| 释义 |
‖ malabathrum Hist.|mæləˈbæθrəm|
Also malobathrum, mala-, malobathron.
[L. māla-, mālobathrum, -on, a. Gr. µᾱλά-, µᾱλόβαθρον, a. Skr. tamālapattra, f. tamāla (Hindī tamāl) the name of various trees (see below) + pattra leaf.]
An aromatic leaf mentioned by ancient writers; a perfumed ointment prepared from this.
The Hindī tamāl, Skr. tamāla (which is the source of the Gr. and L. word), is applied to the tree Xanthochymus pictorius, and also to various species of Cinnamomum, two of which have been named C. Malabathrum and C. Tamala. The ‘malabathrum’ of antiquity was prob. the leaf of one or more species of Cinnamomum. The identification with the betel leaf (Skr. tāmbūla, Hindī tambōl) is erroneous.
1601Holland Pliny I. 378 We are beholden moreover to Syria for Malobathrum... ægypt is more fruitfull of this hearbe than Syria. And yet there commeth a better kind thereof from India than both of these countries. Ibid. 379 The perfume or smell that Malobathrum or the leafe yeeldeth when it is boiled in wine, passeth all others. 1625Purchas Pilgrims I. i. i. 43 Amomum, Ginger, Malabathrum, Ammoniake. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Malobathrum. 1885tr. Wellhausen's Proleg. Hist. Israel 391 The cultivation of the malabathron in Syria. 1886Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 16 For your enjoyment bread, meat, oil, and malobathrum were provided from the store⁓houses. |