Manna

Plants animals and natural materials · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. An aerial dew and, more broadly, sweet extracted matter.

In the book. Melissa is an alchemical name for Manna from the best herbs, while Mumia transmarina is directly equated with Manna.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 32; facsimile PDF page 360.

Historical Definition

Manna is not only a dew fallen from heaven, a kind of balm or fruit of the air, but also any sweet matter extracted from anything.

Meaning

The opening not only prevents the reader from stopping at a single familiar sense. The first account concerns something descending from heaven and characterised as an aerial balm or fruit. The second concerns extraction and extends to sweet matter drawn from any subject. The shared name can therefore belong to a natural occurrence or to the product of preparation.

Sweetness is explicit in the wider extracted sense. The definition does not, however, state that every sweet thing is Manna without regard to the relation it describes. Nor does it confine the name to one herb or one place of origin.

Use in the Book

Melissa is an alchemical name for Manna from the best herbs, while Mumia transmarina is directly equated with Manna. Nuba names a red kind reported to fall in Ireland. These compounds and particular accounts develop the range which the general entry announces.

Places to Read

Melissa. An alchemical use of Melissa for an herbal extraction.

Mumia transmarina. A Paracelsian Mumia compound equated with Manna.

Nuba. A red kind of Manna reported in an Irish setting.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 32; facsimile PDF page 360 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymical Dictionary 1650, 1650 dictionary, facsimile PDF page 360, Manna

See also. Melissa; Mumia transmarina; Nuba