face, 125, 127, 129, 131, 167. >bpon (see also nono and noio): fennel, 145, 159. onbion (see also opno^): passularum (raisins), 139. wpnoon Spwv* (see also o^wn): pistachio, 119, 147, 149. pnoun nmbp: pistachio peel, 139. nnnn: poppy; pb nnnn ynuwhite poppy seed, 135. *nnw nnnn: black poppy, 119. o*n (see also rr): fish, 153. [mo] nn (see also “ipn and b>y): calf s gall, 171. [po] nwnn (see also ’omn and o t ): leek juice, 161. [Tiy] nnn: mule’s skin, 177. nnn: cow; mpno m m mnn h i : breasts of cows and goats that are breast-feeding, 141. did nNon: cow’s lard, 161. mnn (see also mHp): cauldron, 117, 127, 153. mn: flower(s); im m pon nby: pomegrante leaves and flowers, 139, 173. VinvoN nnn: rosemary flower, 149. n n n n nnn: borage flower, 145. '’O'iopo nnn: cinnamon flower, 149. oon bw nbyt nnn: rosemary flower and leave, 163. oPtn nnn: bean flowers, 129. Nb^oop nnn: camomile flower, 163. Nbop nnn: cinnamon flower, 119, 143.

(see also b»n): deer; pwb: tongue of a deer, 177. u s mo^y mo: marrow from deer’s bones, 161. n^ny: deer’s skin, 151.

273

The Book o f Women ’s Love

nrm (see also to*): excrement, dung; nm bn n?m: lizard’s excrement, 131, 133. nn!? nnnn dnis : dung of a white female pig, 169. onr> nMS: pigeon’s excrement, 121. tV jinis : goat’s excrement, 121. mm: neck, 115, 135, 137, 155, 169, 175, 177. H3p ,Hi3 ,Hip N*ip^ ,Hip nNpIS: candy sugar, 131, 139, 167. [vm] NDip’3: hemlock seed, 163. [wmw] nNmp’2: chicory root, 143. [p2H] p b p ^ : sowbread powder, 163. NPOfnw ,NPWD*m (see also Nnmnbtp): serpentine, 171. NnoamsD oniv ,N3\nm2 niv: serpentine grapes, 129, 131. wmw: serpentine root, 129, 133. [nbrn] Nm: very thirsty, 121, 167. yym Nb3 opnm : raisins whithout pips, 139. nm: wool, 115, 121, 159, 161, 163, 167, 169. nm n p b i n : white woollen cloth, 127. i m na: woollen cloth, 137. Ti nw bw p b im : white wool of a living lamb, 169. nnb im : fresh wool, 133. p i i m : cottonwool, 115, 159, 161, 167, 173. [vm] ym: white radish seed, 141. m vs: skin disease, 121. [mD] o*>mm (see also nmp ,Nb>mmp: 123, 155.

c a m o m ile , N b ’D D p

m s : c a m o m ile flo w e r,

163. N b ’D D M p p w : c a m o m i l e o i l ,

155.

159.

n m p : fe v e r,

m n p (s e e a ls o

thd

): c a u l d r o n ,

123, 129, 149, 163. 163.

n w n n n m ip : n e w c a u ld ro n , n n tp : cubeb,

117, 119, 131.

N n m n b tp ( s e e a ls o

N P w n m * ):

125. nranbtp ,nN^£nbip ^nrantb'ip: G r e e k t a r , 121, 167, 169. s e rp e n tin e ,

N m o p p b tp

,N iw p n b ip : c o lo c y n th ,

163, 171. N iv m p b p

mn:

c o lo c y n th p u lp ,

159. N m w p p b ip

nm >n

p e e l o f c o lo c y n th , N m w n p b ip

nnn:

n m b p : o u te r

163.

c o lo c y n th a p p le ,

133. N p n b p : c h o le ric ,

167.

p m p (s e e p n a ) : c u m in .

Nwnn ,pnna ^opnnp: condito, 145. pm w w n ^w pnnp: condito o f s a t y r i o n , 151. K im p w w a n p : b l a c k u n g u e n t , 151. N n m w tp p m w n p : p r e s e r v e ;

nn^w ba

N nm w np: p la n ta in p re s e rv e , nvD

N in w ip

p la n ta in p re s e rv e ,

155.

np^w ba: g re a t

165.

n n m n N iim w n p : b o r a g e p r e s e r v e ,

143. nw

P d

143.

274

N am w n p : b a lm p re s e rv e ,

Hebrew - English glossary

ONn nwp />wip: hardness of the womb, 157, 161. nmpwip: dodder, 145. Nomwip (see inmwnp): preserve. m\mp ,mwp (see also nnwpn and yiW’V): fumigation, 115, 133, 151, 153, 155, 163, 169. mowp (see also omvm): pulse(s), 151. m nN n ap : hare’s stomach, 153. NbDitmp: qy Pwf l ’ (herb), 109. nwp: quina; n w p pmpw nv: the oak called quina, 115. HWp p>o o n ’D: charcoal of the quina tree, 125. O’WKPp: wrinkles, 127. nwmo npnp (see also Nnbnnb): ribwort, 169. [piw] limp: hedgehog’s fat, 119. [po] o n o o^Niw^p: bitter cucumber juice, 159. o n o o’Niw’p wmwo ppito po: filtered juice of bitter cucumber, 157. NWNbp (see also niNpp): yellow amber, 125. nmbp (see also pnwmp: bark, peel, rind, skin. [poip] nmbvn nmbpn: outer bark of cinnamon, 119. mmbpo p b h iw h p w bark of white ivy wood, 123. mN nmbp: peel of a walnut, 163. pbNnmbp: oak bark, 121. mr\H nmbp: citron rind, 139, 147. wm nnnN nmbp: dried citron rind, 119. n pno nnnN nmbp: aromatized rind of citron, 119. b^zi nmbp: onion peels, 115.

pnww Nnmwip ,im\mu Niimwnp: satyrion preserve, Nioin noww*>£) Nimwnp: roman parsnip preserve, 119. wivxjn mmwnp: rosemary preserve, 141. pp’b u Nimwip: basil preserve, 153. WornN Nnamwip: vetch preserve, 119. b»mp,bNmp: coral, 137. w n '2: two kinds of coral, 173. b*>mp w n 'x. three kinds of coral, 173. b”mp w n bn: all kinds of coral, 167. p b bNrnp /bwmp: white coral, 125, 129. o h n b”mp: red coral, 135. w i n ”Ninp: sea coral, 145. w ip p m p : caraway, 149, 173. ppwmp (see also nmbp): bark, rind; nvnup^wmp: citron rind, 149. ’w ns ppwmp: eyebright bark, 139. b’m p ,Nbwmp (see also nNnnw): coriola, 169. nmn Nbwmp vm: male coriola seed, 153. m p i [Nbwmp] vm: female coriola seed, 153. b”mp vm: coriola seed, 165. n w i p : coriander, 139. Nbbomp: cornella (raven), 143. [wmw] Nibiwip (see also ’O’DD’w): comfrey root, 169. iwwippwip: costus, 139, 149, 155. pin n wwip: sweet costus, 139. lUNWWip: cjw st’bw, 149. ’Wip: erection, 119.

275

The Book o f W omen’s Love

139, 173. nip nn: smell of sweet flag, 139. N»bop ,Nb’ip (see also ’Diono and yiDip): cinnamon, 119, 133, 135, 151. Nbop nnD: cinnamon flower(s), 119, 143. npmND Nbop: cinnamon powder, 119, 151. pDJp (see also ’m ono and Nbop): cinammon, 119, 139. [p m p ] n n ’byn n m b p n : outer bark of cinnamon, 119. NUMp (see n t i d d d ): camphor, m yp (see also ’bD): vessel, 123, 125. wnnp: capers, 159. nsp (see also Nb’NO: black cumin, 159. nnpp ,nnNpp (see also NONbp): yellow amber, 133, 149, 169, 173, 175. n i p pip: cold; n i p N on: cold gout, 131. o n p O’ym P: four cold seeds, 155. n n p m n ’b: cold humors, 159. nnpNomo: cold abcess, 161. o n p o’o: cold water, 145, 169. n n p D'lN'iDi: cold medicaments, 157. nion in n n p niNiDn: cold or hot medicines, 161. nimbi n n p niNni: cold and moist medicines, 159. Nnp (see also nybn): pumpkin; ym Nnp: pumpkin seed, 129. Nnp y m o nwy p w : oil made of pumpkin seed, 127, 129. m n i n p p i m n p : cardamom, 119, 139.

NTonpbip m w n nmbp: outer peel of colocynth, 163. pm y n s’bp: chestnut peel, 165. ’PIOOD nD’bp: pistachio peel, 139. p o n nD’bp: pomegranate peel, 133, 135, 139, 167. p p nom mD’bp: skin of a small lizard, 163. /O^OIDnN /’’OimN IDbp WVMOilH BWVMCnH ’Dbp ,W\DMO“)H (see also mp): sweet flag, 139, 147, 149, 153, 155, 163. oiobp p n o b p ponobp ,onobp: calamint, 147, 149, 151, 153, 163. lo y n b p v ^ calamint juice, 163. °|bp: parchment, 111. nbmn °|bp: virgin parchment, 111. nwp °|bp: ritually fit parchment, 137, 173. nop: flour, 135, 153. omym nnp: flour of pulses, 141. mmb nop: lupin flour, 123. o»nnn mnND nnp: flour from the back of a mill, 111. Nb’NO nop: black cumin flour, 135. nb'id nop: extra fine [wheat] flour, 157, 173. O’biDn /pb'iD nop: bean flour, 141, 156. N(n nop: rice flour, 129. omyw nDp: barley flour, 161. O’Diomn nDp: lupin flour, 171. mop (see pm ): cumin. Nb’onp (see Nb’DNDNp): camomile. Nnonp (see NiiDm): camphor. [ym] om p: hemp seed, 171. owm mp ,mp (see also mpN and ” omN iDbp): sweet flag, 119,

276

Hebrew - English glossary

field pimpernel, 155.

nn>n WNl: principle of the body

’Nnp (see ’imp): caraway, n n p (see m il): crocus,

(male member), 119. y n i: a quarter, 117, 121, 131, 149,

m ip: coldness, 157. b’wwnp: rock crystal, 129. p p : antler, antennae; aJ nmnxnw (see also Ntnwip): comfrey juice, 169. mw: senna, 145. w*>£>nwpnnw: mustard, 135. >anw ym: mustard seeds, 119. nyw ,m»w: hair, 121, 123, 125. nno mnn w*Din m wn: pubic hair, 171. m wnm w: armpit hair, 141. nwwm myw: hair from her head,

p w (see also "pm): thigh, 177. mw: bull; mwn mi ,mwn to : bull’s penis, 119, 125. mw n*iD: bull’s gall, 171. wnw ,wmw: root; pin wmw: root of walnut tree, 133. w^'din wnw ,w^n>N wmw: dwarf elder root, 135, 145. pimnNwmw: opoponax root, 171. Nwwnw n*PN wmw: root of ground ivy, 133. W’mnnn l^N wmw: berberis tree root, 171. tm n N wmw (o w n wmw: Florentine iris root, 133, 153. *>£>Nwmw: celery root, 135. nwm NWitnxnN wmw: root of dried great plantain, 169. >vmv>w>n /vmwwrn wmw: bistort root, 145, 147. pm\mw nw nn \mn wmw: thick root of madder, 163. rw ift omn wmw: Mary’s seal root, 177. mabw omn wmw: root of Solomon’s seal, 129. w ’pwv wmw: henbane root, 133, 135. wn” wmw: cuckoo-pint root, 129, 131. ^ wmw: lily root, 157. Nnbo wmw: marshmallow root, 121, 157, 161. winn pwnbo wmw: crushed root of marshmallow, 161. Nbirm o wmw: mandrake root, 147. nwnmnu wmw: swallowwort root, 133. wnmw wmw: roots of galingale, 139.

111 .

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Nip did tnND nwv pw : oil made of nutmeg, 151. pbN yin Hip ymo nwv pw : oil made of pumpkin seed and of oak seed, 127. opiriD onpwi Nip yito nwv pw: oil made of pumpkin seed and of sweet almonds, 129. Nb>DDNp pw : camomile oil, 155. mwwp pw : castor oil, 117. nnww pw: satyrion oil, 141. wnrmw pw: chickpea oil, 141, 143. pnow pw: elder oil, 149. o p m o onpw pw: sweet almond oil, 127. wnn pw: porpoise oil, 155. on>w ,p : tooth/teeth, 115, 133, 135, 137. n npnom mwDiVDn on>wn: teeth with cavities and caries, 135. niN O n p n : aching tooth, 133, 135, 137. onwn Tin: cavity in the tooth/teeth, 135. on’wn o w n : heat in the teeth, 135. on’wn 2Hi: toothache, 133, 135, 137. on’wn pnbnb: to whiten the teeth, 137, 139. n w m on’w: healthy teeth, 135. >bwn nm b r>n’ on*>w: [the teeth] will be white as snow, 137. mpim [on’w]: [teeth] holes, 133. n p m in nmnw [on’w]: black or green [teeth], 133. nynN p : viper’s tooth, 177. obnnw nbm nmiN p : big tooth that all hare have, 137. pnbi Nip^n n p : tooth of the

byw nnyw: hair that covers your body, 111. pmw: rye, 151. nNnbw ,nNnbw: sage, 125, 133, 135, 145. o*>wnbw (see im): shlgytym. w>bw: a third, 127, 143, 147, 173. pnow: elder, 145. pnow niD: elder flower, 131, 163. pnow pw: elder oil, 149. pw : oil(s), 119, 121, 123, 125, 127, 129, 157. onbono onown: kings’ oils, 127. wwmN pw: Florentine iris oil, 163. pioybN pw: tar oil, 125. NwnN pw ,WnN pw: dill oil, 121, 149, 155. nowbn pw: balsam oil, 131. win pw: myrtle oil, 141, 149. TiDn pw: oil of myrrh, 127. onm pw ,m pw: rose(s) oil, 135, 151, 153, 161. nn pw : olive oil, 111, 123, 157, 161, 163, 165, 167. b*nn pw: mustard oil, 141. w p w v pw: henbane oil, 121, 135. nnb pw: laurel oil, 155. >b>b pw: lily oil, 155. /mbwio /pbnnn /pb:nD pw n^bww musk oil, 117, 151, 155, 159, 163, 165, 169. nm pw: spikenard oil, 163. \nwD nm pw: simple oil of spikenard, 155. n m u pw: galingale oil, 163. Npwbw pw: Celtic nard oil, 155.

280

Hebrew - English glossary

fish called dolphin, 137. no d i h 'jvy p o n p : tooth of a dead man, 115, 137. nw bvy ivy: tooth of a wolf, 137. omvyn o>ybm: worms in the teeth, 133, 135. bmn [ivy]: elephant tusk, 147. nivvy (see also mn): wax, 111, 121, 153, 155, 157, 173. nQVTNnivvy: red wax, 149, 157. nbmo mvvy: virgin wax, 111. omyvy: barley, 127. oniyvy m: barley water, 151. □mvvy nn: barley bread, 121. omvvy nop: barley fluor, 161. nnmnvy: tube (for fumigation), 133, 143, 149. bvy nnmnvy: eggshell(s), 109, 111, 169. dip n*>n nnmnvy: pigeon’s eggshells, 111. ooop opvy ,1v?P pvy: small bag(s), 135, 165. npvy: almond; onpvy nnbp: toasted almond grains, 143. o n o onpvy: bitter almonds, 125. opnno onpvy: sweet almond(s), 127, 129. npvy: dropsy, 157. bpvy: shekel(s) (measure), 125, 139. m n n nypvy pnnupvy: saxifrage, 145. nypvy

colourful urine, 157. p b Nm pvy: white urine, 157. nbn pvy: dog’s urine, 123. nny: i n onyi pvy: urine of boys and girls, 151. □ONn,niNTl: fig(s), 159. ooNnnbn: figs’ milk, 133, 163. nivymnn ooNn: crushed figs, 159. mvym ooNn p^vym ooNn: dried

figs, 161. nNn: composition, description, shape, 147, 151, 161. nybm ,ybm: worm; n i d i o t n p nm* nybm m n: worm-like human figure, 109. omvynvy onbm /ybm: worm in the teeth, 133, 135. o i i n nybm: red worm, 145. mnvy nybm: black worm, 145. [ o i] mn: turtledove’s blood, 113. om iom n (see also mmb): lupin(s); om iom n pnN: lupin powder, 123. om iom n nop: lupins flour, 171. nvyinnn (see also vyxin): poultice, 119, 121, 125, 141, 149, 151, 153, 155, 165, 169, 171, 173. n rm y nivyinnn: astringent poultices, 165. [pvy] vynn: porpoise oil, 155. o^vym p r io n : women’s cosmetics, 125, 129. [N(y] bm n non: virgin date palm, 137. o n o n : dates, 119, 129, 173. □ non nio*y/mym: date kernels, 133, 139, 149, 173. omnvy o n o n mym: burnt date kernels, 135. [nvyNn] novym: owl’s head, 121.

m : s a x if ra g e w a te r,

171. nonvy: scarification, 167. Nnonnvy ( s e e N n v m n m * ): s e r p e n t i n e , omnvy ( s e e a l s o nm and Nnn): r e s i n s , 155. pvy: u r i n e , 115. nmn pvy: u r i n e o f a w o l f , 177. yin* i n o i i n Nm pvy: r e d o r

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nyn: razor, 125. man: apple, 109. N-ptmpbip man: colocynth apple, 133. dmh mam red apple, 111. NinDNHiDJi: apple of amber, 147. H12 DKi ptnD idd m nn man: apple as sweet smelling as musk and amber, 155. bnrm: cock; mra bn n n ^ n : young cock testicles, 113. Dnu capon, 127. mnw bnnn: black cock, 111. nb'unn: hen; )V2: hen’s

belly, 173. nbmnn bw bat: hen’s excrements, 173. nbman ppap: hen’s crop, 169. itnxnn pnw: hen’s fat, 155, 157, 161. mw’ nbunn: old hen, 169. rmb in nmnw nb'imn: black or white hen, 111. o w id n mwyb n^nw nbnnn: brooding hen, 109. w^dwji (see also b>WD): intercourse, coitus, 111, 113, 115, 151, 177.

282

Sources and Bibliography Unpublished Sources Ibn Slna, Ma ’amar be-herayon u-be-ledah min ha-Qanon. Biblioteca universitaria di Bologna, MS 2197, fols. 383c-384r. Jean de Trabarmaco?, Des aides de la maire et de ses medicines. Paris Bibliotheque Nationale. Nouv.Acq.Fran. 11649, fols. 160v-166r; Paris Bibliotheque Nationale. MS Ancien Saint-Germain F ra^ais 1994, fols. 194r-201v; Chantilly. Musee Conde. MS 330, fols. 106a-109v (forthcoming edition, Montserrat Cabre i Pairet). Malino ben Mosheh ben Qonsolo, le-Tshah she-’einah yekolah le-taker ‘esmah me-ketamim (For the woman who cannot purify herself from stains). Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 318/2, fol. 119. Mara ’ot sheten ha-nashim (Appearances of woman's urine). Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale, MS heb. 1116/4, fols. 332v-33r. Natan ben Yoel Falaquerah, Seder nashim mi-Sefer sori ha-guf (Section on Women of the book ‘Balsam of the body’). Paris Bibliotheque Nationale, MS heb. 1122/6, fols. 42-46; and London, British Library, MS Add. 19.943. Sha'ar be-sibat ‘aqarut ha-nashim (Chapter on the cause of sterility of women). Berlin 71.5 (MS Or. Qu. 544), fols. 54r-56v. Sefer ha-yosher (Book of perfection). Oxford, Bodleian, MS Oppenheim 180 (cat. 2134). Sefer y a ’ir nativ (Book of the shining road). London, British Library, Add. 18969. Terufot le-ishah she-tiqanes le-herayon (Medicaments for a woman to get pregnant). Cambridge, University Library, MS 33,4, fol. 111 v.

Published Sources Arib ibn Sa’id, El Libro de la generacion del feto, el tratamiento de las mujeres embarazadas y de los recien nacidos: Tratado de obstetricia y pediatria del siglo X, de Arib ibn Sa'id. Translated into Spanish by Antonio Arjona Castro. Cordoba: Pons, 1983 (repr. Sevilla 1991).

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Armengaud Blaise, The Tabula Antidotarii o f Armengaud Blaise and its Hebrew Translation. Edited and translated into English by Michael McVaugh and Lola Ferre. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 2000 .

Baumgartem, Elisheva, “‘Thus Sayeth the Wise Midwives’: Midwives and Midwifery in Thirteenth Century Ashkenaz”, Zion 65,1 (2000), pp. 4574 [Hebrew]. Bernard of Gordon, Lilio de medicina. Un manual bdsico de medicina medieval. Edicion critica de la version espanola Sevilla 1495. Eds. John Cull and Brian Dutton. Madison: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, 1991. Burchard of Worms, uDecretum ”, edited by J.P. Migne in Patrologia Latina, 140, pp. 537-1058. Cabre i Pairet, Montserrat, “La cura del cos femem i la medicina medieval de tradicio llatina. Els tractas De ornatu, De decorationibus mulierum atribuits a Amau de Vilanova, Trotula de mestre Joan, i Flos del tresor de beutat atribu'it a Manuel Die^ de Calatayud”. Ph.D. dissertation, Universidad de Barcelona, 1994. (Col.leccio de tesis microfitxades num. 2794, 1996) Constantine the African, Liber de coitu. Edited and translated into Spanish by Enrique Montero Cartelle in Constantini Liber de Coitu. El tratado de andrologia de Constantino el Africano. Santiago de Compostela: Secretariado de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Santiago, 1983. , Viaticum peregrinantis. Lyon, 1510. Ferre Cano, Lola, Practica de Johannes de Parma. Un tratado farmacologico en sus versiones hebreas y catalana. Granada: Editorial Unversidad de Granada, 2002. , “La version hebrea del tratado De febribus de Gerardo de Solo”, Misceldnea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos, Seccion Hebreo, 45 (1996), pp. 149-183. , “Pirqe Amau Vilanova”.Ph.D. dissertation. University of Granada, 1987. Galen, Claudii Galeni Opera Omnia, 20 vols. Edited by C.G. Kuhn., Leipzig, 1821-1833 (reprint Hildesheim, 1967). Griffith, F., Hieratic Papyri from Kahun and Gurob (Principally o f the Middle Kingdom). Texts. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1898. Ha-ma ’amar be-toladah niqra ’ sod ha- ‘ibbur (The treatise on generation called ‘Secret of conception’). Edited and translated by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 212-222. Hippocrates, Diseases o f Women I. Translated into English by Ann Ellis Hanson in “Hippocrates: Diseases of Women I”, Signs I (1975), pp. 567584.

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, Peri Parthenion. Edited and translated into English by Rebecca Flemming and Ann Ellis Hanson in “Hippocrates’ Peri Parthenion (‘Diseases of Young Girls’): Text and Translation”, Early Science and Medicine III, num.3 (1998), pp. 241-252. , De muliemm affectibus del “Corpus Hippocraticum ”. Estudio y edicion critica de la antigua traduccion latina. Edited and translated by M.E. Vazquez Bujan. Santiago de Compostela: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, 1986. , The Genuine Works o f Hippocrates. Translated from the Greek. Translated into English by Francis Adams. Baltimore: The Williams and Wilkins Company, 1939. , Oeuvres completes d Hippocrates, traduction nouvelle. Translated into French by Emile Littre. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1978 (or. ed., Paris, 1844). Ibn Al-Jazzar, Sexual Diseases. Edited, translated into English and commented by Gerrit Bos in Ibn Al-Jazzar on Sexual Diseases and Their Treatment. A critical edition o f Zad al-musafir wa-qut al ha dir (Provisions for the Traveller and Nourishment for the Sedentary). London and New York: Kegan Paul International, 1997. Isaac ben Sheshet Perfet, She’elot u-teshubot ha-Ribash. Vilna 1879 [reprint New York, 1954]. Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James, Malleus Malificarum, Translated with an Introduction, Bibliography and Notes by the Rev. Montague Summers. London, Pushkin Press, 1948 (1st ed. 1928). Laguna, Andres de, Pedacio Dioscorides Anazerbo, acerca de la materia medicinal, y de los venenos mortiferos, Traducido de la lengua griega, en vulgar castellana. (Salamanca: 1566), ed. Facsimil, Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1968. Laurence, Richard (ed.), The book o f Enoch the prophet: an apocryphal production supposed for ages to have been lost, but discovered at the close o f the last century in Abyssinia, now first translated from Ethiopian Ms. in Bodleian Library, Oxford: S. Collingwood, printer of the University, 1838. Lemay, Helen, Women’s Secrets. A Translation o f Pseudo-Albertus Magnus ’ ‘D e Secretis Mulierum” with Commentaries. New York: State University of New York, 1992. Lletra santa concernent Vajustament carnal de marit i muller. Atribuida a mestre Mosse de Girona. Translated into Catalan by Eduard Feliu. Barcelona: Columna, 1986. L ’ornement des dames (Ornatus mulierum), Pierre Ruelle (ed.). Bruxelles: Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1967.

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Magdalena Nom de Deu, Jose Ramon, Un glosario hebraicoaljamiado trilingue y doce “ciqrabadin” de origen Catalan (siglos XV). Barcelona: Universidad de Barcelona, 1993. Maimonides. Sharh asma a l-‘uqqar. English translation from Max M eyerhofs French edition (Cairo, 1940) by Fred Rosner. Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1979. , Obras Medicas I. El Regimen de salud. Tratado sobre la curacion de las hemorroides. Translated into Spanish by Lola Ferre. Cordoba: El Almendro, 1991. Manual de mugeres en el qual se contiene muchas y diversas reqeutas muy buenas. Edited by Alicia Martinez Crespo. Salamanca: Universidad de Salamanca, 1995. Metrodora, Medicina e cosmesi ad uso delle donne. La antica sapienza femmenile e la cura di se. Giorgio del Guerra (ed. and trans). Milan: Associazione Culturale Mimesis, 1994 (Firstst ed. 1953). Mi-qoshi ha-ledah (On difficulties of birth). Translated into English by Ron Barkai in “A Medieval Hebrew Treatise on Obstetrics”, Medical History 33 (1989), 96-119. Midras de los diez mandamientos y libro precioso de la salvacion. Translated into Spanish by Amparo Alba Cecilia. Valencia: San Jeronimo, 1990. Moreno Koch, Yolanda, Fontes iudaeorum Regni Castellae, V. De iure hispano-hebraico, las taqqanot de Valladolid de 1432. Un estatuto comunal renovador. Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, 1987. Mosheh ben Nahman, Kitbe ha-Ramban. “Lggeret ha-Qodesh”. Ed. R. Chavel. Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1994 (12th ed.) , Perush ha-Ramban 'al ha-Torah. Vol. I. B er’eshit - Shemot. Ed. R. Chavel. Jerusalem: Mosad ha-Rav Kook, 1959. Muntner, Suessmann, Sexual Life. Hygiene and its Medical Treatment. Jerusalem: Geniza-Publishing Corporation, 1965. [Hebrew]. Nissim ben Reuben ha-Gerondi, Sefer she’elot u-teshubot ha-rabenu Nissim, she-hiber ha-rav ha-ga’on ha-gadol rabenu Nissim Gerondi. Mets: G.Spey’ar, 1776. Puschman, Theodor, Alexander von Tralles. Original-text und Ubersetzung. 2 vols. Wien, 1878 (repr. Amsterdam, 1963). Q usta Ibn Luqa, Risala fi safar al-hajj. Edited, translated into English with a commentary by Gerrit Bos in Qus ta Ibn Luqa’s Medical Regime for the Pilgrims to Mecca. The Risala ft safar al-hajj. Leiden: Brill, 1992. Saenz Badillos, Angel, Un diccionario hebreo de Provenza (siglo XIII). Edicion del manuscrito Vaticano Ebr. 413. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1987.

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Sefer Dinah le-kol ‘inyan ha-rehem we-holayeha (Dinah’s book on all that concerns the womb and its sicknesses). Edited and translated into English by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 97-108. Sefer ha-’em ’el Galinus h u ’ ha-niqra’ Gynias (The book on the womb by Galen, which is called Gynaecias). Edited and translated into English by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 145-180. Sefer ha-herayon we-ha-rehem le-’Abuqrat (Hippocrates’ book on pregnancy and the womb). Edited by Mauro Zonta in “A Hebrew Translation of Hippocrates’ De superfoetatione: Historical Introduction and Critical Edition”, Aleph 3 (2003), pp. 97-143. Sefer Hanisyonot: the Book o f Medical Experiences Attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra. Edited, translated into English with a commentary by J.O Leibowitz and S. Marcus. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1984. Sefer ha-seter (Book of the secret). Edited and translated into English by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 181-191. Sefer ha-toledet (Book of generation). Edited by Ron Barkai and translated into French by Michel Garel in Les infortunes de Dinah, ou la gynecologie juive au Moyen Age. Paris: Cerf, 1991. Sefer Yezirah. A book on Creation. Transalted into English by Isidor Kalisch. New York: L.H. Fran & Co. Publishers and Printers, 1877. Sha 'ar ha-nashim (Chapter on women). Edited and translated into Spanish by Carmen Caballero in “Un capitulo sobre mujeres: Transmision y recepcion de nociones sobre salud femenina en la produccion textual hebrea durante la Edad Media”, Miscelanea de Estudios Arabes y Hebraicos 52 (2003), pp. 133-160. Sharp, Jane, The Midwives Book. Or the Whole Art o f Midwifry Discovered. Ed. Elaine Hobby. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Shem Tob ibn Falaquera, Versos para la sana conduccion del cuerpo, y versos para la conduccion del alma. ed. and trans. Encamacion Varela. Granada: Universidad de Granada, 1986. Sheshet Benveniste, Terufot le-herayon ha-niqra ’ Magen ha-rosh (Medicaments for Pregnancy, called “The head’s shield”). Edited and translated into English by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 192— 211 .

The Knowing o f Woman’s Kind in Childing. A Middle English Version o f Material Derived from The Trotula and Other Sources. Edited and

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commented by Alexandra Barratt. Medieval Women: Texts and Contexts, vol. 4. Tumhout: Brepols, 2001. The Trotula. A Medieval Compendium o f Women’s Medicine. Edited and translated into English by Monica Green. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001. Van Den Berg, W.S. (ed.), Eene middlelnederlandsche vertaling van het Antidotarium Nicolai. Leiden, 1917. Speculum al-joder. Tratado de recetas y consejos sobre el coito. Edited by Teresa Vicens. Barcelona, 1994 ( la ed. 1978). Zikron ha-holayim ha-howim bi-klei ha-herayon (A record of the diseases occurring in the genital members). Edited and translated into English by Ron Barkai in A History o f Jewish Gynaecological Texts in the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 1998, pp. 109-144.

Bibliography Abulafia, Anna Sapir, Christians and Jews in the Twelfth Century Renaissance. London & New York: Routledge, 1995. Agrimi, Jole and Crisciani, Chiara, “Savoir medical et antropologe religieuse. Les representations et les fonctions de la Vetula (XIIT-XIV6 siecle)”, Annales 5 (1993), pp. 1281-1308. Alanya i Roig, Josep, “La praxi magica d'un prevere vigata del segle XIV. Aportacio a l'estudi sobre la magia a Catalunya”, Estudis Castellonecs 6 (1994-95), pp. 53-73. Alcala, Pedro de, Vocabulista in Arabico. Arabo-Latino, II vols. Pubblicato per la prima volta sopra un codice della Biblioteca Riccardiana de Firenze da C. Schiaparelli. Firenze, 1871. Alcover, Antoni and Moll, Francesc, Diccionari catald-valencid-balear, 10 vols. Palma de Mallorca: Editorial Moll, 1968 (2nd edition). Alic, Margaret, Hypatia’s Heritage: A History o f Women in Science from Antiquity to the Late Nineteenth Century. Boston: Women’s Press, 1986. Allen, Pmdence R., The Concept o f Woman. The Aristotelian Revolution: 750 B C -A D 1250. Montreal: Eden Press, 1985. Amasuno, Marcelino, “Nomenclatura de los pesos y medidas usados in la medicina medieval espanola”, Cuadernos de Historia de la Medicina Espanola 14 (1975). Andre, J. Les Noms de Plants dans le Rome antique. Paris, 1985. , Lexique de termes de botanique en Latin. Paris, 1956. Angeleti, Luciana Rita, “Preface, For a History of Andrology”, Medicina nei Secoli 13,2 (2001), pp. 251-253.

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Karpenko, Vladimir, “Between Magic and Science: Numerical Magic Squares”, Ambix 40, part. 3 (1993), pp. 121-128. Kass, Norman, “Abortion in Jewish Law”, Korot, 8, nums. 7-8 (1983), pp. 323-330. Katz, J., “Marriage et vie sexuelle chez les juifs a la fin du Moyen Age”, Zion, 10 (1945), pp. 21-45. Keller, Evelyn Fox, Reflexions on Gender and Science. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1985. Kieckhefer, Richard, Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989. King, Helen, “Bound to Bleed: Artemis and Greek Women”, in Laura K. McClure (ed.), Sexuality and Gender in the Classical World: Reading and Sources. Oxford, Blackwell Publishers, 2002. , Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece. London and New York: Routledge, 1998 Kottek, Samuel S., “Medical Practice and Jewish Law: Namanides's Sefer Torat HaAdam \ in Samuel Kottek and Luis Garcia Ballester (eds.), Medicine and Medical Ethics in Medieval and Early Modern Spain: an Intercultural Approach. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1996, pp. 163-172. Kraemer, David, “A Developmental Perspective on the Laws of Niddah”, Conservative Juadaism, 38, 3, pp. 26-33. Kraemer, Joel, “Women’s Letters from the Cairo Genizah: A Preliminary Study”, in Yael Azmon (ed.), A View into the Lives o f Women in Jewish Societies. Jerusalem: Zalman Sahzar, 1995, pp. 161-181. Kristeller, Paul Oskar, The Philosophy o f Marsilicio Ficino. New York: Columbia University Press, 1943. Kusuba, Takamori, “Combinatorics and Magic Squares in India: a Study of Narayana Pandita’s Ganitakaumudi, chapters 13-14”, Ph.D. dissertation, Brown University, 1993. Ladurie, Emmanuel Le Roy, Montaillou. Cathars and Catholics in a French Village, 1294-1324. London: Scholar Press, 1978. (or. ed., Montaillou, village occitane de 1294 a 1324. Paris: Gallimard, 1975). Lain Entralgo, Pedro, “Escritos ginecologicos, obstetricos y pediatricos de la medicina hipocratica”, in Historia universal de la medicina. Barcelona: Salvat, vol. II, 1972, pp. 81-82. Lalinde Abadia, Jesus, La Corona de Aragon in el Mediterraneo medieval (1229-1479). Zaragoza, 1975. Langermann, Y. Tzvi, The Jews and the Sciences in the Middle Ages. Aldershot: Ashgate, Variorum, 1999. , “Some New Medical Manuscripts from St. Petersburg”, Korot, 13 (1998-1999), pp. 9-20. , “Fixing a Cost for Medical Care”, in Samuel Kottek and Luis Garcia

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Omont, H., Nouvelles acquisitions du Departement des manuscrits pendant les annees 1919-1920. Paris: Editions Ernest Leroux, 1921. Ortiz, Teresa, “From Hegemony to Subordination: Midwives in Early Modem Spain”, in Hillary Marland (ed.), Art o f Midwifeiy. Early Modern Midwives in Europe. London and New York: Routledge, 1993, pp. 95-114. Paniagua, Jose Antonio, “Estudios y notas sobre Arnau de Vilanova”, Archivos Iberoamericanos de Historia de la Medicina, XI, (1959) especial, pp. 308419. Papayannopoulos, Ioannis and Calfopoulos, P.A. and Marketos, S.G., “Treatment of Sterility in the Old Testament”, Korot, 8, nums. 9-10 (1984), pp. 441^144. Park, Katherine, “Medicine and Magic: The Healing Arts”, in Judith C. Brown and Robert C. Davis (eds.) Gender and Society in Renaissance Italy. London and New York: Longman, 1998, pp. 129-149.

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Roth, Norman, “Fawn of my Delights: Boy-Love in Hebrew in Arabic Verse”, in Joyce Salisbury (ed.), Sex in the Middle Ages. New York: Garland Publishing, 1991, pp. 157-172. , “‘Deal Gently with the Young Man’. Love of Boys in Medieval Hebrew Poetry in Spain.” Speculum 57 (1982), pp. 20-51. Ruderman, David B., Kabbalah, Magic and Science. The Cultural Universe o f a Sixteenth Centuiy Jewish Physician. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988. Saenz Badillos, Angel, A History o f the Hebrew Language. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993 (original ed. Historia de la lengua hebrea. Sabadell: Riopiedras Ediciones, 1988) and Targarona Borras, Judith, Diccionario de autores judios (Sefarad. Siglos X-XV). Cordoba: El Almendro, 1988. Sarton, George, Introduction to the History o f Science, (5 vols.). New York, 1975. Schirmann, Jefim, “The Ephebe in Medieval Hebrew Poetry”. Sefarad 15 (1955), pp. 55-68. Schokel, Luis Alonso, Diccionario biblico hebreo-espahol. Valladolid, 1994. Scholem, Gershom, Desarrollo historico e ideas bdsicas de la cabala. Barcelona: Riopiedras Ediciones, 1994 (Original ed. Jerusalem, 1988). , On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism. New York: Schocken Books, 1965 , Ha-qabbalah be-Gironah. Peraqim be-toldot ha-qabbalah be-Sefarad. Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1963. , Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism and Talmudic Tradition. New York: Jewish Theological Seminary of America, 1960. Schrire, T., Hebrew Amulets. Their Decipherment and Interpretation. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966. Sesiano, Jacques, “Islamic Mathematics”, in Helaine Selin (ed.), Mathematics Across Cultures. Dordrecht, 2000, pp. 137-165. Shatzmiller, Joseph, “Jacon ben Elie, Traducteur Multilingue a Venise a la Fin du XHIe Siecle”, Micrologus, IX, Gli Ebrei e le Science (2001), pp. 195-202. , Jews, Medicine and Medieval Society. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1994. , “Soins de beaute, image et image de soi: le cas des juifs du Moyen Age”, in Les soins de beaute. Moyen Age, debut des Temps Modernes. Actes du Ille Colloque International Grasse (1985), 1987, pp. 51-60. ,“On Becoming a Jewish Doctor in the High Middle Ages”, Sefarad, 43 (1983), pp. 239-250. , “In Search of the ‘Book of Figures’: Medicine and Astrology in Montpellier at the turn of the Fourteenth Centuiy”, Association for Jewish Studies Review, 7-8 (1982/83), pp. 383—407.

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Index of names, places and subjects abortion: 31, 34, 72, 88, 89, 97, 98. Abraham Abigdor, 33 Abraham bar Hiyya, 32 Abraham ben Isaac, 29 Abraham ben Samuel ha-Levi ibn Hasday, 26. Abraham Chiquitilla, 68 Abraham ibn Ezra, 37, 91 Sefer Hanysionot or Book o f Medical Experiences, 37, 91. abscess, 86, 95. ‘Adi al-Rahman b. Ishaq b. alHaitham, 37. adornment, 51, 76. female adornment, 12, 42, 64, 72-76. aetiology, 29, 71, 87, 88, 89. Al-Andalus, 10, 15, 76 Albertus Magnus [pseudo], Secreta mulierum, 9, 81 alchemy, 46 Alexander of Tralles, 25, 27, 79, 91. Ali ibn Ridwan, 26 Almanzor, see al-Razi. Almohads, 10 Almoravids, 10 amenorrhea, 29,71. amulet, 37, 56,61,62,71,97. andrology, 65, 68. aphrodisiacs, 69. Arabic: language, medicine, texts, tradition, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17,

307

21, 25, 26, 37, 41, 44, 69, 70, 79, 90. Aristotle, 25, 26, 91, 96. Aristotelian ideas/ concepts, 70,81 Armengaud Blaise, 41. Arnold of Villanova, 31, 41, 61, 78. Regimen sanitatis ad inclytum regem Aragonum directum et ordinatum, 31. astrological talismans, 36. authority, 23, 25, 27, 31, 32, 36, 37, 39, 53, 56, 60, 78 collective authority, 38 Babylon [sages of], 38. Barcelona, 36, 37, 89, 96. Barkai, Ron, 8, 11, 13, 21, 77, 83, 84-90. bath, 92. beauty, 7, 25, 34, 42, 49, 71, 72, 77, 79, 80,81. Berenguer de Qa Riera, 41. Bernard of Gordon, 88. Biale, Rachel, 65. Bible, 36, 68, 76, 92. Psalms, 36, 72 Isaiah, 36 blood (see menstrual blood), body, 7,21,22, 34,41,42, 49,51, 61,65,67, 70, 72, 86 female, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 33, 34, 42, 49, 64, 71, 72,

The Book o f Women ’s Love

73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 80, 81, 88, 91,97, 98. book ownership [female], 46. breasts, 72, 91. breast diseases, 88.

cupping glasses, 95. D e s aides de la maire et des ses medicines, 14, 27, 29, 30, 31, 32,81,95. Dioscorides, 25, 26, 70, 79, 91. Materia medica, 26. diseases diseases of the uterus, 28, 30. sexual diseases, 29, 82, 87. women’s diseases, 80, 81. distillation, 79. dmgs, 20.

Cabre i Pairet, Montserrat, 73, 81. Catalonia, 11, 32, 38, 68. childbirth: 33, 37, 59, 60, 61, 62, 72, 87, 88, 92, 98. difficult childbirth, 35, 38, 58, 72, 86, 89, 97, 98. pain after childbirth, 72,. pain of childbirth, 59. premature birth, 38 Christians, 50, 74 Christian magic, 51 Christian mysticism, 68, Christian Spain, 90 Christian territories, 10, 12, 22, 44, 66, 76, 83. Christian writers, 54 Christine de Pizan, 73 coitus, 57, 62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 68, 69, 97. conception, 33, 67, 81, 85, 90. prevent conception, 33, 92 promote/facilitate/aid conception, 61, 62, 88, 92, 93. Constantine the African, 29, 69, 70,71,82, 87. Viaticum peregrin antis, 29, 82, 87. De coitu, 70. contraception, 24, 62, 89, 97. contraceptives, 54, 61, 97. Cordoba caliphate, 10, 26. cosmetics, 7, 12, 13, 23, 24, 32, 39, 42, 43, 49, 71, 72, 76, 77, 78, 79,91,98. Crown of Aragon, 32, 35, 37, 38, 41.

education, 10, 51. female education, 73. Jewish education system, 23. electuary, 21, 70, 90. Eli ben Yosef Habillo de Monzon, 26. emmenagogues, 97. erection, 64, 65, 69, 70. Esdre, 31. estudia generalis, 11, 78. experience [actual], 14, 25, 31, 37, 38, 49, 51, 52, 53, 55, 70, 78, 90. flowers (menstruation), 21, 28, 30, 90, 96. Fltyry [sage], 34. foetus, 86, 88, 98. dead foetus, 88, 97, 98. expel the foetus, 33, 37, 88, 97, 98. sex of foetus, 81, 92. France [south of], 10, 14, 22, 25, 35, 73, 83, 84, 87. kingdom of France, 32. fumigation, 92, 95, 98.

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Index o f names, places and subjects

generation called ‘Secret of conception’), 85. Hasday ibn Shaprut, 26. health, 32, 33,34, 63,71,94. preservation of health, 7, 40, 41,42, 49. women’s healthcare, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 18,34, 44, 46, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82,83, 84, 85, 91, 96, 98. Hebrew grammar 15, 23. Hebrew translations, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 20, 21, 24,27, 29, 31, 33, 37, 41, 42, 44,46, 69, 77, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 87, 88. (hetero)sexuality, 7, 69-71. heterosexual practices, 67. obligatory heterosexuality, 62, 64, 73, 75, 77. Hippocrates, 24, 25, 27, 86, 91. Aphorisms, 25, 27. Treatise o f Hippocrates, 26, 31. On superfetation, 87. Hippocratic corpus, 12, 26, 32. Hippocratic-Galenic system, 70. homosexuality, 66, 67, 81, 90, 93, 94. homosexual practices, 67. humours, 92, 95 humoral pathology, 90.

Galen, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 33, 36, 70, 79, 86, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94. De causis et syntomatibus, 26. De locis affectis, 29, 94. Katagene, 26. Tegni, 27. gender, 38, 53,73,75,80,91. grammatical gender, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20,21,43,66. generation, 62, 64, 65, 68, 70, 71, 85, 87, 92. generic masculine, 18, 43. genitals, 32, 72, 83, 93, 94, 95. genital diseases, 85, 87, 89, 90,91,92. Gerard of Cremona, 33. De curatione aegritudinum qui accidunt a capite usque ad pedes, 33. Girona circle, 36. Graeco-Arabic tradition, 10, 14, 24, 90,91. Greece [sages of], 25, 31, 79. Book o f the sages o f Greece, 31. Land of Greece, 31. Green, Monica, 8, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95. gynaecology, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 26, 31, 32, 33, 37, 42, 43, 49, 71, 78, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87,88, 89, 90,91,98.

Ibn al-Jazzar, 29, 34, 35, 69, 87, 90. Zad al-musafir, 27, 31, 82, 94. Ibn Rushd, 26. Ibn STna, 31, 32, 33, 79, 86,91. Canon, 32. Book o f Ibn Sind, 32. immersion [ritual], 92, 93. impotence, ligatures for, 61.

hair, 61, 72. to grow, 35, 37. to remove, 34, 39, 72 Halakhah, 67, 98. Ha-ma dmar be-toladah nicjra ’ sod ha- ‘ibbur (The treatise on

309

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impurity [ritual], 92, 96. Laws of impurity, 92. infertility, 37. intercourse [sexual], 43, 50, 57, 63, 64, 65. heterosexual intercourse, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70. Ishmael, Land of Ishamel: 34, 79, 91. Ishmaelites, 34, 79. Ishmaelite kings, 34, 79. women of the Ishmaelites, 34, 79. Italy, 10, 11, 13,34, 73,75, 81, 83, 84.

magic, 7, 12, 15, 24, 38, 42, 43, 46, 49-63, 64, 68, 71, 72, 76, 90, 93, 97, 98. love magic, 38, 39, 49. magic formula, 36. magic practices, 36, 97. magic square, 35, 38, 72. magical remedies, 65. Maimonides, 41, 67, 69, 90. Ma ’amar be-hanahagat haberi’ut, 41 Treatise on coitus, 69. Liqu tei Rabbenu Mosheh be‘inyanei weset we-herayon, 85. al-MajusT, 86, 90, 94. Mahno ben Mosheh ben Qonsolo, le-Tshah she-’einah yekolah le- taher ‘esmah me-ketamim, 85.” Marsilio Ficino, 46. Me’ir Algualdex, 26. menorrhagia, 29 menstruation, menses, 21, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, 62, 67, 72,81,85,90, 92, 93,96. abnormal menstruation, 90. excess of, excessive menstruation, 28, 91, 95, 96. menstrual blood, 29, 30, 50, 52,61,86, 89, 94, 96. menstrual disorders/problems, 30, 87. menstrual haemorrhaging, 33. menstruating women, 93, 96. suppression, retention of menstruation, 25, 26, 27, 29, 32,33, 86,91,95,97. metonymy, 20, 21. midwife, 43, 54, 62. Mi-qoshi ha-ledah, 86.

Jacob, 36, 87. Jacob ben Elijah, 8. Jacob (ha-Qatan), 8, 9, 23, 82, 84. Jewish Law, 64, 66, 67, 97, 98. Joan (de Reimbamaco), 14, 23, 78. Trdtula, 14, 23, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30,31,32,33,78,81,95. Judaeo-Arabic, 85, 86. kabbalah, 36, 46, 49, 55, 58, 67, 68 . Book o f Practical Kabbalah, 7, 47,55. practical kabbalah, 56, 58. speculative kabbalah, 56, kidneys, 70, 71, 93. Langermann, Tzvi, 33. Laura Cereta, 73. literacy, 45, 52. women’s literacy, 44, 45. love charms, 37, 54.

310

Index o f names, places and subjects

miscarriage [o prevent] 31, 33, 37, 72. Mishnah, 23, 52, 76. moisture of the womb, 33. Montpellier, 9, 41. Moshe ibn Tibbon, 26, 29, 41, 87,

organs of generation, 68. pain, after childbirth, 33, 72, pain in the utems/womb, 37, 72, 86, 88. pains of childbirth, 33, 72. penis, 63, 65, 69, 71. pessary(ies), 21, 92, 97, 98. phallus, 65. pharmacological terms, 17, 22. philosophy, ancient, 40 Arabic philosophy, 10. classical philosophy, 11. medieval Jewish philosophy, 56. natural philosophy, 7, 66, 81, 93, 96. phyiology, 65, 70, 71, 93. female physiology, 14, 32, 80. placenta [retention of], 33 extraction of the placenta, 72. Plato, 25,26,91. pleasure, 76. sexual pleasure, 67, 93. practice [actual/living], 18, 25, 32, 40, 49,51,52, 70, 76, 79, 90. collective practice, 49. female practice of magic, 55. magic practice (see magic) practice of medicine, 27. practices (activities), 24, 32, 36, 37, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 76, 81,97. female/women’s practices, 37, 76, 80. heterosexual practices, 67. homosexual practices, 67. pregnancy, 31, 32, 62, 85, 87, 89. to cause/induce pregnancy, 31, 93. to ease/facilitate pregnancy, 27, 37, 72, 89.

88 .

Muntner, Suessmann, 7, 8, 9. Muscio, Gynaecia, 12, 81, 84, 86, 87, 94. P ess aria, 86. Nahmanides, 36, 57, 59, 68, 96. R. Nahman, 35, 36, 59. Natan ben Yo’el Falaquerah, 35 Son ha-guf 35 Seder nashim mi-Sefer Sori ha-guf, 35, 86. Nathan ben Eliezer ha-Meati, 25, 32, 34. natural philosophy (see philosophy). Nicolosa Sanuti, 73, 75. niddah, 92. Laws of niddah, 67, 93, 97. Obstetrics, 7, 12, 42, 43, 49, 71, 80, 85. gynaecological and obstetrical conditions, 89. gynaecological and obstetrical remedies, 98. obstetrical skills, 63. Occitan, 23. ooriferous therapy Onah, Laws of, 67. oral transmission, 52. oral Jewish Law, 67. oral sources, 31. organs [of the body], 22, 71, 94. genital organs, 72, 91, 93. male [genital] organs, 90.

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to prevent pregnancy, 31, 33, 37, 72, 97. prolapse of the uterus/womb, 32, 89, 95. Provence, 8, 11, 35, 39, 77, 87, 89. Purity [ritual], 92. P y tr dLwq ’,38.

Scrool of Esther, 45. Secreta mulierum, 8, 82. pseudo Albertus magnus’s Secreta mulierum, 9, 81. secrets of women (women’s matters), 9, 81, 82. Sefer Dinah le-kol ‘inyan ha­ re hem we-holayeha , 86. Sefer ha-’em ’el Galinus h u ’ haniqra ’ Gynias, 87. Sefer Hanisyonot (see Abraham ibn Ezra). Sefer ha-segulot, 37. Sefer ha-seter, 8, 11, 77, 82, 87 Sefer ha-toledet, 11, 87, Sefer ha-yosher, 8, 9, 29, 82, 83, 84, 89 Sefer ha-herayon we-ha-rehem le’Abuqrat, 87. Sefer ya ’ir nativ, 29, 35, 82, 87, 88, 89. sefirot, 39, 56, 57, 67, 68. semantic borrowing, 20 semantic transference, 20, 21. Semen, 61, 70, 93. female semen, 93, 94, 95. male male, 61, 67, 70. retention of female semen, 86, 94, 95. sexual differece, 66, 80. sexuality, 12, 15, 41, 43, 49, 50, 63-71, 83, 93. (see also heterosexuality and homesexuality). female/women’s sexuality, 63, 70, 93. teatrises on sexuality, 67. Sha dr be-sibat ‘aqamt ha-nashim,

Q usta ibn Luqa, 38. Rabbinical Hebrew, 20. Rabbinical schools of Babylon, 38. Rabbinical teachings, 68. Rachel, 18, 36, 37, 60. al-Razi, 9, 32,33,79, 82, 86,91. Book o f al-Razi, 30-31, 33. Kitab al-Mansuri:; Liber ad Almansorem or Liber Almansoris, 33. relationships [human], 25, 50, 52, 63, 66, 76. female spaces of relationship, 83. heterosexual relationship, 65. homosexual relationship, 66. relationship between women, 55,76. sexual relationship, 64, 68, 91. Responsa, 36, 45. Rhodes, 38, 39. Romance language(s), 15, 16, 17, 20,21,22, 23, 29,31,33,44. Roses (town), 39. sages of Roses, 39. Salemo, 13,14, 77,81,84, 90. medical centre of Salemo, 13. medical scol of Salemo, 11. Trotula of Salemo (see Trotula).

88 .

Sha dr ha-nashim, 29, 88. Shelomoh ben David, 32.

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Index o f names, places and subjects

Shem Tov ben Yishaq Tortosi, 33, 34. Sefer ha-shimmush, 34. Shem Tov ben Yosef ibn Falaquera, 35. Batte hanhagat ha-guf habari, 35. Batte hangagat ha-nefesh, 35. Shemuel ibn Tibbon, 26, 27. Sheshet Benveniste, 37, 89. Terufot le-herayon ha-niqra ’ Magen ha-rosh, 37, 89. Sitrei nashim, 9, 82, 83, 94. Soranus of Ephesus, 12, 13, 81, 83, 84, 94, 95. Gynaikeia, 12, 81, 84. sterility, 36, 37, 62, 85, 86. women’s sterility, 88. sumptuary laws, 73.

transliterations (from other languages), 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 58, 60. Trotula (medieval compendium), 8, 13, 14, 42, 77, 82, 90. Trotula (or Trota of Salemo), 13, 80,81,82, 84. De curis mulierum, 13. Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum, 13, 77, 81, 82, 84, 87, 90, 95, 96. De ornatu mulierum, 13, 77, 80. Trdtula (see Joan de Reimbamaco). tumours in the womb, 86 uterine tumours, 87. Ulcers on the head, 27, 33. Urine, 30, 85, 86, 96. utems/womb, 21, 28, 32, 86, 94, 95, 96. abscesses of the womb, 86, 89, 95. ailments of the womb, 88. diseases of the utems, 28, 30. displacement of the utems/womb, 26, 72, 87, 89, 94. dysfunctions of the womb, 95. movement of the utems/womb, 94, 95. pain of the utems, 37, 72. pernicious humoms of the womb, 92. prolapse of the utems/womb, 32, 89, 95. suffocation of the utems/womb, 31, 37, 87, 89. superfluous moisture of the womb, 33. ulcers in the utems, 82.

Talmud, 23, 53, 67, 76, 96, 97, 98. Terufot le-ishah she-tiqanes leherayon, 89. testicles, 71. textual production [western], 18. Arabic textual influence, 21. Hebrew textual tradition, 35. Therapeutics, 14, 15, 29, 32, 37, 71,87, 88. odoriferous therapy, 95. therapeutic care, 64. therapeutic contents, 8, 82, 97. therapeutic ideas, 90. therapeutic measures/ procedures, 22, 62, 83, 92, 95, 96. therapeutic remedies, 19, 39, 40, 43,49, 64, 70,71,92. Toledo, 11.

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vagina, 71, 97. Vidal de Bourian, 90. Merqahat m o‘il le-qahel haherayon be-shem ha-rofe ’ Me. Vidal Debourian, 90. virginity, 91. to restoration of virginity, 72, 91. Womb (see uterus). Y ish aq , 9,35,82, 83. Y ishaq Yisraeli, 29, 35, 79, 82, '

88 .

Yosef ben Yehoshuah ibn Vives Lorqui, 32. Yosef Caslari, 41. al-Zahrawi, 32, 33, 79, 91. Book o f al-Zahrawi, 30, 33, 34. Book o f unguents, 79. Kitab al-tasrif li-man ‘agiza (an al-ta’lif 34, 79. Zerayah ben Yishaq Hen or Gracian, 26, 32, 69. Zikron ha-holayim ha-howim beklei ha-herayon, 90.

314