Folio 77v - Of fish, continued. De arboribus; Of trees.
Of these, some are called water frogs, others marsh; some are called toads, rubete, because they live in brambles, rubus; they are larger than the others. Others are called calamites, since they live among reeds, calamus, and bushes; they are the smallest of all, they are green, they are dumb, and they have no croak. Egredula are very small frogs living on dry ground or in fields, ager, from which they get their name. Some say that dogs will not bark if you give them a live frog to eat.
According to Pliny, the names of the creatures living in water total one hundred and forty-four, divided, into the following species: monsters, amphibious serpents, crabs, shellfish, lobsters, mussels, polyps, flatfish, lizards, rockfish and those like it.
Of trees
The word for trees, arbores, and grasses, herbe, is believed to come from arva, a field, because they adhere to the earth with their roots which lie fast within it. The two words are almost the same, because one springs from the other. For when you throw a seed into the earth, first a grass shoot rises. Thereafter, with nourishment, it grows into a tree and within a short time, from looking down at shoot of grass you are looking up at a sapling.
The word arbusta is, as it were, arboris hasta, 'the shaft of the tree'; the word arbustum is taken by others take it to mean 'plantation', a place where there are trees; as salictum and salicta, and turecta mean places where there are willows and small trees, young and turning green.
A shrub, frutex, is small and is so called because puts forth leaves and covers, tegere, the ground; the plural form is frutecta.
A wood, nemus, gets its name from numina, deities, because the heathen consecrated their idols there; for woods contain large trees, whose boughs give deep shade.
A tall thicket of trees, lucus, is so called because it springs to a great height, rising to the sky. Grafting, insitio, is said to take place when a shoot from a fertile tree is implanted, inserere, into a cut made in the trunk of a barren tree.
Cuttings, plante, are taken from trees. But sets, plantaria, are those which are grown from seed
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Commentary
Text
Types of frog. Trees.
Comment
The major initial 'A', type 3, marks the start of the section on trees and plants. The stem of the letter is formed by a sweeping dragon's tail. Colour indicator 'or' in margin, to indicate gilding.
Folio Attributes
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Transcription
Ex quibus quedam aquatice dicuntur quedam palustres, quidam\ rubete ob id quod in vepribus vivunt, grandiores ceteris. Alie cala\mites vocantur quoniam inter arundines fruticesque vivunt, mini\me omnium et viridissime mute et sine voce sunt. Egredule\ rane parvule in sicco vel agris morantes unde et nuncupate.\ Negant quidam canes latrare, quibus offa rana viva fuerit\ data. Animalium omnium in aquis viventium nomina\ centum quadraginta quatuor. Plinius ait divisa cum generibus beluarum\ serpentium communium terre et aque. Cancrorum, conca\rum locustarum, peloridum philopporum, solearum, la\certorum, ut luligo, et huic similia. \ De arboribus \ Arborum nomen sive herbarum ab ar\vis inflexum creditur,\ eo quod terris fixis\ radicibus adhereant. Utraque autem ideo\ sibi pene similia sunt, quia ex uno al\terum gignitur. Nam dum sementem\ in terram ieceris, herba prius oritur. Dehinc\ confota surgit in arborem, et infra\ parvum tempus, quam herbam vi\deras arbustam suspicis. Arbusta quasi arboris hasta. Alii\ arbustum locum in quo arbores sunt volunt accipere, sicut\ salictum et salicta, et turecta [PL, virecta], ubi salices et virgule novelle\ et virentes. Frutex brevis est appellatus, quod terram frondet\ et tegat, cuius plurale nomen frutecta. Nemus a numinibus\ nuncupatum, quia pagani ibi idola consecrabant, sunt enim\ nemora arbores maiores umbrose frondibus. Lucus [PL, Saltus] est\ densitas arborum alta vocata hoc nomine eo quod exi\liat in altum et in sublime consurgat. Inficio [PL, insitio] dicitur cum\ inciso trunco surculus secunde [PL, fecunde] arboris sterili inseritur. Plante\ sunt de arboribus. Plantaria vero que ex semine nata sunt\Translation
Of these, some are called water frogs, others marsh; some are called toads, rubete, because they live in brambles, rubus; they are larger than the others. Others are called calamites, since they live among reeds, calamus, and bushes; they are the smallest of all, they are green, they are dumb, and they have no croak. Egredula are very small frogs living on dry ground or in fields, ager, from which they get their name. Some say that dogs will not bark if you give them a live frog to eat. According to Pliny, the names of the creatures living in water total one hundred and forty-four, divided, into the following species: monsters, amphibious serpents, crabs, shellfish, lobsters, mussels, polyps, flatfish, lizards, rockfish and those like it. Of trees The word for trees, arbores, and grasses, herbe, is believed to come from arva, a field, because they adhere to the earth with their roots which lie fast within it. The two words are almost the same, because one springs from the other. For when you throw a seed into the earth, first a grass shoot rises. Thereafter, with nourishment, it grows into a tree and within a short time, from looking down at shoot of grass you are looking up at a sapling. The word arbusta is, as it were, arboris hasta, 'the shaft of the tree'; the word arbustum is taken by others take it to mean 'plantation', a place where there are trees; as salictum and salicta, and turecta mean places where there are willows and small trees, young and turning green. A shrub, frutex, is small and is so called because puts forth leaves and covers, tegere, the ground; the plural form is frutecta. A wood, nemus, gets its name from numina, deities, because the heathen consecrated their idols there; for woods contain large trees, whose boughs give deep shade. A tall thicket of trees, lucus, is so called because it springs to a great height, rising to the sky. Grafting, insitio, is said to take place when a shoot from a fertile tree is implanted, inserere, into a cut made in the trunk of a barren tree. Cuttings, plante, are taken from trees. But sets, plantaria, are those which are grown from seed
