5-fenugreek

Achilles的馬到底吃甚麼草?

(答案三)

fenugreek

Trigonella Foenum-graecum

葫蘆巴

1. 葫蘆巴，又稱雲香草、香草、苦草、苦豆、苦朵菜、香苜蓿或香豆子等，為一年生豆科蝶形花亞科葫蘆巴屬的一種植物，其種子是調味料和中藥；不僅是一種蔬菜，也是一種藥材。 原產地中海地區，中國在四川、河南、甘肅、安徽等省也有栽培。 葫蘆巴為一年生草本植物，株高20至80厘米，全株有香氣。莖直立多叢生 (維基百科)… 其中之一的翻譯是香苜蓿，是羅念生翻譯時採用「苜蓿」的原因吧!

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenugreek

2. 目前考古在伊拉克(Tell Halal)發現碳化的胡蘆巴種子，約莫是西元前4000年留下；在Tutankhamen墳墓也有發現，屬於銅器時代的遺物。

3.  Cato the Elder [Marcus Porcius Cato (234 BC, Tusculum – 149 BC) ]認為古代人種幸運草、葫蘆巴、和紫雲英(vetch)等三種草，作為牛馬等牲畜的糧草。這也說明這裡的λωτός可能是葫蘆巴。

4. 另兩則古籍出處: Dsc.2.102; Gal.12.65 [待查證]。

 

種子: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fenugreek-methi-seeds.jpg

5. 西方飲食中香料之一，請參考BBC食譜: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/fenugreek

This is an aromatic Mediterranean plant that produces long pods containing oblong, brownish seeds. The seeds have a slightly bitter taste and are roasted and ground and used as a flavouring in curries. The leaves from the plant (often sold as methi) can be used in salads, and both fresh and dried leaves are used in Indian cookery. The seeds and the leaves have a strong aroma.

6.華人世界常拿來作為藥材:

葫蘆巴含有一些非常重要的化合物，含Diosgenin-β-D-glucoside、Dioscin、25D-Spirosta-3, 5-diene、Tigogenin、Gitogenin、Gitogenin、Yamogenin等皂苷成分，且含有Vitexin、saponaretin、Isoorientin、槲皮素(Quercetin)、木犀草素(Luteolin)等黃酮的成分、纖維、蛋白質、胺基酸與脂肪酸等重要化合物，這些活性化學物質構成了葫蘆巴主要的保健功效1,2。更多藥效請參考http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%83%A1%E8%8A%A6%E5%B7%B4

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJq1Ijs0M30

下面圖片來源: http://www.awl.ch/heilpflanzen/trigonella_foenum_graecum/

Iliad 2. 768-779

ἀνδρῶν αὖ μέγ᾽ ἄριστος ἔην Τελαμώνιος Αἴας ὄφρ᾽ Ἀχιλεὺς μήνιεν: ὃ γὰρ πολὺ φέρτατος ἦεν, ἵπποι θ᾽ οἳ φορέεσκον ἀμύμονα Πηλεΐωνα. ἀλλ᾽ ὃ μὲν ἐν νήεσσι κορωνίσι ποντοπόροισι κεῖτ᾽ ἀπομηνίσας Ἀγαμέμνονι ποιμένι λαῶν Ἀτρεΐδῃ: λαοὶ δὲ παρὰ ῥηγμῖνι θαλάσσης δίσκοισιν τέρποντο καὶ αἰγανέῃσιν ἱέντες τόξοισίν θ᾽: ἵπποι δὲ παρ᾽ ἅρμασιν οἷσιν ἕκαστος λωτὸν ἐρεπτόμενοι ἐλεόθρεπτόν τε σέλινον ἕστασαν: ἅρματα δ᾽ εὖ πεπυκασμένα κεῖτο ἀνάκτων ἐν κλισίῃς: οἳ δ᾽ ἀρχὸν ἀρηΐφιλον ποθέοντες φοίτων ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα κατὰ στρατὸν οὐδὲ μάχοντο. 英文翻譯: Of horses best by far were the mares of the son of Pheres, those that Eumelas drave, swift as birds, [765] like of coat, like of age, their backs as even as a levelling line could make. These had Apollo of the silver bow reared in Pereia, both of them mares, bearing with them the panic of war. And of warriors far best was Telamonian Aias, while yet Achilles cherished his wrath; for Achilles was far the mightiest, [770] he and the horses that bare the peerless son of Peleus. Howbeit he abode amid his beaked, seafaring ships in utter wrath against Agamemnon, Atreus' son, shepherd of the host; and his people along the sea-shore took their joy in casting the discus and the javelin, and in archery; [775] and their horses each beside his own car, eating lotus and parsley of the marsh, stood idle, while the chariots were set, well covered up, in the huts of their masters. But the men, longing for their captain, dear to Ares, roared hither and thither through the camp, and fought not. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D734

這裡的Lotus (λωτός)，確定是馬吃的糧，還是有非常多的可能：

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lwto%5Cn&la=greek&can=lwto%5Cn0&prior=e(/kastos&d=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133:book=2:card=734&i=1#lexicon name applied to various plants and trees (Thphr.HP7.15.3, Plin.HN14.101, cf. Hsch.) providing fodder or fruit: I. fodder plants, 1. clover, trefoil, Trifolium fragiferum, Od.4.603, Thphr.HP7.8.3, 7.13.5, Dsc. 4.111. 2. fellbloom, Lotus corniculatus, Il.14.348, Plin.HN22.55. 3. = τῆλις, fenugreek, Trigonella Foenum-graecum, Dsc.2.102; λ. ἄγριος wild fenugreek, T. gladiata, Id.4.111, Gal.12.65. 4. melilot, T. graeca, Thphr.HP9.7.3. b. Italian melilot, Melilotus messanensis, Dsc.4.110, Gal. l.c. 5. = κύτισος, Medicago arborea, Ps.-Dsc.4.112. II. Nile water-lily, Egyptian lotus, Nymphaea Lotus, Hdt.2.92, Thphr.HP4.8.9, PHib.1.152 (iii B.C.), Dsc.4.113, Plin.HN13.107; the blue species (Nymphaea stellata), Thphr.HP 4.8.11; also, Nymphaea Nelumbo, Ath.3.73a. III. of trees found in Libya, 1. nettle-tree, Celtis australis, Thphr.HP1.5.3, 4.3.1, Dsc. 1.117, etc.; used for making flutes, Thphr.HP4.3.4: hence b. in E. (lyr.) and later poets, flute, “λ. . . Μουσᾶν θεράπων” El.716, cf. Pae.Delph.12, AP7.182 (pl., Mel.); “Λίβυς λ.” E.Tr.544, Hel.170, IA 1036, prob. in Limen.13. c. pipe inserted in the νάβλα, Sopat. 10. d. tube or stalk of vaginal speculum, Aët. 16.89, Paul.Aeg. 6.73. 2. tree growing among the Lotophagi, Zizyphus Lotus, “λωτοῖο . . μελιηδέα καρπόν” Od.9.94, cf. Hdt.2.96, 4.177, Thphr.HP4.3.1-4, Plb.12.2.2.