Happy New Year, tunesmyth! I hope you and your family are doing better than previously.
Regarding the dream: yeah, you bet we're following up on it—I've read Synesius!
Regarding the song title: you sent me down quite a rabbit hole on "nardus" (in Greek, νάρδος)—Pliny wrote about it in his Natural History. It's an essential oil, and the good stuff, "Indian Nardus," is the same plant called "spikenard" today, Nardostachys Jatamansi. However, that was expensive since it had to be imported over vast distances, so it was commonly adulterated with fake nardus (ψευδόναρδος, "pseudo-nardos"), which was... you guessed it, ἴφυον, spike lavender!
That reminds me of a funny story concerning adulterants that I learned about as I winemaker. For many years, folklore in England claimed that port was very good for preventing illness. French scientists caught wind of this and put it to the test, finding that no, there was no benefit whatsoever. The English, shocked and offended, tested it themselves and found that no, it really was beneficial. After much digging it was discovered that English port was good for preventing illness, and that only because the unscrupulous English wine merchants adulterated the expensive port with cheap elderberry wine, which is, in fact, good for preventing illness. :) (It's also one of my favorite wines to make.)
Regarding the song itself: thank you for linking it! Alas, it is all Greek to me. ;)
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2024-02-27 08:43 pm (UTC)Regarding the dream: yeah, you bet we're following up on it—I've read Synesius!
Regarding the song title: you sent me down quite a rabbit hole on "nardus" (in Greek, νάρδος)—Pliny wrote about it in his Natural History. It's an essential oil, and the good stuff, "Indian Nardus," is the same plant called "spikenard" today, Nardostachys Jatamansi. However, that was expensive since it had to be imported over vast distances, so it was commonly adulterated with fake nardus (ψευδόναρδος, "pseudo-nardos"), which was... you guessed it, ἴφυον, spike lavender!
That reminds me of a funny story concerning adulterants that I learned about as I winemaker. For many years, folklore in England claimed that port was very good for preventing illness. French scientists caught wind of this and put it to the test, finding that no, there was no benefit whatsoever. The English, shocked and offended, tested it themselves and found that no, it really was beneficial. After much digging it was discovered that English port was good for preventing illness, and that only because the unscrupulous English wine merchants adulterated the expensive port with cheap elderberry wine, which is, in fact, good for preventing illness. :) (It's also one of my favorite wines to make.)
Regarding the song itself: thank you for linking it! Alas, it is all Greek to me. ;)