Chewing gum in the time of Horace (the semantics of the term pastillus in Hor. sat. I 2, 26; 4, 91)
The author focuses his linguistic and cultural analysis on the gastronomic realia of Anсient Rome. The article deals with the origin, semantics and use of the term pastillus mentioned twice in Horace’s poetry and attempts to identify the ancient product with its contemporary analogue based on different ancient sources and secondary literature. A thorough etymological analysis shows that pastillus had been derived from *pastnilos by assimilation, the latter being unambiguously considered to be a derivation from pānis (from *past-nis) with a diminutive suffix -lo-, which is proved by both Vann’s and Walde-Hofmann’s etymological dictionaries. This fact is also confirmed in Leumann’s Lateinische Laut- und Formenlehre. A detailed study of the semantics of the term pastillus based on the works of the scholiasts Pseudo-Acron (VII A.D.) and Pomponius Porfyrio, (III A.D.), as well as the commentators Johann Caspar von Orelli, Richard Heinze, Adolf Kiessling, Lucian Müller and others. The usage of the term pastillus in Horace is compared with its usage by the Roman poet Martial. According to his epigram (Μart. I 87) pastillus is the same as diapasma - a substance made from dried sweet-scented plants, which were ground into powder or chopped into small pieces. Besides that the author attempts to identify the Latin term pastillus with the Greek word μαστιχή, that has been used as chewing gum till modern times due to its viscosity and viscidity. This analogue of chewing gum gives ancient names to Mediterranean plants from which was produced. The names are compared with the contemporary biological terms. The aromatic mastic was obtained from the sap of mastic tree σχῖνος (Pistacia lentiscus L.). This mastic is sun-dried translucent resin, which can be chewed, refreshing breath with cedar-like flavor. Dried sap from ἰξίνη (Atractylis gummifera L.) was also used as chewing gum. The research enables to receive some essential information, as far as possible, about recipes, types and use of the term pastillus, which sometimes was misunderstood, in author’s opinion, by the previous researches. It is often difficult or impossible to interpret what Horace means, but the article proves the considered term to denote an ancient substitute of «chewing gum».