Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London / [compiled] by Stefan Strelcyn.

  • Stefan Strelcyn
Date:
[1972]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Catalogue of Ethiopian manuscripts of the Wellcome Institute of the History of Medicine in London / [compiled] by Stefan Strelcyn. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/34 page 42
    to the signs of the zodiac, etc., and magical prayers and recipes against devils (ftrt-^ • (Mtxl-P s hp'il^ '•), for binding your enemy and blinding him (. . . flin^ * ht\C • . . . JMVEliH s . . . whKt\9° •• }\by>rl:ih :), for preventing a man from leaving [a woman] against her will (. . . n^J&A « ml*] h(/ K&u-C '• Kn? « (\£*£**r. • . . .), etc.; a to know the month of your death (-*i^fl * HJ&^flHh :), a Aasafr of love (ji^O * <T^C ') (cf. Hatcita mdnafdst, p. 200), to know what a man is thinking (att^h9°C '• ih(\So* '• AiVflK ••), of sickness (nT/M- « rV7?° *), of goods (cf. No. 14), and—at the end—a few short magical recipes. Remarks 1. The original manuscript (ff. 3-72) is composed of 7 numbered quires (the number 4 appearing twice on the fourth and on the fifth quire); it is preceded by a double fly-leaf (ff. 1-2 containing short magical prayers, recipes, and a liasaba chwuy, cf. No. 4) and followed by at least 6 quires of various sizes and various numbers of leaves added later: ff. 73-4, 80 mm. X 115 mm.; ff. 75-8, 75 mm. x 75 mm., the last leaf being extended to 115 mm. by sewing on an additional piece of vellum ; ff. 79-80,83 mm. X 120 mm.; ff. 81-2, 62 mm. X 85 mm.; ff. 83-6, 75 mm. X 125 mm.; ff. 87-92, 70 mm. X 125 mm. Most of these additional quires are only attached to the manuscript by string but not bound together with the main part of the manuscript. 2. The original manuscript finishes on f. 71 v. with a colophon giving the name of the owner (and diviner), alaqa Glabra Masqal from Askwona (ftfitf-T 0 in Agawmodar, who wrote the manuscript himself (WRrh4« ! !) at the time of governor •' A^a**?^ - mv»\\Ti:i~ •-) Walda Sagga. 3. The writing is in many places illegible (esp. on ff. lr., 2v., 80v., 83r.). 4. Some of the additional leaves (see Remark 1) are probably written in different hands (e.g. ff. 80r.-v., 81r.-82v., 87r.-92r.). 5. On ff. 49r., 50r., 52v., 53r., 54r., v., 64v., 65v., 66r., 71v. 76r., 77v., 78r., 85v., magical signs, squares, and pictures. 6. Folio 92v. is blank. 7. Bought in 1929. General index excluding names of diseases, demons, magicians, and magic (o) = name of an owner Alexander, king (secret names pronounced by, before Gog and Magog) VI, 1; VII, 4 Amina (o) II Askwana (in Agawmadar) XVII, Remark 2 Biblical texts: Ps. i IV, 3 Mark i, 23-6 VIII, 7 v, 1-20 XVII, 37 John i, 1-5 VIII, 1 ; IX, 11 chronological notes XVII, 41 DdggMa (notes concerning the) XVII, 42 divination XVII, 1-6, 8-30, 35, 43-45, 47-48, Remark 1 Hhta Maryam (o) I Gabra Iyasus (o) V Gabra Masqal (o) XVII Gabra Mika'el (o) IV Gabra Samu'el (o) X Gabra gallase (o) XVI Gog and Magog, see Alexander
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