From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →A historical class of drinkables
potabilia; potabilium; vinum; cerevisia; cerevisiam; hydromeli; acetum; lac; pendulum; acescunt; coagulatur
Potabilia is a plural class defined locally by five named liquids: wine, beer, mead, vinegar and milk.
Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPotabilia is a plural class defined locally by five named liquids: wine, beer, mead, vinegar and milk.
- In the workBook 3 introduces the class by listing its five members and requiring knowledge of their alleged chief enemy.
- In this editionThe edition translates pendulum as “ropy” and retains “measure” without inventing a modern volume.
- A place to read“sub quibus intelligimus vinum, cerevisiam, hydromeli, acetum & lac”
Meaning
Potabilia is a plural class defined locally by five named liquids: wine, beer, mead, vinegar and milk. “Drinkables” preserves the historical grouping without assuming the category matches a modern beverage classification. The corruption vocabulary differentiates outcomes. Wine becomes pendulum, rendered ropy; beer and mead sour; vinegar loses sharpness; milk sours and coagulates. Souring is therefore not simply the opposite of every useful state: vinegar’s damage is described as loss of its characteristic acidity. Preservation aims to retain the relevant virtue of each liquid.
Use in the book
Book 3 introduces the class by listing its five members and requiring knowledge of their alleged chief enemy. It then falsely identifies menstruating women as that enemy and attributes spoilage to proximity, gaze and breath. The paragraph repeats the earlier basilisk discussion’s contamination prejudice. This is a significant part of the source’s explanation and cannot be replaced with a neutral modern account while pretending to translate the same argument.
The following paragraphs assign distinct preservatives. Sulphur and its oil are credited with protecting wine; oil of cloves and preferably avens with preserving beer; oil of sugar with mead; oil of ginger with vinegar; and expressed almond oil with milk. The account does not assign every oil to every drink. It also leaves a measure without a standardized modern equivalent, another reason not to re-present the claims as a usable set of food directions.
Cheese and honey follow but are not part of the initial five-member definition. Cheese is allegedly protected by hypericon or perforata, whereas honey is said to have no particular preservative beyond avoidance of bread. Keeping that boundary visible preserves both the chapter’s local class and its expansion into adjacent household materials.
Places to read
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 14Latin“sub quibus intelligimus vinum, cerevisiam, hydromeli, acetum & lac” The class is explicitly enumerated.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 14Latin“acetum infirmatur & acredinem suam amittit” Vinegar’s loss is distinguished from souring.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 16Latin“ab acetositate praeservat” Beer’s protection is directed against sourness.
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 18Latin“Caseorum conservativum” Cheese follows as a related but separately named material.
Translation in this edition
The edition translates pendulum as “ropy” and retains “measure” without inventing a modern volume. Its notes identify avens and St John’s wort and explicitly reject menstrual contamination. The five-member class belongs to the historical enumeration, not a modern nutritional category.
From the book
Nine Books on the Nature of Things
Attributed to Paracelsus · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Different losses in drinks
pendulum; acescunt; acescit; acetositate; acredinem; acescere
The drinkables paragraph describes different changes rather than one generic corruption.
Meaning
The drinkables paragraph describes different changes rather than one generic corruption. Wine becomes ropy, beer and mead sour, vinegar loses sharpness, and milk sours and coagulates. The opposed value of acidity is especially important: preserving beer means resisting sourness, whereas preserving vinegar means retaining sharpness. These words explain the locally desired condition of each liquid even though the paragraph’s alleged menstrual cause is false.
Places to read
- Book 3 · Preservation · Passage 14Latin“cerevisia & hydromeli acescunt”