Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2016 May 26

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May 26

Latin manuscript

What's the inscription appearing at [1]? Click the image for a full-resolution version. I'd like to upload it to Commons with a transcription. It looks like Ilcophans ___ elephante quod arabit __, but I'm really unsure on arabit and ilcophans, I'm only guessing that the fourth word is an abbreviation of "quod", and I'm totally clueless on two words. Nyttend (talk) 13:05, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

I think the first word is "Ileophans" rather than "Ilcophans". The second word is siue (i.e., sive, "or"). You're right about the abbreviation of quod, but I think the following word is arabic[o], so the second line means "which in Arabic [is called] ———". The last word looks like alxhy or alxhu to me; the al part is clearly the Arabic definite article, but since the Arabic for an elephant is apparently /fiːl/ (roughly), I'm not sure what the rest is supposed to represent. Deor (talk) 13:51, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

(ec) I read the first name as Ileophans (also transcribed as such here [2], referring to the same manuscript), evidently a variant of "elephans". The second word is sive ("or"). The following word has something that looks like a superscript "o", so it should probably be transcribed as "eleophante". I agree on the "quod", evidently an abbreviation. Next must be arabic[e] ("in Arabic"), but I'm not too sure about the reading of the final word, evidently a rendering of what the artist thought the Arabic term for the animal was. Fut.Perf. ☼ 14:00, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

(double ec) Actually, it appears to be on Commons already [3]. shoy (reactions) 14:07, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

The image is from the "Sloan 4016" manuscript (ca. 1440) (folio 50) in the British Library, and appears to be Italian (Lombardy) and possibly created for wealthy bibliophiles of the period. Sir Hans Sloane was the owner as of 1720, and it was earlier owned by Nicholas Joseph Foucault. "Leophans" was a name given to an East Indian semi-mythical beast related to the "Elephant" when the ms. was created (note the accuracy of the image). BL catalogue Collect (talk) 16:37, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

Looking at the full page [4] (click on the image for maximum resolution) the first three headers are Leo animal quod arabice lescet dicitur, Leopardus quod arabice humemet, Lepus siluestris. The first letter of the fourth header could be a Tironian et (⁊), making it et leophans or etleophans or a J used as I making it Jleophans (which is Ileophans). It continues ...siue eleophante quod arabice.... The last c in arabice is modified to include an e. A first guess for the last word is alchy, where the c is again modified to include another letter (which one?) and the last letter could be an y or not. --Pp.paul.4 (talk) 10:41, 28 May 2016 (UTC)