butyrum
- butter, Cels. 4, 15; 4, 18; 5, 26, 30; Col. 6, 12, 5; Plin. 11, 41, 96, § 239; 28, 9, 35, § 133 sq.
pane ‥ et ferculo aliquatenus ~o imping[u ]ato
tu ipse qui ‥ nobis donasti hanc creaturam N. formatici casei vel ~i
mel compultimque bŭturque ministrat
mulgeo [oves meas ] bis in die ‥ et caseum et ~um [AS: ] faciobuteran
de mensa: ‥ vas buteri,buterstoppa
unam ~i ruscam
omnem decimam domus mee in empcione ‥ casei et ~i
additur agresti contractum lance bŭty̆rum [v. l. bŭty̆rum sub lance retractum ]
caseolive / vel bŭtĭri
lac, bŭtĭrum, dactilus et zukarum
in buteiro empto ad colla boum
habeat vicarius ‥ decimam ‥ casei, buturi, lactisCart. Sallay 620;[pastor ] habebit partem lactis quod est sub ~o quando perficitur ~um
pro fabis et bitiro
j pensa butire
xix petr’ boutiri
emit caseum, buttyrium et ova veniencia versus forum ‥ faciendo forstallum
cooperuerunt eam [(naviculam ] coriis bovinis ‥, et linierunt omnes juncturas pellium ~o
~um ovinum melius est quod in colore subrufum est et amplius pingue
BUTY´RUM(βούτυρον, βούτυρος), butter, was only used by the Greeks and Romans as an unguent (Plin. Nat.11.239) and a medicine (Id. 28.133; Galen, 6. p. 683 and 12. p. 274, Kuhn; Cels. 4.15 and 18, 5.26; Marcell. Empir. 9. p. 81), while as a food they left it to the barbarians who had invented it. Thus Aloxandrides (ap. Athen. 4. p. 131) speaks contemptuously of butter-eating Thracians, and many writers note as something remarkable its use by Paeonians (Hecataeus, ap. Athen. 4. p. 447), Lusitanians (Strabo, 3.3, 7), Aethiopians (Id. 17.2, 2), &c., showing by the curious phrase which they employ (ἔλαιον ἀπὸ γάλακτος), that the butter of the ancients was a liquid, as Pliny, (l. c.) expressly tells us.
[J.H.F](βούτυρον). Butter. The oldest mention of butter, though dubious and obscure, is in the account given of the Scythians by Herodotus (iv. 2). According to him they poured the milk of mares into wooden vessels, caused it to be violently stirred or shaken by their blind slaves, and thus separated the part that arose to the surface, which they considered more valuable and more delicious than that which was collected below it. Herodotus here evidently speaks of the richest part of the milk being separated from the rest by shaking; and that what he alludes to here was actually butter would plainly appear from comparing with what he says the much clearer account of his contemporary Hippocrates. “The Scythians,” remarks this latter writer, “pour the milk of their mares into wooden vessels, and shake it violently; this causes it to foam, and the fat part, which is light, rising to the surface, becomes what is called butter (ὃ βούτυρον καλοῦσι).” Mention of butter occurs several times, in fact, in the writings of Hippocrates, and he prescribes it externally as a medicine; though he gives it another name, pikerion (πικέριον).
It would appear, however, that butter must have been very little known to the Greeks and Romans till the end of the second century. It appears, also, that when they had learned the art of making it, they employed it only as an ointment in their baths, and particularly in medicine. Pliny recommends it, mixed with honey, to be rubbed over children's gums, in order to ease the pain of teething, and also for ulcers in the mouth. The Romans, in general, seem to have used butter for anointing the bodies of their children to render them pliable; and we are told that the ancient Burgundians smeared their hair with it. Except in Dioscorides there is no indication that it was used by the Greeks or Romans in cookery or the preparation of food. No notice is taken of it by Apicius, nor is it mentioned by Galen for any other than medical purposes. This is easily accounted for by the ancients having entirely accustomed themselves to the use of oil; and, in like manner, butter at present is very little employed in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the southern parts of France. One chief cause of this is the difficulty of preserving it for any length of time in warm countries, and it would seem that among the ancients in the south of Europe it was rather in an oily state and almost liquid.