𐤋𐤅𐤕

Punic

Etymology

Unknown, perhaps from Proto-Semitic *lawaṯ- (“to wind”) due to the appearance of its corollae, then a parallel formation to the famous word for the lavash bread; though Proto-Semitic ṯ* more likely come out 𐤔 (š) in Canaanite, at least Aramaic has the usual outcome t and frequently does not adhere to it but also bears š. And note λαουωθέν (laouōthén) 4:183 given for βρυωνία μέλαινα (bruōnía mélaina), ἄμπελος μέλαινα (ámpelos mélaina) which is black bryony (Dioscorea communis).

Noun

𐤋𐤅𐤕 (lwt) m

1. Etruscan honeysuckle, Lonicera etrusca
   • 40 CE – 90 CE, Dioscorides, De Materia Medica 4.14:^[1]:

     περικλύμενον· οἱ δὲ αἰγίνη, οἱ δὲ κλύμενον, οἱ δὲ κάρπαθον, οἱ δὲ σπλήνιον, οἱ δὲ ἡπατῖτις, οἱ δὲ ἑλξίνη μείζων, οἱ δὲ κληματῖτις, οἱ δὲ ‹ἀ›μερσίνη, οἱ δὲ καλυκάνθεμον, προφῆται πιλίον Ἀφροδίτης, Αἰγύπτιοι τουκού, Ἄφροι λαυάθ, Ῥωμαῖοι βούλουκρουμ μάϊους.

     periklúmenon; hoi dè aigínē, hoi dè klúmenon, hoi dè kárpathon, hoi dè splḗnion, hoi dè hēpatîtis, hoi dè helxínē meízōn, hoi dè klēmatîtis, hoi dè ‹a›mersínē, hoi dè kalukánthemon, prophêtai pilíon Aphrodítēs, Aigúptioi toukoú, Áphroi lauáth, Rhōmaîoi boúloukroum máïous.

   • 40 CE – 90 CE, Dioscorides, De Materia Medica 4.86:^[2]:

     μυοσωτίς· οἱ δὲ μυ⟨ός⟩ωτον, οἱ δὲ ἀνθύλλιον, οἱ δὲ ἀλσίνη, οἱ δὲ μυότροχον, οἱ δὲ μυρτόσπληνον, Ῥωμαῖοι μοῦρις αὐρίκουλα, Ἄφροι λαυαθθαλβάθ.

     muosōtís; hoi dè mu⟨ós⟩ōton, hoi dè anthúllion, hoi dè alsínē, hoi dè muótrokhon, hoi dè murtósplēnon, Rhōmaîoi moûris auríkoula, Áphroi lauaththalbáth.

References

• Löw, Immanuel (1881) Aramæische Pflanzennamen‎^[3] (in German), Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelmann, page 408
• Löw, Immanuel (1928) Die Flora der Juden‎^[4] (in German), volume 1, Wien und Leipzig: R. Löwit, page 332
• Steiner, Richard C. (2001) “Albounout “Frankincense” and Alsounalph “Oxtongue”: Phoenician-Punic Botanical Terms with Prothetic Vowels from an Egyptian Papyrus and a Byzantine Codex”, in Orientalia‎^[5], volume 70, number 1, page 100
• “περικλύμενον – Lonicera etrusca”, in Dioscórides Interactivo‎^[6] (in Spanish), 2024, exactly only this term is missing in the scanned manuscript page, line 4
• “μυοσωτίς – Thelygonum cynocrambe”, in Dioscórides Interactivo‎^[7] (in Spanish), 2024, it contains a derived term written in the manuscripts λαυαθολαβατ, λαυαθθλαβατ, λαυαθ θαλβαθ, which secures the reading λαυάθ contra the first occurrence’s manuscript variant λανάθ which only Löw gives in Flora. Also, if indeed the reading were to be **𐤋𐤍𐤕 (**lnt) / λανάθ then it could only be related to Arabic لَيِّن (layyin, “soft, delicate”) due to the plant’s praised agreeableness to the olfactory and visual organs if the first vowel is long and the third consonant is just the feminine ending, but this formation is unlikely and a root l-n-t is unknown in Semitic.
• “ἄμπελος μέλαινα – Tamus communis”, in Dioscórides Interactivo‎^[8] (in Spanish), 2024