Ethnopharmacological study of Sephardic remedies in the 19th century: The “Livro de Milizinas”

Journal of Ethnopharmacology Volume 230, 10 February 2019, Pages 20-73 Journal of Ethnopharmacology Author links open overlay panelDiegoRiveraaMacarenaAcostaaAlonsoVerdebJoséFajardobConcepciónObóncFranciscoAlcarazaJosé AntonioPalazónd a Dpto. Biología Vegetal, Campus de Espinardo, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain b Grupo de Investigación en Vegetación, Etnobiología y Educación del Sureste Ibérico, Laboratorio de Sistemática y Etnobotánica, Instituto Botánico, UCLM, Jardín Botánico de Castilla-La Mancha, Avenida de la Mancha s/n, 02006 Albacete, Spain c Dpto. Biología Aplicada, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad Miguel Hernández, Ctra. Beniel Km 3.2, 03312 Orihuela, Alicante, Spain d Dpto. Ecología e Hidrología, Campus de Espinardo, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain Received 1 July 2018, Revised 9 October 2018, Accepted 9 October 2018, Available online 21 October 2018. crossmark-logo Show less https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.10.009Get rights and content Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance The Sephardic or Judeo-Spanish communities kept a cultural heritage extremely relevant which is recognizable through the peculiar form of their language and practices. Medicine was one of the main professional activities among Jews of Spain before their expulsion in 1492. We expected to find ingredients and recipes in the Sephardic traditional medicine related to classical medicine and to modern ethnopharmacology of Spain, but also influenced by the host countries. Recipes for specific diseases could be compared with modern ethnopharmacology. Although the basic language of the recipes is Judeo-Spanish, it presents local variants and names which are not only dialectal Spanish, but also Turkish, Hebrew or Bosnian. Methods The main source of information for Sephardic folk medicine are the specimens of the “Livro de Milizinas” printed in Thessaloniki and Smyrna (Izmir) during the 19th century. Others are some documents on pharmacy conserved in Bosnia associated to the Papo family of Sephardic Aktars or Attars (Ottoman herbalists) and the oral tradition in the Sephardic communities of Asia, Europe and the Americas. In order to analyze these formularies, we have studied the recipes in eleven different sources systematized in an Excel® 2010 book. We focused on formulas that are not merely rituals instead contain specific ingredients and pathologies. Specific dictionaries were generated in Excel® 2010, to standardize names of ingredients and pathologies. Results In the 502 complete recipes and variants studied, 107 pathologies and 154 different ingredients appear. Among ingredients, 93 are plants, 38 animals and 23 mineral substances. The most common pathologies in the recipes correspond to infectious diseases, headache, epistaxis, parasites and the "espanto". These ingredients received 397 different vernacular names, being prevalent those in Spanish (303) followed by those in Turkish. Preparations recorded are simple, easily made at home, not requiring special tools or hardware. In studies dated 1845 in Bulgaria the forms of preparation and administration are similar. Topic preparations externally applied are prevalent in numbers doubling the oral administration on the contrary of modern ethnopharmacology studies in Thessaloniki where dominate internal uses over external ones. The books of medicines of Smyrna and Thessaloniki are very similar, if not almost identical. The “Livro de Milizinas” constitute a peculiar Sephardic text within the Ottoman style of medicine. The proximity in the analyses with Ottoman sources (Ottoman pharmacopoeias, Turkish Aktar shops and Medieval Cairo Jewish pharmacopoeia) is due to the high proportion of ingredients in common. After excluding animal and mineral ingredients of the analyses, modern ethnobotanical records from Greece and Turkey appear closer to the Sephardic main sources. The rest of Sephardic sources with notably smaller lists of ingredients represent fragments of mostly oral transmitted tradition and treat pathologies such as evil eye or "espanto". The recipes of the Sephardic of Bosnia comprise pathologies such as plague, cholera, typhus or gastroenteritis. Ingredients, largely of plant origin, to 93, are still in use in phytotherapy and/or local medical-pharmaceutical ethnobotany in Turkey or Greece. Conclusions The Sephardic materia medica presented in the “Livro de Milizinas” is eclectic, adapted to an urban environment and to the prevalent pathologies of the second half of the 19th century, within the main cultural framework of the Ottoman Empire but with peculiarities characteristic of Sephardic Culture. These can be traced back to the period immediately after the expulsion of Sephardic from Spain. Their relationships with other modern sources are scarce, even in terms of pathologies. Graphical abstract fx1 Download high-res image (391KB)Download full-size image Previous article in issueNext article in issue Abbreviations DHJEDiccionario Histórico JudeoespañoleCIEMapsHealth Ministry of Spain version of the International Statistical Classification of diseases and Related Health Problems January 2018 RevisionFMFFamilial Mediterranean feverICD-10WHO International Statistical Classification of diseases and Related Health Problems 10th RevisionICPC-2The International Classification of Primary CareIMAInternational Mineralogical Association List of MineralsPCoAPrincipal coordinates analysisPUBCHEMOpen chemistry database at the United States National Institutes of HealthTPLThe Plant ListWHOWorld Health Organization Keywords EthnobotanyHerbalsMedicinal plantsMultivariate analysisSephardicTraditional medicine