Re: [tied] Soap, Slaughter Houses and Soup

----- Original Message -----

From: x99lynx@...

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, April 26, 2002 10:07 PM

Subject: [tied] Soap, Slaughter Houses and Soup

> There is somethings that don't seem right about all this.  I don't have a copy of Martial so I don't know what he specifically writes when he uses "soap" words.  But I suspect he is referring to packaging with <pilae> and a type of soap with <spuma> -- not all soaps "foam."  The most likely soap to come in liquid form would use an oil as the "fatty" ingredient.  The most likely soap in a solid form would have used animal fat, although the presence of alkaline used and the presence of salt would also be factors.

 

Here's the epigram in question (note, at any rate, that the "Mattiacae pilae" are explicitly referred to as <sapo>):

 

(Liber IV: Apophoreta)

 

XXVI Crines
Chattica Teutonicos accendit spuma capillos:
Captivis poteris cultior esse comis.

XXVII Sapo
Si mutare paras longaevos cana capillos,
Accipe Mattiacas - quo tibi calva? - pilas.

> So, without going into any more detail what does this all say about the "soap" word?

> Here's a guess.  Greek.

> In Greek, <se:po:> which meant "make putrid, rotten or rancid", but is also attested as referring "soaking hides" in the fifth century BC in Athens, ("dermata se:po:", Lidell-Scott).  That soaking may have been in a fat-alkaline solution, ie, soap. 

> Interestingly, according to L&S, <se:po:> also appears in the form <sa^po:n>. And it also appears that <sapo:n> (soap) may have appeared in the form <se:po:n>.

The root <se:p-> has the weak form <sap-> in Greek (the <a> is short; that's what the "^" mark as opposed to "_" indicates, a bit misleadingly, in the electronic version of L&S). By contrast, <sa:po:n>, which does have a hapax variant <se:po:n>, is long-<a:>'d. It is a late word; it appears with reference to Celtic or Germanic customs, and evidently comes from the same source as the Latin word, most likely _via_ Latin.

 

Piotr