A glossary of Latin and italo-romance medico-botanical terms in Hebrew characters on an illustrated manuscript page (Ms. Oxford, Bodleian Opp. 688, fol. 117b)

This article studies fol. 117b of Ms. Oxford, Bodleian Opp. 688, cat. Neubauer 2123, which combines a small bilingual medico-botanical glossary (Latin/Italo-Romance in Hebrew characters) with a drawing representing a hunting scene. Although there is possibly no relationship between the drawing and the glossary, both elements provide interesting insights into Jewish life and culture in fifteenth-century Italy. We analyze the drawing, identifying it as an allegory of the persecution of the Jews, as well as the glossary. The latter is studied both in its relationship to Rogerio Frugardi's Chirurgia (a Hebrew translation of which is featured in the same codex) and in terms of the medico-botanical vocabulary itself. The nature of the Italo-Romance words eventually suggests that the writer came from an area in or near Latium or Abruzzo.