Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
The main significance of dill, however,
was already in ancient Egyptian times in
the field of medicine. It was used as a sto-
machic, carminative, diuretic and vermi-
fuge drug. Its peculiarity consists in the
fact that it dispels colic originating from
flatulence, heavy gases, and mucus com-
ing from stomach and intestines; it also
puts one to sleep. Its seeds, pulverised
and cooked in water, cause heavy vomit-
ing and purify the stomach from dyscratic
juice (
ruūbāt
). A hip bath in an extract
from dill is good for pains of the womb.
Applied as a poultice, dill divides the
swellings originating from flatulence. Its
ashes are good for soft (
mutarahhil
), heav-
ily festering ulcers, and its decoction for
pains of kidneys and bladder, caused by
constipations or flatulence. Pulverised and
boiled with honey until concentration,
and then applied on the backside, dill has
a strongly laxative effect. Taken in soup
or broth, its seeds strengthen the flowing
of milk. The freshly blossoming dill in
particular is good for colic, haemorrhoids
and sticky vomit from the stomach.
lum
, while
ἱππομάραθον
(
ibbūmāraūn
, and
variants, strictly speaking “horse fennel”),
which is mostly mentioned in connec-
tion with the garden fennel, apparently
stands for the wild fennel. The term
basbās
abalī
, likewise used for the latter, is con-
fusing, for the “mountain fennel” (Seseli)
does not belong to the genus Foeniculum.
Other kinds mentioned cannot as yet be
determined.
The volatile oil extracted from the
fruits of the fennel has a strongly fragrant
scent and a bitter, camphor-like smell.
It loosens phlegm and was, in the form
of fennel-tea or fennel-honey, used, as it
is now, against coughs and flatulence. A
decoction of the flower stalk was consid-
ered to be a diuretic and to further men-
struation; mixed with wine it was used as
a medicament against snake bites, while
the pressed juice is praised as an ophthal-
mic remedy. The leaves and fruits were
added to food as a spice. Amaī counts
them among the precious spices. Abū
anīfa al-Dīnawarī praises their aroma,
remarks that the plant thrives on wild
soil and proves both observations with
verses. Fennel has been used as spice
from Old Egyptian times until today. Ibn
al-Awwām consecrates a special chapter
to the cultivation of the fennel. Curious is
the assertion of Nuwayrī, that vipers and
snakes, when leaving their holes in spring,
rub their eyes at the fennel shrub in order
to be able to see again; the same is men-
tioned repeatedly by azwīnī.
(A. Dietrich)
Fennel
Fennel (
Foeniculum vulgare
,
Ar.
Basbās
),
belongs to the family of umbellal plants.
The term
bisbās
, used in the Marib for
fennel, indicates in the Eastern countries
the red seed-shell of the nutmeg (
Myristica
fragrans
), known as Macis, while the term
basbāsa
, not to be confused with the two
other terms, indicates only nutmeg in the
entire Arab world. The most often used
synonym of
basbās
is
rāziyāna
, borrowed
from the Persian. The Greek term
μάραθ
(
ρ
)
ον
is found as
māraūn
(and variants) in
the Arabic medical inventories. Like in
Dioscorides, this term indicates the gar-
den fennel (
basbās bustānī
),
Anethum foenicu-
(A. Dietrich)
Mint
Fūdhandj
(
fawdandj,
fawtandj
, etc.) is
Men-
tha
L. (Labiatae). The term is of Persian,
and ultimately of Indian origin (
pūdana
),
which explains the various ways of tran-
scription in the Arabic rendering. Under
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