Cornus (Proper Noun; lemma: cornus)
Meaning: cornel , dogwood (tree and fruit) c. 1 CE – 8 CE , Grattius , Carmen venaticum 128–129 : plurima Threiciis nutritur vallibus Hebri cornus et umbrosae Veneris per litora myrtus Translation by Steven J. Green Very many a cornel tree is nourished in the Thracian valleys of Hebrus, and there are shady myrtle trees along the shores of Venus c. 77 CE – 79 CE , Pliny the Elder , Naturalis Historia 14.XIX.103 : vinum fit et e siliqua Syriaca et e piris malorumque omnibus generibus — sed e Punicis rhoiten vocant — et e cornis , mespilis, sorbis, moris siccis, nucleis pinis. hi musto madidi exprimuntur, superiora per se mitia. Translation by Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz Wine is also made from the Syrian carob, and from pears and all kinds of apples (one from pomegranates is called rhoites) as also from cornels , medlars, service berries, dried mulberries and fir-cones; the last are soaked in must before being pressed, but the juice of the preceding fruits is sweet of itself. c. 77 CE – 79 CE , Pliny the Elder , Naturalis Historia 15.XXIX–XXXIII : XXIX 100 Acinorum quoque magna est differentia, primum inter uvas ipsas callo, teneritate, crassitudine, interiore ligno aliis parvo et aliis etiam gemino, qui minime feraces musti. plurimum vero differunt hederae sabucique acini, et figura etiam Punici, angulosi quippe soli. nec cutis ulla singulis praeter communem quae est candida. totisque sucus et caro est, iis praecipue quibus parvolum inest ligni. 101 magna et bacis differentia: aliae namque sunt olivis, lauris et alio modo loto, cornis , alio myrtis, lentisco. aquifolio enim spinae sine suco, medioque etiamnum genere inter bacas acinosasque cerasis. pompu iis primo candidum et fere omnibus bacis; mox aliis virescit, ut olivis, lauris, rubet vero moris, cerasis, cornis . dein nigrescit moris, cerasis, olivis. XXX 102 Cerasi ante victoriam Mithridaticam L. Luculli non fuere in Italia, ad urbis annum DCLXXX. is primum invexit e Ponto, annisque CXX trans oceanum in Britanniam usque pervenere; eadem [ut diximus] in Aegypto nulla cura potuere gigni. cerasorum Aproniana maxime rubent, nigerrima sunt Lutatia, Caeciliana vero et rotunda. 103 Iunianis gratus sapor, sed paene tantum sub arbore sua, adeo teneris, ut gestatum non tolerent. principatus duracinis quae Pliniana Campania appellat, in Belgica vero Lusitanis, in ripis etiam Rheni. tertius iis colos e nigro ac rubenti viridique, similis maturescentibus semper. 104 minus quinquennium est quod prodiere quae vocant laurea, non ingratae amaritudinis, insitae in lauru. sunt et Macedonica, parvae arboris raroque tria cubita excedentis, et minore etiamnum frutice chamaecerasi. inter prima hoc e pomis colono gratiam annuam refert. septentrione frigidisque gaudet, siccatur etiam sole conditurque ut oliva cadis. XXXI 105 quae cura et cornis atque etiam lentisco adhibetur. ne quid non hominis ventri natum esse videatur, miscentur sapores et alio alius placere cogitur; miscentur vero et terrae caelique tractus: in alio cibi genere India advocatur, in alio Aegyptus, Creta, Cyrene singulaeque terrae. nec cessat in veneficiis vita, dum modo omnia devoret. planius hoc fiet in herbarum natura. XXXII 106 Interim quae sunt communia et pomis omnibusque sucis saporum genera XIII reperiuntur: dulcis, suavis, pinguis, amarus, austerus, acer, acutus, acerbus, acidus, salsus. praeter haec tria sunt genera mirabili maxime natura: unum in quo plures pariter sentiuntur sapores, ut vinis; namque in iis et austerus et acutus et dulcis et suavis, omnes alieni. 107 alterum est genus in quo sit et alienus quidem, sed et suus quidam ac peculiaris, ut in lacte; si quidem inest ei quod tamen iure dici dulce et pingue et suave non possit, optinente lenitate, quae ipsa succedit in saporis vicem. 108 nullus hic aquis nec sucus, ut tamen eo ipso fiat aliquis ac suum genus faciat. sentiri quidem aquae saporem ullum sucumve vitum est. magnum his omnibus in odore momentum et magna cognatio; qui et ipse nullus est aquis aut, si sentitur omnino, vitium est. mirum tria naturae praecipua elementa sine sapore esse, sine odore, sine suco: aquas, aëra, ignes. XXXIII 109 Ergo sucorum vinosi piro, moro, myrto, minime, quod miremur, uvis; pingues olivae, lauro, nuci iuglandi, amygdalis; dulces uvis, ficis, palmis; aquosus prunis. magna differentia et in colore suci: sanguineus moris, cerasis, cornis , uvis nigris; idem albis candidus, lacteus in capite ficis, in corpore non item, spumeus malis, nullus Persicis, cum praesertim duracina suco abundent. sed quis eius ullum dixerit colorem? 110 sua et in odore miracula: malis acutus, Persicis dilutus, dulcibus nullus. nam et vinum tale sine odore, tenue odoratius multoque celerius talia ad usum veniunt quam pinguia. quae odorata, non eadem in gustu tenera, quia non sunt pariter odor et sapor. quam ob rem citreis odor acerrimus, sapor asperrimus, quadamtenus et cotoneis, nullusque odor ficis. Translation by Rackham, Jones, & Eichholz XXIX. There is also a great difference among the acinus classto begin with, between grapes themselves, which vary in respect of firmness, thinness or thickness of skin and the stone inside, which in some is specially small and in others actually double, the latter producing extremely little juice. Again, the berries of the ivy and the elder are very widely different, and the pomegranate differs greatly in shape also, being the only fruit that has corners; and there is no membrane for each separate grain, but only one wrapping for them all in common, which is white in colour. And these fruits consist entirely of juice and flesh, particularly the ones which contain only a small amount of woody substance. There is also a great variety among the berries of the baca kind, those of the olive and the laurel being different, and that of the lotus differing in structure from that of the cornel and that of the myrtle from that of the lentisk; indeed the berries of the holly and the may contain no juice; and moreover the cherry forms a class intermediate between the baca kind of berries and the acinus kind: its fruit is at first white, as is that of almost all the bacae. At a later stage with some the berry turns green, e.g. the olive and the laurel; but in the case of the mulberry, the cherry and the cornel it changes to red, and then with the mulberry, cherry and olive it turns black. XXX. Before the victory of Lucius Lucullus in the war against Mithridates, that is down to 74 BC., there were no cherry-trees in Italy. Lucullus first imported them from Pontus, and in 120 years they have crossed the ocean and got as far as Britain; but all the same no attention has succeeded in getting them to grow in Egypt. Of cherries the Apronian are the reddest, and the Lutatian the blackest, while the Caecilian kind are perfectly round. The Junian cherry has an agreeable flavour but practically only if eaten under the tree on which it grows, as it is so delicate that it does not stand carriage. The highest rank, however, belongs to the bigaroon cherry called by the Campanians the Plinian cherry, but in Belgium to the Lusitanian, and so also on the banks of the Rhine. This cherry has a third kind of colour, a blend of black, bright red and green, which looks as if the fruit were always not quite ripe. It is less than five years ago that what is called the laurel-cherry was introduced, which has a not disagreeable bitter flavour, and is produced by grafting a cherry on a bay-tree. There are also Macedonian cherries, grown on a tree of small size and rarely exceeding four and half feet in height, and ground-cherries, with a still smaller bush. The cherry is one of the earliest fruits to repay its yearly gratitude to the farmer. It likes a north aspect and cold conditions; moreover it can be dried in the sun and stored in casks like olives. XXXI. The same amount of care is also bestowed on the cornel , and even on the lentisk. So that nothing may not appear to have come into existence for the sake of man's appetite, flavours are blended and different ones are forced to gratify different persons; indeed even the regions of the earth and of the sky are blended: in one kind of food the aid of India is invoked, in another that of Egypt, Crete, Cyrene and every land in turn. Nor does our regimen stick at poisons, if only it may devour everything. This will become clearer when we come to the nature of herbaceous plants. XXXII. In the meantime we find that there are ten kinds of flavours that belong in common to the fruits and to all their juices; sweet, luscious, unctuous, bitter, rough, acrid, sham, harsh, acid and salt. Beside these there are three other flavours of a particularly remarkable nature: (1) one in which several tastes are discerned simultaneously, as in winesfor they contain both a rough and a sham and a sweet and a luscious taste, all of them different from each other; (2) another kind is that which contains both the flavour of something else and one that is its own and peculiar to itself, for instance milkinasmuch as milk contains a something which nevertheless cannot rightly be called sweet or unctuous or luscious, being possessed by a smoothness which of itself takes the place of a flavour; (3) water has no flavour at all and no flavouring constituent, yet still this very fact gives it some taste and makes it form a class of its own: at all events for water to have any perceptible taste or flavour is a defect. In all these flavours smell is of great importance and a great factor of affinity; in the case of water even smell is entirely absent, or if perceptible at all is a defect. It is a remarkable fact that the three chief natural elements, water, air and fire, have neither taste, smell, nor any flavour whatever. XXXIII. Among juices, then, those with a vinous and flavour are the juices of the pear, the mulberry and the myrtle-berry, and surprising as it may seem, the juice of the grape least of all. The juice of the olive, laurel, walnut and almond is unctuous, that of grapes, figs and dates is sweet, and that of plums watery. There is also a great difference in the colour of juice: that of the mulberry, the cherry, the cornel and the black grape is blood-red; the juice of white grapes is of a light colour; fig juice is milky white in the part near the stalk but not in the body of the fruit; apple juice is the colour of foam; peach juice has no colour at all, in spite of the. fact that the hard peach has a large quantity of juice, but no one would say that this has any colour. Smell also contains its own marvels. Apples have a pungent scent, peaches a weak one, and sweet fruits none at all; for even sweet wine has no smell, although thin wine has more aroma, and wines of that class become fit for use much sooner than those with more body. Fruits with a scent are not likewise agreeable to the palate, as scent and flavour do not go togetherso that citrons have a very penetrating smell and a very rough taste, and in some degree that is the case with quinces also; and figs have no smell.