Sea-fish, and
shell-fish. │ marīnī piscēs & conchæ.
The whale, 1.
(is the) │ bālæna, (cētus) 1.
Greatest ¦ of
the sea-fish. │ maximus ¦ piscium marīnōrum.
The dolphin,
2. │ delphīnus, 2.
The swiftest.│ vēlōcissimus.
The scate,
3.│ raia, 3.
The most monstrous.│ mōnstr(u)ōsissimus.
Others are
the lamprel, 4. │ aliī sunt mūrænula, 4.
The salmon,
5. │ salmō, 5.
There are also
fish that flie, 6. │ dantur etiam volātilēs, 6.
Add herrings,
7. │ adde halecēs, 7.
Which are brought
pickled, │ quī salsī,
And pla(i)ce,
8. and cods, 9. │ & passerēs, 8. cum asellīs, 9.
Which are brought
dry; │ quī adferuntur ārefactī;
And the sea
monsters, │ & mōnstra marīna,
The seal. 10.
│ phōcam, 10.
And
the sea-horse, &c. │ hippopotamum, &c.
Shell-fish, 11.
have shells. │ concha, 11. habet testās,
The oyster,
12. │ ostrea, 12.
Affordeth sweet
meat. │ dat sapidam carnem.
The purple-fish,
│ mūrex, 13.
Purple; │
purpuram;
The others,
pearls, 14. │ aliī, 14. margarītās.
____________________
[1] bālaena /
ballaena, -ae [1/f]: whale
also: orca, -ae
[1/f]
cētus, -ī [2/m]:
any large sea animal e.g. whale, shark, dolphin etc.; can also refer to a
sea-monster
[2] delphīnus, -ī
[2/m]: dolphin
[3] To see some of
this vocabulary in context, we’ll look in later posts at excerpts from Pliny
the Elder’s Natural History (Nātūrālis historia). In Book 9, he makes many
references to types of fish and uses terms to distinguish between three which,
to the untrained eye, look similar:
[i] raia, -ae
[1/f]: ray; marine fish with a flat body
[ii] pastināca,
-ae [1/f]; raia, -ae [1/f] pastināca (in this topic) sting-ray; pastināca a
food term for parsnip (or carrot) referring to the tapering nature of its tail;
Pliny specifically distinguishes the sting-ray by describing its venom and the
strength of its spine
[iii] squātina,
-ae [1/f]: skate
[4] mūrena /
mūraena, -ae [1/f]: moray eel; lamprey (transl. lamprel; obsolete); mūrēnula
/ mūraenula, -ae [1/f] is a diminutive form, but in CL it referred to a
small necklace that resembled an eel
also: anguilla,
-ae [1/f]: eel
[5] salmō,
salmōnis [3/n]: salmon
solea, -ae [1/f]:
although its principal meaning is the sole of a shoe, it was also used to refer
to the fish owing to its shape
thunnus, -ī [2/m]:
tuna
tructa, -ae [1/f]
/ tructus, -ī [2/m]: (Late Latin) trout
Note the following
three where I have given distinguishing translations for them, but there can be
overlap and / or lack of clarity in original texts:
lōlīgō, lōlīginis
[3/f]: squid
sēpia, -ae [1/f]:
cuttlefish
pōlypus, -ī [2/m]:
octopus
[6] volātilis, -e:
flying; winged > piscēs volātilēs: flying fish
[7] halecēs:
‘herrings’
various forms:
(h)ālex, -ēcis [3 m/f]; ālec / (h)allec: “the sediment of a costly fish-sauce,
garum; and in general the sauce prepared from small fish, fish-pickle, fish-brine”
(Lewis & Short)
It seems an
unusual choice to describe the fish itself since there is a more recognisable
alternative:
harengus /
haringus, -ī [2/m]: (Late Latin) herring
[8] passer, -is
[3/m]: refers far more often in CL to a sparrow, not least Lesbia’s famous
deceased one in the Catullus poem, but it also was used to mean a ‘turbot’,
various species of flatfish including plaice
[9] asellus, -ī
[2/m]: “A sea-fish much prized by the Romans, perhaps cod or haddock”
(Lewis & Short)
mōnstrum, -ī
marīnum: sea-monster
[10] in the English language of this period, “fish”
i.e. the title of the text could be used much more broadly to refer to any
marine mammal such as whales or seals:
phōca, -ae [1/f]:
seal
hippopotamus, -ī
[2/m]: the English term ‘sea-horse’ as used by the translator is referring to a
walrus; the Classical Latin did refer to the Nile hippopotamus
(‘river-horse’) i.e. the same animal we mean today
hippocampus, -ī
[2/m]: sea-horse i.e. the small marine fish with a horse-like head and long
tail
[11]
concha, -ae [1/f]:
refers to a ‘bilvalve’ shellfish consisting of two hinged sections e.g. scallop,
clam, mussel or oyster
conchȳlium,
-ī [2/n]: shellfish
testa, -ae [1/f]:
various meanings including the shell of a shellfish
mȳtilus
/ mȳtulus
/ mutulus, -ī [2/m]: (edible) mussel
cancer, cancrī
[2/m]: crab
lōcusta, -ae
[1/f]: lobster
[12] ostrea, -ae
[1/f]: oyster
[13] mūrex,
mūricis [3/m]: a shellfish used as a source of the dye Tyrian purple; the
purple-fish
18.07.24: level 1;
bright white (and purple) politicians
https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/06/180724-level-1-bright-white-politicians.html
[14] margarīta,
-ae [1/f]: pearl
Classical Latin
did not have a specific word for ‘seafood’ although Neo-Latin fructus, -ūs
[4/m] maris (Ital. frutti di mare; Fr. fruits de mer) i.e. fruit(s)
of the sea conveys the idea. Equally, a simple combination of two general words
i.e. piscēs et conchȳlia maris would have
the same meaning.
Most of the
illustrations in Comenius’ work are generally accurate. It’s interesting,
however, that the images of the fish are not, many of them naively drawn with
distinct human facial features. But it’s 1658; it is highly probable that the
illustrator had only ever heard of some of these, or had seen earlier and / or
inconsistent representations. Moreover, that earlier illustrations exist (one
of those posted below is from 1617 and reasonably accurate) does not mean that
the illustrator had access to them. A good example of that are three
contemporary reports of whales, two prior to Comenius and one – the most bizarre
– afterwards.
And I couldn’t end
without referring to the news report from 1645 which stated that, when the
whale was opened: “there was found in the belly of it a Romiſh prieſt with
Pardon for divers Papiſts in England and in Ireland”
They
did write some garbage in the 17th century – and they still do,
don’t they?
Mosaic of an octopus from the floor of the tepidarium in the Roman central baths, Herculaneum
