1375. ‘lappacium maius.’
1378. gret riote: ‘color huius niger est, faciens hominem iratum, animosum et audacem et mala cogitantem et maledicentem ... et faciens fugere demones et congregare.’
1379 ff. ‘Nona stella dicitur Atimet Alaazel, ... et est ex natura Veneris et Mercurii, et dicitur stella pulchritudinis et racionis,’ &c. The name ‘Atimet Alaazel’ is from the Arabic ‘El-simâk el-a‛zal,’ that is the star which we call Spica.
1385. Salge, Lat. ‘saluia.’
1387. ‘Decima vero stella Atimet Alrameth, et dicitur saltator, et est ex natura Martis et Iouis.’ This is the Arabic ‘El-simâk el-râmih,’ which we call Arcturus.
1393. Venenas: ‘Vndecima stella dicitur Benenais et est postrema de ii stellis que sunt in cauda urse maioris.’ In Arabic ‘Banat Na‛sh.’
1401. Alpheta, ‘Elfetah,’ from the Arabic ‘El-fak‛ah’ (the beggar’s dish), meaning the constellation which we call the Northern Crown. Here the name stands for the principal star of that constellation, Gemma.
1419. Botercadent. The Latin says ‘Vultur cadens,’ that is perhaps Vega; but ‘Botercadent’ would probably be a different star, namely that called in Arabic ‘Batn-Kaitos’ or Whale’s belly.
1426. Tail of Scorpio: in the Latin ‘Cauda Capricorni.’
1449 ff. These names of the chief authors of the science of astronomy seem to be partly taken from the treatise called Speculum Astronomiae or De libris licitis et illicitis, cap. ii. (Alberti Magni Opera, v. 657): cp. note on vi. 1311 ff. The passage is as follows, under the heading ‘De libris astronomicis antiquorum’: ‘Ex libris ergo qui post libros geometricos et arithmeticos inueniuntur apud nos scripti super his, primus tempore compositionis est liber quem edidit Nembroth gigas ad Iohathonem discipulum suum, qui sic incipit: Sphaera caeli &c., in quo est parum proficui et falsitates nonnullae, sed nihil est ibi contra fidem quod sciam. Sed quod de hac scientia vtilius inuenitur, est liber Ptolemaei Pheludensis, qui dicitur Graece Megasti, Arabice Almagesti, ... quod tamen in eo diligentiae causa dictum est prolixe, commode restringitur ab Azarchele Hispano, qui dictus est Albategni in libro suo.... Voluitque Alpetragius corrigere principia et suppositiones Ptolemaei,’ &c.