DEER
Cervus
The miniature of the hart has been cut out of the page. This record shows the gap instead of borrowing a picture from another manuscript.
VIEW THE FOLIO · UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN ↗Isidore files the deer among herd animals, and his entry is full of action. Its picture in the Aberdeen Bestiary is missing.
When sick, deer draw snakes from their holes with their breath, eat them, and recover.
The University of Aberdeen’s commentary records that the illustration of a hart below the satyrs on f.13r has been cut out. When and why are unknown. That absence is a physical fact about this witness.
ISIDOREETYMOLOGIAE XII.1.18–19
Named from the Greek keras / kerata, horns. Enemies of serpents: when sick, deer draw snakes from their holes with their breath, eat them, and recover from the poison. They discovered dittany, which they eat to push out arrows lodged in the body. They are charmed by pipe music and hear sharply with raised ears. They cross wide rivers in a chain, each resting its head on the haunches of the deer ahead. Fawns, hinnuli, follow at XII.1.21.
Isidore files the deer among the herd animals of Book XII.1. The entry is full of action and practical lore rather than allegory.
LATER BESTIARY LAYERf.13v ADDITIONS · NOT TRACED
The Aberdeen deer text runs on to f.13v and adds stories not checked against Isidore here, among them Alexander the Great ringing deer that showed no sign of age a century later, and the rut timed to the star Arcturus. SOURCE REQUIRED.
MANUSCRIPT WITNESSABERDEEN MS 24 · f.13r–13v
The heading and text for the deer fall on f.13r, shared with the satyrs. The illustration of a hart below the satyrs has been cut out of the page. The University of Aberdeen’s commentary records the excision; when and why are unknown. That absence is a physical fact about this witness. The text continues on f.13v.
HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE THINK WE KNOW
Isidore XII.1.18–19 checked in two online editions (LacusCurtius Lindsay text; The Latin Library). Greek derivation from keras / horns confirmed.
Aberdeen f.13r and f.13v checked on the university’s folio pages, including the excision note for the hart miniature.
No image is reproduced. The miniature is absent from the manuscript.
Not applicable to an absent image. The text page is RIGHTS REVIEW REQUIRED.
Record levels, status labels, the streams diagram and the interface framing are authored by Make It Believable. They are not historical testimony.
WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW YET
- When and why the miniature was cut out.
- The sources of the f.13v additions (Alexander, Arcturus).