Glossary entry

Italian term or phrase:

lattigini di morena

English translation:

lamprey milt (milky white) (milky moray eel, moray eel viscera) (murenarum lactes)

Added to glossary by Cristina Bufi Poecksteiner, M.A.
Aug 11, 2023 03:57
10 mos ago
27 viewers *
Italian term

Lattigini di morena

Italian to English Other Food & Drink exotic food at a Roman feast
The text is a fantasy-type short story and this part relates to the character's feasting at the house of Petronius, in Roman times. She lists the delicacies:

"E che cene! Lattigini di murena, cervella di fagiano, lingue di fenicottero"
I understand "murena" to be eel, but I can't find a meaning for lattigini, unless it means "latticini". But if it does, then I can't reconcile it combined with "murena". I'm hoping that someone can share an insight with me. Isobel
Change log

Aug 24, 2023 19:47: Cristina Bufi Poecksteiner, M.A. Created KOG entry

Discussion

isobel Grave (asker) Aug 12, 2023:
Thanks to everyone for your responses, and for the informative references. It is much appreciated.The term "lamprey milt", suggested by Cristina seems to be the most accurate. Thanks again. Isobel
philgoddard Aug 11, 2023:
Isobel You posted another question recently, and didn't respond when I asked for more information. I think you should deal with previous open questions before posting new ones.
http://www2.proz.com/kudoz/italian-to-english/mechanics-mech...
Murenarum lactes are lamprey milt, i.e. the testes, containing sperm.
The milt is milky white in appearance, with a delicate and smooth mouthfeel and a mild, slightly fishy taste.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/greece-and-rome/arti...
P.L.F. Persio Aug 11, 2023:
Lattimi Hi Isobel, I think the right spelling is lattimi, and it's fish roe.

Proposed translations

+3
5 hrs
Selected

lamprey milt (milky white) (milky moray eel, moray eel viscera) (murenarum lactes)

"murenarum lactes" = latte di murena (in latino: sostanza molle e lattiginosa che si trova nelle interiora

murenarum lactes = lamprey milt
(i.e. the testes, containing sperm)

The milt is milky white in appearance, with a delicate and smooth mouthfeel and a mild, slightly fishy taste

lamprey (eel-like sea animal) = lampreda


For the final item, Suetonius returns to the water. Lamprey, a meaty fish, was an expensive Roman delicacy, though its appeal is known best through a much later anecdote: Henry I of England is said to have died from a surfeit of lampreys.Footnote 34 These creatures are native to the western and central Mediterranean, and according to Pliny (HN 9.169), the best lampreys were found around Sicily, though from the late Republic they were farmed. Anecdotes tend to dwell not on their taste, but on the habits of their owners: some affected to pamper the animals (Plin. HN 9.171–2), while Vedius Pollio (9.77) notoriously (and improbably) killed enslaved members of his household by feeding them to his lampreys. Murenarum lactes are lamprey milt, i.e. the testes, containing sperm.
The milt is milky white in appearance, with a delicate and smooth mouthfeel and a mild, slightly fishy taste.
Lampreys spawn from mid-Spring to mid-Summer, and the milt would therefore have been available to be served on the Shield.Footnote 37
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/greece-and-rome/arti...

lampreda
(dal latino lampreda; fr. lamproie; sp. lamprea; ted. Pricke, Neunauge; ingl. lamprey)
Genere di Pesci, della classe Ciclostomi o Marsipobranchî, ordine Iperoarti, famiglia Petromizontidi. Il genere che ha dato il nome alla famiglia è Petromyzon L. (dal gr. πέτρον "pietra" e μύζω "succhio"), al quale soltanto la grossa lampreda marina (P. marinus L.) è ascritta dai sistematici moderni; è specie anadroma, che risale i fiumi per la deposizione delle uova, e può raggiungere fino a 90 cm. di lunghezza. La lampreda di fiume (Lampetra fluviatilis L.), lunga 30-40 cm., vive anch'essa nel mare e risale i fiumi per riprodursi. La lampreda di ruscello (L. planeri Bl.) lunga da 10 a 20 cm., invece, completa il ciclo vitale nelle acque dolci. Tutte tre le specie sono diffuse in Europa, e comuni in Italia (v. ciclostomi).
https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lampreda_(Enciclopedia-...

lattigini di morena = milky moray eel, moray eel viscera ... with ciguatoxin

Structures and configurations of ciguatoxin from the moray eel ...
... The toxin, isolated from the moray eel Gymnothorax javanicus, and its congener, ... as a
white solid from 125 kg of moray eel viscera
.
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja00167a040

Introduction to Ancient Roman Food
... Another common food was fish which were often bred in nurseries. Over 100 types have been identified, from bream, mullet, turbot, sole, snapper, mackerel, octopus, dates, prawns, scampi, cuttlefish, tuna to moray eels, lobsters and oysters. The poorer levels of society had to make do mostly with fish preserved in brine.
https://www.deliciousitaly.com/lazio-rome-food-wine/introduc...

Riaprendo il buon vecchio vocabolario di latino scopriamo che "lactes" (al solo plurale e femminile) indica i visceri, meglio l'intestino (al di sotto dell'ombelico per la precisione, "Thesaurus Linguæ Latinæ"), le budella degli animali. Con "murenarum lactes", latte di murena, i latini definivano la sostanza molle e lattiginosa che si trova nelle interiora. E' dunque probabile che l'immagine dei visceri (e forse altro!) che per stanchezza, si srotolano, allungandosi e distendendosi fino a toccare le ginocchia possa pure aver dato luogo a quella di rilassamento, noia e impotenza".
https://www.caveri.it/blog/2021/06/15/fra-buonismo-e-cattivi...
Peer comment(s):

agree dandamesh
59 mins
grazie
agree P.L.F. Persio
1 hr
grazie
agree Corine van Ewijk
19 hrs
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you for your detailed and well researched answer. Isobel"

Reference comments

16 mins
Reference:

Note from asker:
Thanks for the interesting explanation in context, dandamesh. The formula "ïnteriora di murena" that martini provided could be translated as "entrails of moray eel".Thanks again, Isobel
Peer comments on this reference comment:

agree martini : quindi "interiora di murena"
3 hrs
grazie!
Something went wrong...
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