"P van Rijckevorsel" wrote in message
...
"o8TY"
Could someone please post the ancient Greek word for the silver
birch,
or provide a suitable reference. I have checked Theophrastus but there is
no
listing for the tree. This
is most odd because he grew up in the region where the silver birch grew.

Mike Lyle schreef
If only life were so simple! The Cyprus dictionary doesn't claim to
know a classical word for the tree; though *semyda* looks probable,
Liddell and Scott say the meaning is speculative (they say it is in
Theophrastus, by the way). I don't know why this should be, unless
it's one of those words which was revived for Modern Greek after a
period of oblivion.

Mike.

+ + +
I just found out that Liddell and Scott is the big dictionary that always
gives me such a hard time. When I looked it up ("sèmuda") the big
dictionary
gave its meaning as Cercis siliquastrum and gave a location in
Theophrastus:
H3.14.4, 5.7.7 which I assume is terribly meaningful to a scholar of
Theophrastus.
PvR





This is what Theophrastus has to say about semuda

3.14.4 The semuda has a leaf like that of the tree called Persike (Persian
nut - walnut?) but it is rather narrower: the bark is variegated and the
wood light: it is only of use for making walking sticks and for no other
purpose.

5.7.7 Semuda (Judas-tree) [used for making] for walking sticks.

Given that the birch was a highly useful tree, where it leaves were used for
food, its seed for tanning, its bark for writing (perhaps before the use of
hides (velum), and definitely before paper), its twigs for making baskets,
whips, rope and other framework (ie shields), its wood for fuel and
furniture, its sap for fuel, lighting, varnish and possibly to make or
flavour wine (cf retsina), plus various fungi used for lighting fires
(tinder), healing wounds and other ailiments, I very much doubt that the
semuda in Theophrastus' work refers to the birch.

It would seem that the LSJ and Cyprus dictionaries are correct, that the
ancient word for the tree may be lost, or at least very well hidden.

Many thanks to all those that replied.