barometz

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English

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WOTD – 6 June 2020

Etymology

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18th-century drawings of the barometz (sense 1).[n 1]
Another drawing of a barometz (sense 1) from a 19th-century children’s book by Friedrich Justin Bertuch.[n 2]
The barometz (sense 2), also known as the golden chicken fern or woolly fern (Cibotium barometz). The legend of the barometz (sense 1) is supposed to have arisen because the furry rhizomes of the plant with stalks growing out of them (above), when inverted, resemble lambs.

Possibly a corruption of Russian баране́ц (baranéc, “species of club moss (genus Lycopodium)”, from бара́н (barán, “ram (male sheep)”) +‎ -ец (-ec, diminutive suffix)).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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barometz (plural barometzes)

  1. (mythology) A purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.
    Synonyms: Scythian lamb, vegetable lamb, vegetable lamb of Tartary
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Some Others”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 152:
      Much wonder is made of the Boramez, that ſtrange plant-animall or vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which Wolves delight to feed on, which hath the ſhape of a Lamb, affordeth a bloudy juice upon breaking, and liveth while the plants be conſumed about it; and yet if all this be no more then the ſhape of a Lamb in the flower or ſeed, upon the top of the ſtalk, as we meet with the formes of Bees, Flies and Dogs in ſome others, he hath ſeen nothing that ſhall much wonder at it.
    • 1789, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), page 30, lines 283–288:
      Cradled in ſnow and fann'd by arctic air / Shines, gentle Barometz! thy golden hair; / Rooted in earth each cloven hood deſcends, / And round and round her flexile neck ſhe bends; / Crops the grey coral moſs, and hoary thyme, / Or laps with roſy tongue the melting rime; [...]
    • 1919 February 15, The Garden: […], volume 83, London: Hudson and Kearns, →OCLC, page 69, column 3:
      [...] I say to you what I should say if any little Barometzes should come under my care. It is more on the imaginary side than the matter of fact.
    • 1948, Willy Ley, The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn: An Excursion in Romantic Zoology, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 82:
      It seemed to be at least as good a vegetable lamb as Lepas was an unripe vegetable bird, and one version of the story itself is probably explained by it. That is the version in which the barometz grows out of the ground, being attached to its root system by its umbilical cord and capable of feeding only as far as that cord will reach—a perfect counterpart to the Jidra of the Talmud.
    • 1987 April 12, Cynthia Ozick, “The Library of Nonexistent Classics”, in The New York Times Book Review‎[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 November 2017, page 12:
      One has only to consult [Jorge Luis] Borges's own "Book of Imaginary Beings" to encounter chimeras, phoenixes, basilisks, barometzes (the last a kind of vegetable lamb) and the like.
    • 1999, Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, “On the Short and Diverting Road by which He Came Home to His Da”, in Mike Mitchell, transl., Simplicissimus, Sawtry, Cambridgeshire: Dedalus Books, published 2010, →ISBN:
      However, one night when I was hard at work in one of the powder mills outside the fortress, I was captured along with some others by a band of Tartars and carried off so deep into their territory that I not only saw borametz, the legendary sheep-shaped melon, growing, I ate it.
  2. A golden chicken fern or woolly fern (Cibotium barometz), the rhizomes of which are covered in furry brown hair; the legend (sense 1) is supposed to have arisen because, when inverted, the rhizomes with stalks growing out of them resemble lambs.
    • 1807, J[ohn] Aikin, “Chinese Tatary”, in Geographical Delineations, or A Compendious View of the Natural and Political State of All Parts of the Globe, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for F. Nichols, by Kimber, Conrad, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 256–257:
      A singular vegetable production met with in the deserts, concerning which various fables have been related, is a kind of fern called the barometz, or Scythian lamb; the latter name being given to it from its woolly body, attached to the ground by a long slender stalk, affording a distant resemblance to a lamb grazing.
    • 1826, Eliza P. Reid, “Part I. Rice, Licorice, Maize, or Indian Wheat, and Some Other Plants.”, in Historical and Literary Botany, […], volume III, Windsor, Berkshire: C. Andrews, […], →OCLC, pages 7 and 8:
      [page 7] The Tartarian, or Scythian lamb, or borametz, is a plant, of which many miraculous tales are told. Travellers say that it exactly resembles a lamb, and that its pulp is similar to the flesh of lamb; and that it contains blood, &c.; but these accounts require confirmation. [...] [page 8, footnote †] [The plants] appear to be originally the roots or stalks of certain vegetables, probably of the capillary kind, covered with a woolly moss, which, naturally naturally bearing resemblance to the figure of a lamb, have been helped out and brought nearer to it by art, and the addition of new parts. Sir Hans Sloane, and Breynius [Jacob Breyne], give us the figures and descriptions of such borametzes in their collections.
    • 1861, William Jackson Hooker, “Introductory Notice”, in The British Ferns; […], London: Lovell Reeve, […], →OCLC, footnote:
      Nor can we affirm that this plant of [Gustav] Kunze is not that which gave rise to the tales of wonder, for, although the species was first botanically determined by Kunze from [Hugh] Cuming's Philippine Island specimens, and although it is shown to be a native also of Sumatra, yet we have lately (in 'Kew Garden Miscellany,' vol. ix. p. 334) had occasion to record the fact of our having received specimens of the same Fern from Hongkong, Chusan, and South China, of which country the Barometz is considered a native.
    • [1866], “The Field and the Heath”, in Beauties and Wonders of Vegetable Life; […], London: The Religious Tract Society, […], →OCLC, page 263:
      A portion of the Baromez does present a rude resemblance in its shape to the figure of an animal, and is covered by a soft downy substance, which may be compared to a silky fleece, of a reddish-brown colour, and which gives to it more the appearance of a dog than a lamb.
    • 1868, Benjamin Samuel Williams, “Descriptive List of Exotic Ferns”, in Select Ferns and Lycopods: British and Exotic. […], London: Published and sold by the author, →OCLC, page 93:
      Cibotium. This is a small distinct genus of robust-growing and highly ornamental plants; and, though generally considered Tree Ferns, some species have a decumbent rhizome, of which the Barometz, or Vegetable Lamb, is a good example.
    • 1949, The Begonian: […], Long Beach, Calif.: American Begonia Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 265, column 2:
      Cibotium Barometz frond resembles the Cibotium Scheidei but the growth is different as well as the color. The Barometz is more stiff and upright where the Scheidei droops and is more delicate and lighter green.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ From D[emetrius] de La Croix (1791) Richardus Clayton [i.e., Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet], transl., Connubia florum latino carmine demonstrata, Bath, Somerset: Ex. typographia S. Hazard, →OCLC.
  2. ^ From F[riedrich] J[ustin] Bertuch (1806) Bilderbuch für Kinder: enthaltend eine angenehme Sammlung von Thieren, Pflanzen, Blumen, Früchten, Mineralien, Trachten und allerhand andern unterrichtenden Gegenständen aus dem Reiche der Natur, der Künste und Wissenschaften, alle nach den besten Originalen gewählt, gestochen, und mit einer kurzen wissenschaftlichen, und den Verstandes-Kräften eines Kindes angemessenen Erklärung begleitet, Weimar: Im Verlage des Industrie-Comptoirs, →OCLC.

References

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  1. ^ “barometz, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1885.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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