f13r - banana?

[ReneZ]

Marco's observation in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. , with respect to the text and the drawing of Musa in the Manfredus MS (BN Lat 6823) seems to me to be an important one, and entirely correct.

The herb is mentioned in the earlier herbal BL Egerton 747, on fol.66r (right). Its transcription has been published and says:

Musa calida est in medio primi gradi, humida eiusdem fine. Fructus sunt similis citroli, quod alii pomum paradisi vocant. In ultramarinis partibus crescunt. Cuius folia similatur enula campana, sed sunt triplex mariores. Ventrem humectat, pectoris asperitatem lenit et pulmonem. Est nutrimenti multi et crossi, que assuefacta stomachi generat gravitatem et splenis et epatis oppilationem. Unde necesse est illam sepe comedentibus, ut post comestionem zinziber conditum detur aut oximelle, si manducantes sunt frigide nature, quod si calide, oxizachara accipiant.  

I more or less understand it, but won't attempt a translation. The beginning is the same as what Marco read in the Manfredus MS.

Since there is no illustration, it also does not appear in Firenze Pal. 586.

I also add the illustrations of Musa in Casanatense 459 and in Munich clm 28531.
         
The former is from around 1400, and the style is quite similar to that of the Tacuinum Sanitatis MS that was already shown by VViews. The CLM manuscript looks very similar to Sloane 4016.

Interestingly, the edition of Egerton 747 ("PS. Bartolomaeus Mini de Senis: Tractatus de herbis (MS London, British Library, Egerton 747) A cura de Iolanda Ventura") gives references to earlier copies of the text, though they are only partial.

In 'Liber de naturis rerum' of Pseudo-John Folsham (13th Century) ( You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ) it says:

Muza calida est in medio primi gradus, humida in  eiusdem fine, pectoris et pulmonis  lenit asperitatem. Hec arbor fit per infixionem ossis dactili in herba quadam , que dicitur colcasia. Et dicitur, quod in pomo huius arboris, quod iocundissimi et gratissimi saporis est,  deceptus erat primus parens noster

Another reference is: Arabismos botanicos y zoologicos en la traduccion Latina (s.XII) del Calendario de Cordoba
By Joaquin Bustamante Costa. 1996. In this 12th Century work the tree and its fruits are mentioned, and the name Musa is said to derive from Arabic 'Mawz(a)'.