Some Cucurbitaceae in Latin Literature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9663126 |
|---|---|
| Authors | F A Todd (The University of Sydney, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1943 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 101-111 |
| Publication date | 1943-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Classical Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0009-8388 • E-ISSN: 1471-6844 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0009838800023685 |
| OpenAlex | W2112989956, W4212779849 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Blockhead or or Baldhead? (i) Petron. Sat. 39. 12: ‘in Aquario (nascuntur) copones et cucurbitae’. (ii) Apul. Met. I. 15: ‘nos cucurbitae caput non habemus ut pro te moriamur’. Cucurbita in its literal use is the name of many varieties of the numerous family of Cucurbitaceae , as one may learn, e.g. from Plin. Nat. Hist. xix. It is also the name of the cupping instrument called by Juvenal, xiv. 58, uentosa cucurbita , for which see Mayor's note ad loc. For other metaphorical uses of the name, Forcellini and the Thes. Ling. Lat. cite only the two passages quoted above; of these two, Lewis and Short cite only the former. Lexicographers and editors,1 comparing the one passage with the other, concur in the view that the cucurbita is the symbol of stupidity, and that a stupid man may be called a cucurbita , as in Petronius, or be said cucurbitae caput habere , as in Apuleius. At first sight their interpretation of the Apuleian phrase is plausible, for it makes tolerable sense in the context and appears to be supported by such modern expressions as ‘pumpkin-head’ and Kürbiskopf and κεχλι κολοκνθνιον, all of which liken the head of a stupid man to a pumpkin or other gourd which, though bearing some resemblance to a human head, encloses not a brain but an insensate mass of pulp and seeds. But ‘to have a pumpkin-head’ and ‘to be a pumpkin’ are prima facie very different, for the latter equates the man himself with the cucurbita , whereas it is only qua substitute for a head that the cucurbita can typify stupidity; and when it is further observed that in the Petronian passage cucurbitae so interpreted accords ill with the context, it becomes clear that some other explanation must be sought
Biology · Botany · Context (archaeology · Cucurbita · Cucurbita pepo · Cucurbitaceae · Gourd · Humanities · Advances in Cucurbitaceae Research · Classical Antiquity Studies · Horticulture · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.29 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2019 - 2021 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |