B: THE EARLIEST GLOSSARY OF BOTANICAL TERMS; FUCHS 1542
I believe this work may be a Great Help in understanding very old Herbals.
By Helen A. Choate.
Among the more important German herbals of the sixteenth century the De Historia Stirpium of Leonardus Fuchsius, or Fuchs, is doubtless the best known, owing to its many plant descriptions and exceptionally fine wood cuts. A further point of interest, less well known but of much value, is its glossary of botanical terms which is considered by Sachs* and by Greenef to be the first of its kind. This glossary appeared only in the now rare first, or Latin, edition of 1542, and seems never to have been translated or published in English. It is especially interesting to ascertain how many of the terms appearing in this first attempt to organize botanical terminology are still in use to-day. As a present standard I have taken Jackson's Glossary of Botanic Terms,* and by comparison with that work have divided Fuchs's list into four groups, viz., (i) those terms still in use with identical or closely related meaning; (2) those in use but with changed meaning; (3) those obsolete; (4) those which are not botanical terms ; and the status of each word on this plan is indicated at the close of its definition in the following list. Thus it appears that of the 127 terms (exclusive of synonyms) in Fuchs's list, 83 or 66 per cent, belong to Group 1 ; 22 or 17 per cent, to Group 2; 14 or 11 per cent, to Group 3; and 7 or 6 per cent to Group 4. The translation has been difficult, because the Latin of Fuchs's time was far from classical. In at least two places there are obvious misprints. The definitions are often wordy and far from clear, but I have taken no liberties with the text, my translation of which is intended to render as closely as possible the original work of Fuchs.
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https://archive.org/details/jstor-40595763
By Helen A. Choate.
Among the more important German herbals of the sixteenth century the De Historia Stirpium of Leonardus Fuchsius, or Fuchs, is doubtless the best known, owing to its many plant descriptions and exceptionally fine wood cuts. A further point of interest, less well known but of much value, is its glossary of botanical terms which is considered by Sachs* and by Greenef to be the first of its kind. This glossary appeared only in the now rare first, or Latin, edition of 1542, and seems never to have been translated or published in English. It is especially interesting to ascertain how many of the terms appearing in this first attempt to organize botanical terminology are still in use to-day. As a present standard I have taken Jackson's Glossary of Botanic Terms,* and by comparison with that work have divided Fuchs's list into four groups, viz., (i) those terms still in use with identical or closely related meaning; (2) those in use but with changed meaning; (3) those obsolete; (4) those which are not botanical terms ; and the status of each word on this plan is indicated at the close of its definition in the following list. Thus it appears that of the 127 terms (exclusive of synonyms) in Fuchs's list, 83 or 66 per cent, belong to Group 1 ; 22 or 17 per cent, to Group 2; 14 or 11 per cent, to Group 3; and 7 or 6 per cent to Group 4. The translation has been difficult, because the Latin of Fuchs's time was far from classical. In at least two places there are obvious misprints. The definitions are often wordy and far from clear, but I have taken no liberties with the text, my translation of which is intended to render as closely as possible the original work of Fuchs.
Download Link:
https://archive.org/details/jstor-40595763
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