Mandrake

The English name "mandrake" derives from Latin mandragora. While the classical name has nothing to do with either "man" or "dragon/drake", the English form made it susceptible to such folk etymology. The French form ("hand of glory") has been held up as a "more complete example" of folk etymology (cf. ). The German common name is (cf. below). However, the Latin mandragora, misidentified by false etymology to have a -draco ("dragon") stem (as manifests in the English from "mandrake", above) has caused the plant and beast to be conflated into an , in the sense of a household spirit. This combined form is not well attested, but the house kobold is known regionally as either alraune[e] or drak (), both classed as "dragon names" by Weiser-Aall (cf. ). The mandrake-doll in German might be called ("mandrake manikin"), in Belgian (Flemish) , or in Italian . In German, it is also known as ("little gallows man") stemming from the belief that they grow near gallows, also attested in Icelandic "thieves' root". Certain sources cite the Dutch name (lit. "little urine thief") or ('urine devilkin'), claiming the plant grows from the brains of dead thieves, or the droppings of those hung on the gallows. The name "brain thief" for mandrake also occurs in English. ==Toxicity and pharmaceutical use ==

All species of Mandragora contain highly biologically active alkaloids, particularly tropane alkaloids. The alkaloids make the plant poisonous – primarily the root and leaves – with anticholinergic, hallucinogenic, and hypnotic effects. Anticholinergic properties can lead to asphyxiation. People can be poisoned accidentally by ingesting mandrake root, which is likely to have other adverse effects such as vomiting and diarrhea. The alkaloid concentration varies between plant samples. Clinical reports of the effects of consumption of Mediterranean mandrake include severe symptoms similar to those of atropine poisoning, including blurred vision, dilation of the pupils (mydriasis), dryness of the mouth, difficulty urinating, dizziness, headache, vomiting, blushing and a rapid heart rate (tachycardia). Hyperactivity and hallucinations occur in the majority of patients. Ancient Greco-Roman pharmacopoeia De materia medica (7th century manuscript, Biblioteca Nazionale, Naples). Theophrastus (d. c. 287 BC) Historia Plantarum wrote that the mandragora needed to be harvested by following a prescribed ritual, namely, "draw three circles around [the root] with a sword, and cut it facing west"; then in order to obtain a second piece, the harvester must dance around it while speaking as much lewd talk about sex as he possibly can. The ritual given in Pliny probably relies on Theophrastus. Dioscorides in De materia medica (1st century) described the uses of mandragora as a narcotic, analgesic, and abortifacient. He also claimed a love potion could be concocted from it. ==Biblical==

Two references to ( "love plants"; Thus Rachel had to endure several more years of torment being childless, while her sister could flaunt her prolific motherhood, until God intervened, allowing for Rachel's conception of Joseph. Philippe de Thaun's bestiary in Anglo-Norman verse has a chapter on the "mandragore", which states it consists of two kinds of roots, and must be extracted by the method of using a dog. He proports it to be a cure of all illnesses, save death. == Josephus ==

Josephus () of Jerusalem instructed on a method of using a dog as surrogate to uproot the dangerous herb used in exorcism. The herb has been equated to the mandragora in subsequent scholarship. According to Josephus, it was no easy task for the harvester, because it will move away from the hand which will grab it, and though it can be stopped by pouring a woman's urine or menstrual blood on it, touching it will cause certain death. Thus in order to safely obtain it: Here Josephus only refers to the plant as Baaras, after the place where it grows (in the valley Wadi Zarqa covering the north side of Machaerus, in present-day Jordan), and thinks the plant is a type of rue (of the citrus family) however, it is considered to be identifiable as mandrake based on textual comparisons (cf. ). ==Folklore==

In the past, mandrake was often made into amulets which were believed to bring good fortune, cure sterility, etc. In one superstition, people who pull up this root will be condemned to hell, and the mandrake root would scream and cry as it was pulled from the ground, killing anyone who heard it. These were entheogenic preparations used in European witchcraft for their mind-altering and hallucinogenic effects. Starting in the Late Middle Ages and thereafter, some believed that witches applied these ointments or ingested these potions to help them fly to gatherings with other witches, meet with the Devil, or to experience bacchanalian carousal. Alraun collection, Nürnberg) The German name for mandrake is , or female case as already stated, from MHG , which is considered a parallel or variant of the alrun doll. German sources repeat the recipe of harvesting the mandrake (Alraun) by sacrificing a dog, but demand a "black dog" should be used. This has passed into German literature, and into folklore, as compiled by the Brothers Grimm in Deutsche Sagen, No. 83 "Der Alraun". The Grimm version has the black dog tied by the tail, but this is not a constant reflected in all the sources, nor does it match the illustrated depictions show above. German folklore assigns the alias name ("little man of the gallows") to the mandrake, based on the belief the plant springs from the ground beneath a hanged man where his urine or semen had dripped into ground. A more elaborate set of condition had to be met by the hanged man to produce the magic herb in version given by the Grimms' Deutsche Sagen, which essentially amalgamates the formulae from two of its sources. According to one source, when the hanged man was a hereditary thief (), and the mother while carrying the child either stole or contemplated stealing before giving birth to him, and if died a virgin, then the fluids dripped down will cause a "" to grow there (Grimmelshausen alias Simplicissimus's Galgen-Männlein, 1673). It later states the plant is the product combining the arch-thief's () soul and his semen or urine. The other source states that when an innocent man hanged as a thief releases "water" from the pain and torture he endured, the plant with plantain-like leaves will grow from that spot. And collecting it requires only that it takes place on a Friday before dawn, with the collector stuffing his ears with cotton and sealing them with wax or pitch, and making the sign of the cross three times while harvesting (Johannes Praetorius, Saturnalia, 1663). The acquired alraun root needs to be washed with red wine, then wrapped in silk cloth of red and white, and deposited in its own case; it must be removed every Friday and bathed, and new white shirt be given every new moon, according to the Grimms' collated version, but sources will vary on the details. If questions are posed to the alraun doll, it will reveal the future or secrets, according to superstition. In this way, the owner becomes wealthy. It can also literally double small amounts of money each night by placing a coin on it. It must not be overdone, or the alraun will be tapped of its strength and may die. The owner, it is also said, will be able to befriend everybody, and if childless will be blessed with children. When the owner dies, the youngest son will inherit ownership of the doll. In the father's coffin must be placed a piece of bread and a coin. If the youngest son predeceases, then the right of inheritance passes to the eldest son, but the deceased youngest son must also receive his coin and bread in the coffin. Alraun-drak It has been noted that the household kobold may be known regionally as Alraun[e] or Drak, with the same etymological relationship, The drak name does not descend [directly] from Latin draco ("dragon"), but from the mandragora, but folklore about fiery dragons then did get conflated with the notion of the house sprite, according to Heimito von Doderer (cf. also ) Doderer provides commentary that "field dragons" (tatzelwurm) and mandrake fused with the folklore of the house kobold. 's entry in the HdA ventures that the alraun depicted as flying creature laying golden eggs is in fact a dragon, though the two Swiss examples, the animal is unidentified (, living in the woods at the foot of Hochwang near Chur), or the alrune is a red-crested bird, which others rumored might generate a thaler coin each day for the owner. Main-de-gloire In France, there is also the tradition that the man-de-gloire (mandrake) is harvested from under a gibbet. There is testimony collected firsthand by Sainte-Palaye (d. 1781), in which a peasant claimed to have kept a man-de-gloire found at the base of a mistletoe-bearing oak. The creature was said to be a type of mole. It had to be fed regularly with meat, bread, etc., or suffer dire consequences (two who failed suffered death). But in return, whatever one gave to the man-de-gloire, a double amount or value was restored next day (even an écu of money), thus enriching its keeper. 19th century esoterica An excerpt from Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual by nineteenth-century clergyman, occultist, and ceremonial magician Éliphas Lévi, suggests the plant might hint at mankind's "terrestrial origin:" The following is taken from Jean-Baptiste Pitois's The History and Practice of Magic (1870), and explains a ritual for creating a mandrake: ==See also==