Il Sefer ha-yaqar di Šabbeṯay Donnolo: traduzione italiana commentata

Abstract

The Sefer ha-yaqar of Šabbeṯay Donnolo: An Annotated Italian Translation

The Sefer ha-yaqar, also known as Sefer ha-mirqaḥoṯ, is a work of pharmacopoeia written by the Jewish medic and astronomer Šabbeṯay Donnolo, in which the author sums up his forty-year experience in preparing electuaries (mirqaḥoṯ) and other medicaments. Honey is the main ingredient for electuaries, so the treatise first of all gives instructions as to how to avoid the wrong kinds of honey and how to prepare the right ones in order to make them last for a long time. Numerous herbs, plants, flowers and resins are described, together with the correct procedure for each one in order to mix them not only with honey but occasionaly also with oil and other fats. The present Italian translation, which was carried out on the Hebrew text, presents some new suggestions regarding the identification of some plant names, of which Donnolo often gives the Latin, Greek or vernacular versions.