Mandrake (cultural history)

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Alraun man and Alraun woman in the Hortus sanitatis Mainz 1491

The (common) mandrake ( Mandragora officinarum ) from the genus Mandragora is a poisonous medicinal and ritual plant that has been considered a magical remedy since ancient times , mainly because of its special root shape, which can resemble the human figure.

Etymology and common names

The name Alraune comes from Middle High German alrūne from Old High German alrūna (probably derived from the female personal name Albrūna due to the human shape of the root; Old High German Albrūn is documented ; for the ending cf. for example " Gudrun ") and was the translation from Latin mandragora (a translation of Hebrew dūdaīm : in the Bible term for yellow berries of a nightshade species used for love spell ). The name Albrūna (meaning "the one gifted with the magic of the albums") can be traced back to Tacitus' Germania .

According to Grimm , the mandrake was named after the name of the old Germanic seer Albruna , which is derived from ahd.  Alb  ' Alb , Mahr , Faun ' and ahd.  Rûnen  'softly speak, secretly whisper, whisper', got. Runa (“secret”) or north. run ("secret, rune ").

The name Mandragora is possibly of old Persian origin and related to Persian mardom ("people, people").

Other names are: the mandrake , the Mandrake , 's Alraunl ( "the Alraunerl") Araunl, Oraunl , Uraundl , Arun , the Alruneken that Alruncke , Baaras , Hangman , Heinzel male , Spring root , root servant , Doll Wurz , magic root , Dutch pisdiefje , Icelandic þjófarót 'thief's root' and Arabic Arabic بیض الجن baiḍ al-ğinn "ghost egg" or Arabic تفاح المجانین tuffāḥ al-mağānīn "apple of the mad" (or "possessed").

Old testament

Common mandrake ( Mandragora officinarum )

It is likely that the u. a. in Genesis 30,14-16  OT and Hld 7,14  OT called dudai (pl. duda'im דודאים) is identical to the mandrake that can be found on the mountains Hermon , Karmel and Gilboa to this day . (cf. Löw 1924, III, 363–368; Zohary 1986) In the Old High German glosses on the text passage, the mandragora or dudai is transliterated with alrūna , alrūn .

While the Vulgate uses the term “Mandragora” (“Egressus autem Ruben tempore messis triticeae in agrum, reperit mandragoras, quas matri Liae detulit”), Luther initially left the term untranslated (“Dudaim”). The revised Luther Bible ( Gen. 30: 14-16  LUT ) speaks of "love apples": " Reuben went out at the time of the wheat harvest and found love apples in the field and brought them home to his mother Leah ." Aphrodisiac is considered (see Hld 7,14  LUT ), a fertility-promoting effect is ascribed here.

The fact that mandrake is meant here has long been disputed. Heinrich Heine wrote of Helgoland to Ludwig Börne :

“In the Old Testament I read through the first book of Moses. […] I hear them bleating, Jacob's sheep […] Meanwhile Reuben comes home and brings his mother a bouquet of dudaim , which he picked in the field. Rachel asks for the dudaim , and Leah gives it to her on condition that Jacob sleep with her the next night. What are dudaim? The commentators puzzled over it in vain. Luther doesn't know what to do better than calling these flowers dudaim as well. Maybe they are Swabian yellow vines. [...] "

As late as 1879, in some biblical registers on Dudaim, “according to the understanding of the word: something lovely, pleasant. Whether it was a flower or a fruit is still uncertain ”. The etymology of the word duda'im also remains unclear.

Antiquity

Mesopotamia

An identification with the Sumerian Namtar plant (NAM.TAR. (IRA)) as the supplier of the mandrake root (SUḪUŠgišNAM.TAR) is being considered, but is uncertain. It is also not clear whether the translation "fate" refers to the plant or the associated underworld god Namtaru . This is associated with the inhabitants of Martu in northern Mesopotamia.

Northern Iran

In Golestan , the leaves and berries of the Turkmen mandragora were traditionally eaten in small doses. It is unclear whether this served to support a shamanistic journey to the gods. In any case, this region is the region of origin of the Turkmen species.

Egypt

The mandragora was not native to ancient Egypt , but has been cultivated there as a garden plant since the Hyksos and in the New Kingdom . In the grave of the pharaoh Tutankhamun (approx. 1332 to 1323 BC, 18th dynasty) fruits and harvest representations were found, in the grave of the builder Sennedjem (grave TT1 in Thebes-West) from the reign of Pharaoh Sethos I (1290 to 1279 v. Chr., 19th dynasty) it was together with hyphaene , sycamore fig , date palm , poppies and cornflower shown.

In a demotic papyrus from the third century AD the mandrake is mentioned as part of a sleeping potion .

Greece and Rome

Male and female «Mandragoras» in Dioscurides Neapolitanus 6. – 7. Further historical images of mandrake man and mandrake woman:

It remains to be seen whether the plant, which was called “mandragoras” in Greece, was meant by the mandrake root, which is called today. Dioscurides and Pliny described a "female" "mandragoras" (with narrow and small leaves) and a "male" "mandragoras" (with large and broad leaves). Dioscurides also mentioned a third "Mandragoras" with the name "Morion", which has a particularly strong hypnotic effect. In the 16th century the fathers of botany interpreted the "mandragoras" described by Dioscurides and Pliny. They interpreted the “female” plant as Mandragora officinarum , the “male” plant as Mandragora autumnalis and the third plant as Atropa belladonna .

In Greece the fruits of the "mandragoras" were consecrated to the goddess Aphrodite , which is why she was nicknamed Mandragoritis . Dioscurides and Pliny also called the plant Kirkaia - Circe herb and derived from it that it was a means of love .

Theophrast and Pliny described a ceremony that was carried out during the harvest of the "mandragoras". The root was circled three times with a sword. She was then excavated with a face facing west. Meanwhile, someone else was dancing in a circle and singing about the power of love. Theophrastus called this the deceitful fable of the root graves.

The pictorial representation of a harvesting process in which a dog was used on a leash is based on the report of Flavius ​​Josephus about the harvest of the "Baaras" root. In the Herbarius Pseudo-Apuleius compiled in the 4th century , the Mandragora chapter was initially missing, but was added to the text corpus early on. This chapter describes in detail the rite of mandragora harvest, carried out with the help of a dog on a leash:

"Mandragora" harvest with a dog on a leash. Pseudo-Apuleius , MS Kassel, 9th century. Further historical images of the harvest rite:
“The effect of the mandragora. They should be gathered in this way because their benefits are vast. When you get to her, you will recognize her as follows: At night her head shines like a lamp. When you see it, quickly draw a circle around it with iron so that it does not escape you. Her power is so great that if an impure person comes to her, she quickly flees from him. So quickly make a circle with iron around her and dig a ditch around her without touching her with the iron, and very carefully remove the earth in front of her with an ivory stick, and when you see the feet and hands of the mandragora for herself , then finally tie the plant with a new piece of string. And after you've tied them, tie the string around the neck of a dog too. Before doing this, you make the dog hungry and its food should be placed away from it so that it can pull the plant up by pulling; but if you do not want to destroy the dog, since the divinity of the plant should be so great that it destroys the one who uproots it at the same moment, so if you do not want to destroy the dog, as said above, do so it like the dealers ... "

In the 1st century, Dioscurides and Pliny made identical statements on the medical use of the "mandragoras". The juice from the root, especially from the root bark, should have a stronger effect than the juice from the fruit. The leaves, which were preserved in brine, were used for external use:

  • The root, crushed with rose oil and wine, works as an eye medicine against tearing and eye pain.
  • The juice causes vomiting and thus drives out phlegm and melancholy .
  • It makes you sleep, kills in excess.
  • The alcoholic extract from the root bark makes it insensitive to pain.
It enables cutting and burning without pain.
  • The juice taken as a suppository stimulates the menstrual bleeding and drives the embryo out.
  • As an envelope, the leaves heal inflammation, abscesses and skin changes.

Middle Ages and Modern Times

In the Arab and Latin Middle Ages, as well as in the early modern period, medical authors drew from ancient and late ancient sources, in particular from the works of Dioscurides and Pliny. An exception was Hildegard von Bingen , who reported in her Physica exclusively on the healing rites to be performed with the mandrake root. The French surgeon Guy de Chauliac described the numbing and pain-relieving effects of mandrake.

Arab Middle Ages:

Latin Middle Ages:

In the 12th century Hildegard von Bingen dedicated an entire chapter in her Physica to mandrake. She believed the devil lived in the untreated plant. When this was cleansed of evil by being soaked in spring water ( queckborn ) for 24 hours , it could be used for healing rites. With good medicinal use, the plant should work against sexual desires, the female plant in men, the male plant in women. The consumption of the corresponding parts of the mandrake root purified in spring water should help against diseases of individual parts of the body. Against melancholy, on the other hand, it was sufficient to take the root to bed with you and say a certain prayer when it warmed up. In this case, could beechnuts replace the mandrake.
With reference to Theodoric von Lucca , Guy described the manufacture and use of a sleeping sponge: a sponge was soaked in a solution of opium , the juice of the black nightshade , black henbane , mandrake , ivy , hemlock and poison lettuce and then dried and stored. Before the operation, the sponge was moistened and held under the patient's nose for anesthesia.
Guy attached a list of drugs commonly used in surgery to his Chirugia Magna. Regarding the Mandragora he remarked:
“Mandragora. A herb cold and dry in the third degree with anesthetic. "
  • Mainz herb book connections.
Herbarius Moguntinus , Mainz 1484, Cap. 94
Gart der Gesundheit , Mainz 1485, Chapter 257: Mandragora alrun Man, Chapter 258: Mandragora alrun Fraw
Hortus sanitatis , Mainz 1491, Chapter 276: Mandragora vir, Chapter 277: Mandragora femine
“… Quite a few ſspeak aso ... and they are dug by the gallows / kum of the nature of a urinating thief / who is wrong. ... Quite a few falſch betrieger ſchnydent vß der Wurzlen brionia in tütſcher tongues dog pear / pint of a human image / vnd thread of reynemr yarn pulled with a neat knot through ire höubter in geſtalt des hores / vnd cut off in a littem [after irem begeren] = loamy] erdrich / ſo it gets the color of a root / and sell it for the root alrun. But it is wrong ... "

Modern times:

Leonhart Fuchs , New Kräuterbuch, Basel 1543, Cap. 201:
“… The mandrake likes to roam in forests and places like chateau. They are also planted in gardens. ... "
Hieronymus Bock , Herbal Book, Strasbourg 1546, Part II, Cap. 126:
"... Now I have not seen the Mandragora / that is why I can not write any more about it. ..."
Pietro Andrea Mattioli and Joachim Camerarius the Younger Herbal Book . Johan Feyerabend, Franckfurt am Mayn 1586, sheet 379r-380r:
“… Dioscorides reports ſOne of two sexes / the male and female / are awake in many places of the Whreland / and in particular in Apulia on the Gargano mountain , then they bring the potatoes / and the bark from the Wurtzlen / to our apotecks. One cilet ſie also in several gardens to the Spectackel / then I went to Naples / Rome / and Venice both mandrakes in gardens and shards for the windows. ... "
  • Albrecht von Haller (editor). Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon which explains all names and artificial words which are peculiar to the science of medicine and pharmacists art clearly and completely [...]. Gaumische Handlung, Ulm / Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1755, column 952-53:
“... The whole plant is mainly known because of the root, about which one says and writes more superstitiously than there is really good about it. ... The bark has something numbing about it, which is evidently indicated by the very disgusting and peculiar smell; you mainly needed the bark of the root ... but you never touch the same today, and you consider it suspicious, at least for internal use ... "
  • August Friedrich Hecker ’s practical medicine theory. Revised and enriched with the latest discoveries by a practicing doctor. Camesius, Vienna 1814, Volume I, p. 508:
"... You can easily do without them, since we have no lack of similar remedies for gout, scirrhus, epilepsy, hysteria, colic etc."

Fables and rites

According to the legends, in order to own and use a mandrake, it was necessary to enter into an alliance with the devil in any case . A deceased owner of a mandrake had to be given bread and money in the grave. (Meyer 1884, 64). Giving a gift before death also only solved this problem to a limited extent, because what was given could not be given away, but always returned to the first owner. (Manz 1916, 99). Also mandrakes were intended not only as root, but as well as a toad (cf.. Lütolf 1862, 192f.), As a golden egg-laying Dragon (see. Vernaleken 1859, 260) or as an undefined nature with rolling eyes what the symptoms of a Mandrake poisoning seems to be modeled on (Rauchholz 1856, II, 43).

From 16./17. In the 19th century, there were also numerous legends and fables about mandrakes. They were among the most sought-after vegetable talismans and were supposed to help as amulets against evil spells and wounds of all kinds. There was brisk trade in fake mandrake roots imported from the Orient, the root of the bryan , the bloodroot (tormentille), the plantain or the orchid (often reworked with a carving knife). Bächtold-Stäubli even assumed that almost every plant sold as mandrake in Europe was not a real one. (HWbDA 1,316). Plants with a non-psychedelic effect, such as orchid and the iris , were in demand because of their mandragora-like roots.

Occidental mandrakes were now clothed (in contrast to oriental originals). In addition, it can be assumed that, depending on the complexity of the carving that produced this mandrake, further processing became increasingly unlikely. It also remains unclear whether church influence was already asserting itself with the increasing clothing of the figures and how this tendency (if any) to remove the love potion character can be reconciled with the increasing genderization of the roots - which also led to one there was hardly any difference between male and female mandrakes. The mandrake shopkeepers were rightly among the jugglers . Whether this was still more the magic aspect or that of the false mandrake into account must also remain open (cf. HWbDA 1,319). In witch trials, the first aspect was brought to the fore again in each case and confronted with the appropriate herbalists. In a witch trial in Rottenburg ( Württemberg ) from 1650, which Bächtold-Stäubli mentioned (HWbDA 1, 318 according to Birlinger 1874, I, 162), the defendant confessed that he had masturbated in a harness during the night in a forest and buried it that a lucky charm emerges from it (which should in particular provide wealth).

According to various areas and legends, the money could also be brought in from the mandrake through the chimney (cf. Strackerjan in HWbDA 1, 320), and then sometimes left the house the same way. Or the mandrake, to which you put a coin, doubles this (ibid.). The aphrodisiac function has also been expanded. Via obstetrics for pregnant women (cf. Leithaeuser, Bergische Pflanzennamen , 1912, 6; according to HWbDA 1, 320) the mandrake found its way into the course diffuse general remedies. (cf. also Grimm, Sagen , 75).

As recently as 1820, an "alrune" was allegedly fetched from the earth on the Leineberg near Göttingen with the help of a black dog. In this case, the dog survived, but this did not cause any surprise (HWbDA 1, 319). Places under three-peaked hazel trees or those that were infested with mistletoe were now also considered excellent harvesting sites . (ibid.).

Around 1890, so-called lucky roots were still being offered in East Prussia , which came from the yellow iris (Iris pseudacorus) and promised wealth and blessings for children (HWbDA 1, 318). But in addition to these two aspects, which might still be based on a vague idea of ​​the multiplication, any luck was increasingly vaguely tied to mandrake. At the beginning of the 20th century, according to information from Bächtold-Stäubli (HWbDA 1, 318), the Berlin department store Wertheim sold so-called Glücksalraune for 2.25 marks. These were pieces of all-man armor and Siegwurz that were put into a medallion in order to bring about almost any positive change for which superstition has ever devised means: health as well as happiness and wealth and finally also the love of adored person should get this medallion - so an attached note stated.

The Boland sisters also knew mandrake, which should not be confused with Bryonia , as a talisman with an aphrodisiac effect. They warned of the narcotic effects of an overdose.

Impact history

Hans Sachs was already familiar with fake mandrakes ( Works 9, ed. By A. Keller, 16) and Niccolò Machiavelli wrote an evil corruption satire with Mandragola in 1518. Grimmelshausen knew the "hangman". Shakespeare knew the mandrake when he made Julia say:

"Alack, alack, is it not like that I, So early waking, what with loathsome smells, And shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth, That living mortals, hearing them, run mad--"

The root can also be found in Heinrich IV :

"Thou whoreson mandrake."

and in Antony and Cleopatra , when Cleopatra speaks to her servant Charmion:

“Charmion…
Your Highness?
Oh!
Give me mandragora to drink!
How?
That I sleep through the gulf of time,
Where my Antonius is gone! "

Finally, Jagos also knows the Mandragora in Othello when he speaks:

“[…] The Moor is already fighting my poison: -
Dangerous thoughts are like poisons,
which at first you hardly notice the taste,
Just after a short effect on the blood
glow like sulfur mines. I must say it! -
Here he comes. Not poppy seed juice, nor mandragora,
nor all the slumbering
powers of nature, will ever help you to that sweet sleep that
you had yesterday. "

In Ludwig Tieck's story Der Runenberg (1804) the pulling of a mandrake root marks the transition to madness. The Brothers Grimm handed down the fairy tale The Giant and the Tailor , in which it says:

“This guy can do more than fry apples, he's got a mandrake in his body. Be on your guard, old Hans, this is no servant for you. "

In Der kleine Sackpfeifer (from Irish fairy tales , translated by Wilhelm Grimm ), the narrator calls a kid who plays jokes and who later goes to the elves, a mandrake. And in Goethe's case , Mephistus is amazed at the superstition:

"There they stand around and are amazed
not to trust the high find,
one babbling about mandrakes,
the other about the black dog."

Then Ludwig Achim von Arnim ( Isabella ) and Fouqué wrote in 1827 (Mandragora. A novella) about the mandrake. Fouqués The Hangman established this as a name next to the word mandrake. And the above-mentioned Heine writes:

"The cleverest forest spirits are the mandrakes,
long-bearded little men with short legs,
an elderly family as long as a finger,
where they come from, you don't really know."

And elsewhere:

“Where are the mandrakes? I think they
hide fearfully in crevices in the rock.
You little friends, I'll be back, but
without a wreath and without luck. "

Andrew Lang then described the mandrake cry as early as 1893:

“He who desires to possess a mandrake must stop his ears with wax so that he may not hear the deadly yells which the plant utters as it is being dragged from the earth. Then before sunrise on a Friday, the amateur goes out with a dog ›all black‹, makes three crosses' round the mandrake, loosens the soil around the root, ties the root to the dog's tail and offers the beast a bit of bread. The dog runs at the bread, drags out the mandrake root and falls dead, killed by the horrible yell of the plant. "

Klabund used mandrake in Borgia to make the superstition and falsehood of Christianity visible in a prominent place:

“The Pope had already taken refuge in the mandragora, the love potion, which a personal physician had obtained from the mandrake root pulled from the earth by a black dog under the light of the full moon. But the potion hadn't worked so far. […] On a full moon night without mandrake roots and a black dog, Julia the young surrendered to Alexander the old man. [...] Alexander Borgia had Giulia Farnese carried as a living saint in a solemn procession in the reliquary box. "

In James Joyce , the root extract then in 1925 found:

"THERE's a coughmixture scopolamine
And its equal has never been seen
'T would make staid Tutankamen
Laugh and leap like a salmon
And hid mummy hop Skotch on the green."

what Hans Wollschläger translated with

" There's scopolamine cough syrup ,
there's really music in there:
even Tut-ench-amen
would be together quickly.
Put him behind the bandage."

Bächtold-Stäubli also calls the novel mandrake. The story of a living being (1911) by Hanns Heinz Ewers (HDA 1, 321). After the silent film Alraune, the hangman's daughter, called the red Hanne , which Eugen Illés shot in 1918, Henrik Galeen processed the result of artificial insemination of a prostitute with the semen of a criminal executed on the gallows in the 1928 film Alraune with Brigitte Helm . In 1930 Richard Oswald filmed the book again with Alraune , also with Brigitte Helm. In a production of Arthur Maria Rabenalt 1952 played in mandrake then Hildegard Knef said daughter. A musical called mandrake seems to be linked to this, based on a novella by Dietmar Ludwig .

Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore used Mandrake Root as the name for a proposed music project before founding Deep Purple in 1968 . On the band's debut album, Shades of Deep Purple , there is a song with this title, which alludes to the psychoactive effect of the mandrake root and was performed at early concerts in versions with extended solos, some lasting over 20 minutes:

"I've got a mandrake root
It's some thunder in my brain
I feed it to my babe
She thunders just the same"

Today's popular culture

The mandrake appears in the same eight-part erotic - comic series of Rochus Hahn . The name is also used by the US comic Mandrake, the magician (after the English word for mandrake). Even JK Rowling used this motif (see Mandrake ) , but writes the root rückverwandelnde effect to. The mandrake also appears in the feature film Pan's Labyrinth from 2006 and in the horror film Mandrake - The Root of Horror from 2010. Furthermore, the German metal band Edguy named their album Mandrake , released in 2001, after the English word for mandrake , as did the Linux distribution Mandrake Linux (now known as "Mandriva") .

literature

  • Italo Michele Battafarano: Mandragora - Alraun - Galgen-Männlin. Grimmelshausen's examination of superstition. In: Jb. F. Folklore. NF 7, 1984, pp. 179-194.
  • Dieter Beckmann , Barbara Beckmann: Alraun, mugwort and other witch herbs: everyday knowledge of bygone times. Frankfurt am Main / New York 1990.
  • Anton Birlinger: From Swabia. Sagas, legends, superstitions. New collection . 2 volumes. Wiesbaden 1874
  • Robert Cermak: The Magical Novel . Diss., Vienna 1950
  • Jochen Gartz: Hallucinogens in historical writings. An anthology from 1913–1968 . Nachtschatten-Verlag, Solothurn 1999
  • Rolf Giebelmann u. a .: Cultural history on mandrake . In: Toxichem + Krimtech. Bulletin of the Society for Toxicological and Forensic Chemistry, 69 2002, pp. 73–76, gtfch.org (PDF)
  • H. Harms: Suggestions and Answers. On the essay by Prof. Dr. Killermann about Alraun (Mandragora) in No. 11 . In: Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift , NF 16, 1917, p. 351 f.
  • Walter Hävernick: Miracle roots, mandrakes and house spirits in German popular belief . In: Contributions z. German folklore and antiquity , 10, 1966, pp. 17–34
  • Vera Hambel: The old Heydnian idolatrous fable of the mandrake. Use and meaning of mandrake in the past and present . Dipl.-Arb., Passau 2002
  • Heidi Heres: Refuge in Faith - Escape in Superstition (= cultural history of the Dachau country 8). Dachau 1997
  • Juljan Jaworski: The Mandragora in South Russian Folk Faith . In: Zschr. F. Austrian Folklore , 2, 1896, pp. 353–361
  • S. Killermann: The Alraun (Mandragora). A study of natural and cultural history . In: Naturwissenschaftliche Wochenschrift , NF 16, 1917, pp. 137–144
  • Friedrich S. Krauss: An old Viennese mandrake man . In: Anthropophyteia , 10, 1913, pp. 29-33
  • Richard Kühnau: Wroclaw Legends . 2 volumes. Wroclaw 1926
  • Immanuel Löw: The flora of the Jews . 4 volumes. 1924-1934
  • Alois Lütolf: sagas, customs, legends in the five towns of Lucern, Uri, Schwiz, Unterwalden and Zug . Lucern 1862
  • Gerhard Madaus : textbook of biological remedies. Volume II. Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1976, ISBN 3-487-05891-X , pp. 1835–1840 (reprint of the Leipzig 1938 edition) ( online )
  • Werner Manz: Folk custom and popular belief of the Sarganserland (= writings of the Swiss Society for Folklore 12). Basel / Strasbourg 1916
  • Heinrich Marzell : Mandrake. In: Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli (Hrsg.): Concise dictionary of German superstition . 10 volumes. Berlin / Leipzig 1927–1942; 3rd, unchanged edition. Berlin / New York 2000 - abbreviated as HWbDA - Volume I, Berlin / Leipzig 1927, pp. 312-324.
  • Ernst Mechler. Mandragora . In: Rudolf Hänsel , K. Keller, H. Rimpler and G. Schneider (Eds.) Hager's Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice . 5th edition, Springer, Volume 5 Drugs EO Berlin etc. 1993 ISBN 3-540-52638-2 , pp. 762-767
  • Carl Meyer: The superstition of the Middle Ages and the following centuries . Basel 1884
  • Jürgen Müller : Pharmaca diabolica and Pocula amatoria. On the cultural history of the Solanaceae alkaloids atropine and scopolamine. In: Würzburg medical historical research. Volume 17, 1998, pp. 361-373, especially p. 366.
  • Claudia Müller-Ebeling: The mandrake in the Bible . In: Alfred Schlosser 1912, reprint 1987, pp. 141–149
  • Christian Rätsch: The mandrake today . In: Adolf Taylor Starck 1917, Nachdr. 1997, pp. 87-103
  • EL Rauchholz: Swiss legends from Aargau . 2 volumes. Aargau 1856
  • Alfred Schlosser: The saga of the hangman in popular belief and in literature . Diss., Münster 1912 (Reprint Express, Berlin 1987)
  • Peter Schmersahl: Mandrake - medicinal plant and legendary magic plant . In: Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung , 147, 2007, pp. 3666–3670
  • Wolfgang Schmidbauer: The Magical Mandragora . In: Antaios , 10, 1969, pp. 274-286
  • E. Scholz: Mandrake fruits - a biblical aphrodisiac . In: Zschr. F. Phytotherapy , 16, 1995, p. 109 f.
  • Adolf Taylor Starck: The mandrake, a contribution to plant legends . Diss. (1916), Baltimore MD 1917 (Reprint Berlin (Express) 1997)
  • Charles JS Thompson: The Mystic Mandrake . Rider, London 1934
  • Theodor Vernaleken: Myths and customs of the people in Austria . Vienna 1859
  • Gerlinde Volland, Mandragora - Iconography of an anthropomorphic magic plant . In: Yearbook for Ethnomedicine and Consciousness Research, 6, 1997, pp. 11–38
  • [Dr.] Vollmer's dictionary of the mythology of all peoples ; edit again v. W. Binder. 3. Edition. Hoffmann'sche, Stuttgart 1874, vollmer-mythologie.de
  • Michael Zohary: Plants of the Bible . Calwer, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7668-3397-9

Web links

Commons : Mandragora officinarum  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: The Alraun  - Sources and full texts
Wikisource: A magic root  - sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Friedrich Kluge , Alfred Götze : Etymological dictionary of the German language . 20th ed., Ed. by Walther Mitzka , De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1967; Reprint (“21st unchanged edition”) ibid 1975, ISBN 3-11-005709-3 , p. 16.
  2. ^ Friedrich Kluge, Alfred Götze: Etymological dictionary of the German language. 1967, p. 16.
  3. ↑ a b Idiotikon . In: Johann Gabriel Seidl : Poems in the Lower Austrian dialect. Flinserln . Third edition. JP Solinger, Vienna 1844, p. 283 ( digitized in Google book search) (first edition of the Flinserln with explanations of words : 1837; digitized in Google book search)
  4. ^ Adelung dictionary from 1811: Das Heinzelmännlein
  5. ↑ Elias von Steinmeyer : The Old High German Glosses. Volume III. Objectively organized glossaries. Weidmannsche Buchhandlung, Berlin 1895, pp. 51, 100, 197, 338, 387.
  6. ↑ July 18, 1830; from: Ludwig Börne. A memorandum . In: Heine: Works ; ed. v. H. Kaufmann, Vol. VII, p. 120 f.
  7. ↑ Franz Köcher : The Babylonian and Assyrian medicine in texts and studies. I-VI, Berlin 1963-1980, BAM 574: I 1-3.
  8. ↑ Martha Haussperger : Did empirical medicine exist in the Near East before Hippocrates? In: Würzburger medical history reports 17, 1998, pp. 113–128; here p. 121 f.
  9. ↑ Erika Feucht: Mandrake. In: Wolfgang Helck (Hrsg.): Lexikon der Ägyptologie (LÄ). Volume I, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1975, ISBN 3-447-01670-1 , Sp. 144-145.
  10. ↑ Pseudo-Dioscurides de herbis feminis 13th century Mandragora femina, in: Codex Vindobonensis 93 , 13th century ( picture link )
  11. ^ Edition Kästner in: Hermes, Vol. 31 (1896), pp. 599–600 ( digitized version )
  12. ↑ Gart der Gesundheit 1485 ( image link )
  13. ↑ Hortus sanitatis 1491 Mandragora vir ( picture link )
  14. ↑ Hortus sanitatis 1491 Mandragora femina ( picture link )
  15. ↑ Small distilling book 1500 ( picture link )
  16. ↑ Leonhart Fuchs herb book 1543 Alraun mennle ( picture link )
  17. ↑ Hieronymus Bock herbal book 1546 Mandragora little men and women ( picture link )
  18. ↑ Pietro Andrea Mattioli herbal book 1586 Alraun das Männle and Weible ( picture link )
  19. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke : Alraun (e). In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte. De Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 42.
  20. ↑ Julius Berendes . Pedanius Dioscurides' medicine theory in 5 books. Enke, Stuttgart 1902, Book IV, Cap. 76 (pp. 408–11) (digitized version )
  21. ↑ Pliny, 1st century, Naturalis historia , Book XXV, § 147-150 (Chapter XCIV) (digitized Latin) ; (Digitized in German) Edition Külb 1840–1864
  22. ^ Galen , 2nd century, De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus , lib. VII, cap. XII / 4 (after Kühn 1826, vol. XII, p. 67) (digitized version)
  23. ↑ Hieronymus Bock , Herbal Book , Strasbourg 1546, Part II, Cap. 126 (digitized version)
  24. ↑ Brigitte Hoppe. Hieronymus Bock's herbal book. Scientific historical investigation. With a list of all plants in the work, the literary sources of the medicinal indications and the uses of the plants. Hiersemann, Stuttgart 1969, pp. 327-28
  25. ↑ Kurt Sprengel . Theophrast's natural history of plants . Friedrich Hammerich, Altona 1822, part I translation. Book VI, Chapter 2.9 (digitized version) ; Book IX, Chapter 8.8 (digitized version ) ; Book IX, Chapter 9.1 (digitized version)
  26. ↑ Philipp Kohout. Flavius ​​Josephus' Jewish War . Quirin Haslinger, Linz 1901, p. 501 (Book VII, Chapter 6.3) (digitized version)
  27. ↑ Ernst Howald and Henry E. Sigerist . Antonii Musae De herba vettonica, Liber Pseudo-Apulei herbarius, Anonymi De taxone liber, Sexti Placiti Liber medicinae ex animalibus. , Teubner, Leipzig 1927 (= Corpus medicorum latinorum , Vol. IV), p. XVIII (digitized version)
  28. ^ Pseudo-Apuleius . MS Ashmole 1462, 12th century ( picture link )
  29. ↑ Pseudo-Apuleius, Harley MS 1585, 12th century ( picture link )
  30. ↑ Pseudo-Apuleius, MS Sloane 1975, 12th century: ( picture link )
  31. ↑ Pseudo-Apuleius, Harley MS 4986, 12th century ( picture link )
  32. ↑ Pseudo-Apuleius, Harley MS 5294, 12th century ( picture link )
  33. ↑ Pseudo-Apuleius, Codex Vindobonensis 93 , 13th century ( picture link )
  34. ↑ Tacuinum Sanitatis 14th century ( picture link )
  35. ^ Translation of the text according to: Franz Unterkircher. Tacuinum sanitatis ... Graz 2004, p. 78: Mandrake fruits: cold complexion in the 3rd, dry in the 2nd degree. Preferable: large, fragrant. Benefit: if you smell it, good for warm headaches and insomnia; used as a plaster against elephantiasis and against black infection of the skin. Damage: they dull the sensations. Prevention of harm: with ivy fruits. What they produce: they are not edible. Beneficial for people with a warm complexion, for young people, in summer and in southern areas.
  36. ^ Translation of the text according to: Heide Grape-Albers. Late antique images from the world of the doctor. Illuminated medical manuscripts from late antiquity and their medieval tradition. G. Pressler, Wiesbaden 1977, p. 51
  37. ↑ Oswald Cockayne. Leechdoms Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England… 1864. Therein London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius C. iii (11th century) as the main manuscript. (Digitized version)
  38. ^ Avicenna. Canon of Medicine . Revision by Andrea Alpago (1450–1521). Basel 1556, p. 249 (digitized version)
  39. ↑ Approximately instans . Pressure. Venice 1497, sheet 202v (digitized version )
  40. ↑ Pseudo-Serapion . Pressure. Venice 1497, sheet 147v-148r (digitized version )
  41. ↑ Ibn al Baitar. Kitāb al-jāmiʿ li-mufradāt al-adwiya wa al-aghdhiya - Large compilation of the powers of the well-known simple healing and foodstuffs. Translation. Joseph Sontheimer under the title Large compilation on the powers of the well-known simple healing and food. Hallberger, Stuttgart, Volume II 1842, pp. 592–95 (digitized version )
  42. ^ Charles Victor Daremberg and Friedrich Anton Reuss (1810–1868). Physica I / 56. Hildegardis Abbatissae Subtilitatum Diversarum Naturarum Creaturarum Libri Novem. Migne, Paris 1855. Sp. 1151. Based on the Paris manuscript. Liber beate Hildegardis subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum et sic de aliis quam multis bonis. Paris. Bibliothèque Nationale. Codex 6952 f. 156-232. Complete handwriting. 15th century (1425–1450) (digitized)
  43. ↑ Carl Jessen and Ernst Heinrich Meyer. Alberti Magni ex Ordine Praedicatorum. De vegetabilibus libri VII: historiae naturalis pars XVIII. Reimer, Berlin 1867, pp. 535–36 (digitized version )
  44. ^ Cpg 226, Alsace, 1459-69, sheet 201r (digitized version ) Algaricia is called alrün. It's hot on the first and printing on the other. Vnd is two traders. One is the one, the other is called the wip. The white name is better. Alrün pushed and used is good against poisoned. It is also well used against liver addiction. It is well used for loin addiction. It also helps with lung addiction. She also mynnert the wanted milcz. [Missing in Cpg 226: Si is good used against di sucht unde helps against daz vallende. Si vurdirt di wip an ir search.] Alrün is well enough with all cytes.
  45. ^ Bernhard Schnell and William Crossgrove. The German Macer. Vulgate version. With an impression of the Latin Macer floridus "De virtutes herbarum". Issued critically. Niemeyer, Tübingen 2003, p. 476 have identified the second chapter (“Agaricus”) of the “Spuria Macri” as the source for the Algaricia chapter in the German Macer.
  46. ↑ edition. Franz Pfeiffer . Konrad von Megenberg. Book of nature. Aue, Stuttgart 1861, p. 406 (digitized version)
  47. ↑ Edouard Nicaise. La Grande Chirurgie de Guy de Chauliac. Composée en l'an 1363. Felix Alcan, Paris 1890, p. 436 (digitized version)
  48. ↑ Edouard Nicaise. La Grande Chirurgie de Guy de Chauliac. Composée en l'an 1363. Felix Alcan, Paris 1890, p. 650 (digital copy)
  49. ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig , Buch der Chirurgie , Straßburg 1497, sheet 127r: Mandragora alrun krut cold vnd print in the other vnd makes you fear, but the cattle of words makes you slack and the sin and discomfort (digitalisat)
  50. ↑ Herbarius Moguntinus , Mainz 1484, Cap. 94 (digitized version)
  51. ↑ Gart der Gesundheit , Mainz 1485, chapters 257-58 (digitized version )
  52. ↑ Hortus sanitatis , Mainz 1491, chapters 276-77 (digitized version )
  53. ↑ Hieronymus Brunschwig, Small Distilling Book , Strasbourg 1500, sheet 19v-20r (digitized version )
  54. ↑ Leonhart Fuchs, herb book , Basel 1543, cap. 201: (digitized version)
  55. ↑ Hieronymus Bock, Herbal Book , Strasbourg 1546, Part II, Cap. 126: (digitized version)
  56. ↑ P. A Mattioli and J. Camerarius the Elder. J. Herbal Book . Johan Feyerabend, Franckfurt am Mayn 1586, sheet 379r-380r (digitized version )
  57. ^ In the 1st edition Venice 1554, p. 478: “… Mandragorae utrunque genus frequens nascitur in compluribus Italiae locis, praesertim in Apulia Gargano monte, unde radicum cortices, & poma herbarii quotannis ad nos conuehunt. Habentur & in uiridariis spectaculi gratia. Etenim Neapoli, Romae, & Venetijs utraque Mandragoram in hortis & uasis fictilibus sat am uidimus. ... " (digitized version)
  58. ^ Albrecht von Haller (editor). Onomatologia medica completa or Medicinisches Lexicon [...]. Gaumische Handlung, Ulm / Frankfurt am Main / Leipzig 1755, column 952-53 (digitized version )
  59. ↑ August Friedrich Hecker's practical medicine theory. Revised and enriched with the latest discoveries by a practicing doctor. Camesius, Vienna 1814, Volume I, p. 508 (digitized version )
  60. ↑ Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet 4, 3, 45-48
  61. ↑ Shakespeare, Henry IV , 2, 1.2
  62. ↑ Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra , 1, 5
  63. ↑ Shakespeare, Othello , 3, 3
  64. ↑ Goethe, Faust II ; v4977-4980; (= MA 18.1, 116)
  65. ^ Andrew Lang, Custom and Practice
  66. ↑ James Joyce, Chamber Music ; Frankfurt aM 1982, 110
  67. ↑ Joanne K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , 96–96.