Garcia da Orta, Coloquios dos simples. 1563.

Presentation

• Orta, Garcia d', 1563. Coloquios dos simples, e drogas he cousas mediçinais da India, e assi dalgumas frutas achadas nella onde se tratam algumas cousas tocantes a mediçina, pratica, e outras cousas boas, pera saber compostos pello Doutor garçia dorta : fisico del Rey nosso senhor... Goa, Ioannes de Endem. 250 p., followed by Coloquio do betre. 16 p. (Gartia ab horto).

His Portuguese name is spelled Garcia da Orta, Garcia d'Orta or Garcia de Orta. At that time, personal names used to be translated. So, he is called Gartia ab Horto in Latin, Garcie du Jardin in French, Garzia dall’Horto in Italian.

The author is a Jewish Portuguese doctor. During his thirty years stay in India (Goa), he had a direct knowledge of many plants locally used in materia medica. He is one of the first authors daring to say that not all plants could be found in the Ancients writings (Dioscorides, Galien...). His erudition is astonishing ; He reads Latin as well as Greek, Arab and Persian, and gives plant names in Indian languages and Malay.

The work was conceived in Latin by its author, but published in Portuguese, a language in which its success was limited. In contrast, its indirect influence was considerable, through the translations and adaptations published by at least three authors : Carolus Clusius, Cristovão da Costa and Linschoten. Unfortunately, historians have mostly enhanced the role of those authors, and the contribution of Garcia has remained largely under-estimated.

Many Indian plant names have been introduced into European languages through the Portuguese of Garcia da Orta. Their precise route is complex. From Portuguese, names have been latinized by Clusius, and then gallicized (or italianized...) in the translations of the work of Clusius. Others have been translated to Dutch by Linschoten, from where they came to French. Those wanderings were studied in particular by Raymond Arveiller, 1963. Contribution à l'étude des termes de voyage en français (1505-1722). Paris, d'Artrey. 571 p. See also : Machado, José Pedro, 1963. Lexicologia de origem oriental nos Coloquios dos Simples. Garcia da Orta, Revista da Junta de Investigações do Ultramar, Lisbonne.

About the author and his work, see : Dinis de Carvalho, and the Wikipedia articles in English or better in Portuguese.

An excellent biography in Portuguese is : Ficalho, Conde de, 1886. Garcia da Orta e o seu tempo. Lisboa, Imprensa nacional. 392 p. Available in print-on-demand through Amazon.

Editions of the original work

in Portuguese

• Orta, Garcia da, 1872. Coloquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia. edited by Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen. Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional. Faulty edition in a modernized script.
• Orta, Garcia da, 1891-95. Coloquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia. edited and annotated by Conde de Ficalho. Lisboa, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. 2 vol. Excellent edition in a modernized script. The many notes of Ficalho, along with his plant identifications, make this edition essential for botanists.
• Reprint 1987, Impresa nacional, 2 vol.
• Reprints "on demand" by Nabu Press (rough text) and by Bibliolife (cleaned text, better), in 2 vol.
• Orta, Garcia de, 1963. Coloquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia. Lisboa, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar. pp. 615-875. vol. 11(4), número comemorativo.
• Orta, Garcia d', 1963. Coloquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia. Reprodução fac-similada da edição impressa em Goa em 10 de Abril de 1563. Comemorando o quarto centenário da edição original. Lisboa, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa. VIII-266 p. Fac-simile difficult to read due to typography.

in English

• Orta, Garcia da, 1895. Colloquies on the Simples and Drugs of India. Translated to English by Sir Clements Markham. Based on Ficalho's edition.
• id. Reprint 1913, Londres, K.C.B., F.R.S., Henry Sotheran and Co.
• id. Reprint 1979, Delhi. Based on Ficalho's edition.

in French

• Orta, Garcia da, 2004. Colloques des simples et des drogues de l'Inde. Traduit en français par Sylvie Messenger-Ramos, António Ramos et Françoise Marchand-Sauvagnargues. Arles, Actes Sud. 732 p.

This edition is useful for non-lusophones. It uses only in part the critical apparatus of Ficalho, "que nous n'avons pas reproduit dans son intégralité car il aurait fallu, au risque de publier un autre livre, le compléter par les résultats des découvertes récentes" (p. 19). Furthermore, bibliography is not reliable. In other words, this edition is of limited interest for specialists, who must use Ficalho's edition (1891-95).

Translation-adaptation to Latin by Carolus Clusius

There are editions in Latin of 1567, 1574, 1579, 1582, 1592, and translations from Latin to Italian (1576), French (1602, 1609, 1615), and English (1604).

• Clusius, Carolus (Charles de l'Ecluse). Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum apud Indos nascentium historia, Primum quidem Lusitanica lingua per Dialogos conscripta, D. Garcia ab Horto, Proregis Indiæ Medico, auctore. Nunc vero Latino sermone in Epitomen contracta, et iconibus ad vivum expressis, locupletioribusque, annotatiunculis illustrata a C. Clusio Atrebate. Antverpiae, ex officina Christophori Plantini. 1574. Clusius did not translate accurately, but instead used and rearranged some parts of Garcia's text. on line
• Clusius, Carolus (Charles de l'Ecluse). Aromatum et simplicium aliquot medicamentorum apud Indos nascentium historia, Primum quidem Lusitanica lingua per Dialogos conscripta, a D. Garcia ab Horto, Proregis Indiæ Medico. Deinde Latino sermone in Epitomen contracta, et iconibus ad vivum expressis, locupletioribusque, annotatiunculis illustrata a C. Clusio Atrebate. Tertia editio. Antverpiae, ex officina Christophori Plantini. 1579. on line

Translation to Italian by Annibale Briganti

There are editions in 1575, 1576, 1582, 1589, 1605, 1616.

• Clusio, Carolo. Dell’historia dei semplici aromati et altre cose che vengono portate dall’Indie orientali pertinenti all’uso della Medecina. Parte prima. Divisa in Libri IIII. Di di don Garzia dall’Horto, Medico Portughese ; con alcune brevi annotationi di Carolo Clusio. Et due altri libri parimente di quelle cose che si portano dall'Indie Occidentali ; di Nicolò Monardes, Medico di Siviglia. Hora tutti tradotti dalle loro lingue nella nostra Italiana da M. Annibale Briganti, Marrucino da Cività di Cheti, Dottore et Medico eccellentissimo. In Venetia. Appresso Giovanne, et Andrea Zenari Fratelli, 1589. As can be seen, this edition includes Monardes' book on Américan plants (Western Indies). on line

Translation to French by Antoine Collin

• Collin, Antoine. Histoire des drogues, des espiceries et medicamens simples qui naissent ès Indes tant orientales qu'occidentales... Divisée en deux parties. La premiere composee de trois livres : les deux premiers de M. Garcie du Jardin, et le troisiesme de M. Christophe de La Coste. La seconde composée de deux livres de M. Nicolas Monard... Le tout fidèlement translaté en notre vulgaire François sur la traduction Latine de Clusius. traduit par Antoine Collin. Lyon, 1602. There is a 2nd edition : Lyon, 1619. In addition to Monardes (Monard), it gives the text of Cristovão da Costa (Christophe de La Coste).

Translation-adaptation to Spanish by Cristovão da Costa

• Costa, Christovão da (Cristóval Acosta), 1578. Tractado de las drogas y medicinas de las Indias orientales, con sus plantas debuxadas al vivo por Cristóval Acosta medico y cirurjano que las vio oculamente. En el qual se verifica mucho de lo que escrivió el Doctor Garcia da Orta. Burgos. It is an adaptation of the Coloquios de Garcia, with additions.

Translation to Latin

• Costa, Christovão da, 1591. Aromaticum et medicamentorum in Orientali Indiam nascentium liber. Barcelona.

Translation to Portuguese

• Costa Cristovão da, 1964. Tratado das drogas e medicinas das Índias Orientais no qual se verifica muito do que escreveu o doutor Garcia de Orta. Versão portuguesa com uma introdução e notas do Dr. Jaime Walter. Lisboa, Junta de Investigações do Ultramar. 356 p.

Translation-adaptation to Dutch by Jan Huygen van Linschoten

Van Linschoten or Linscot did not visit most of the places he mentions. Chapters 49 to 88 largely reproduce Garcia da Orta (1563). In addition, it gives commentaries by Paludanus. Published first in Dutch in 1596, it was rapidly translated to English (1598), German (1598-1600), Latin (1599) and French (1610), and parts of it were reproduced in many collections of travel stories. It had a strong influence in the maritime expansion of Dutch and English people, with as a consequence a decline of the Portuguese influence in the Indian Ocean. (after Pos et Loureiro, 1997).

• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1596. Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert van Jan Huygen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, 1579-1592. Amsterdam.
• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1955-56-57. Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert van Jan Huygen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, 1579-1592. ed. de H. Kern. 2a ed. revista por H. Terpstra. s'Gravenhage. 3 vols. (Werken uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, LVII, LVIII, LX). Integral edition of that of 1596, with modernization of ponctuation and use of capital letters and paragraphs.

Translation to English

• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1598. The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies.
• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1885. The Voyage of John Huyghen van Linschoten to the East Indies. From the Old English translation of 1598, ed. by A.C. Burnell and P.A. Tiele. London. 2 vol. (Hakluyt Society, LXX-LXXI).

Translation to German

• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1598-1600.

Translation to Latin

• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1599. Navigatio ac itinerarium Iohannis Hugonis Linscotani in orientalem sive Lusitanorum Indiam... Hagae-Comitis. First version in Latin, adapted and summarized on the basis of the Dutch version of 1596.
• Strobaeus, B., 1601. Tertia pars Indiae orientalis, quo continentur. I : Secunda pars navigationum a Joanne Hugone Lintschotano... in Orientem susceptarum... II : Navigatio Hollandorum in insulas orientales Javan et et Sumatram... [auctore W. Lodewijcksz]... De germanico in latinum translata... a Bilibaldo Strobaeo. Francofurti ad Mœnum. (Collection des Petits Voyages de De Bry). Seems to be a Latin version independent from that of 1599, which aggregates two works.
• Strobaeus, B., 1601. Pars quarta Indiae orientalis qua primum varii generis animalia, fructus, arbores... describuntur per Joannem Hugonem Lintschotanum... Descriptioni huic adjectae... sunt annotationes... Bernhardi Paludani... Omnia ex germanico latinitate donata, studio et opera Bilibaldi Strobaei Silesii. Francofurti ad Mœnum. (Collection des Petits Voyages de De Bry).

Translation to French

• Linscot, Jean Hugues de, 1610. Histoire de la navigation de Iean Hugues de Linscot Hollandois et de son voyage es Indes Orientales... avec annotations de Bernard Paludanus Docteur en Medecine... a quoy sont adioutees quelques autres descriptions tant du pays de Guinée, et autres costes d'Ethiopie, que des nauigations des Hollandois vers le Nord... Le tout recueilli et descript par le Mesme de Linscot en bas Alleman, et nouvellement traduit en François. Amsterdam.
• Linscot, Jean Hugues de, 1619. Histoire de la navigation de Iean Hugues de Linscot Hollandois et de son voyage es Indes Orientales... édition augmentée. Amsterdam.
• Linscot, Jean Hugues de, 1619. Le Grand Routier de mer de Jean Hugues de Linschot Hollandois... Le tout fidelement recueilli des memoires et observations des pilotes Espagnols et Portugais. Et nouvellement traduit en François. Amsterdam.

Translation to Portuguese

• Linschoten, Jan Huygen van, 1997. Itinerário, viagem ou navegação para as Índias Orientais Portuguesas. Ed. preparada por Arie Pos e Rui Manuel Loureiro. Lisboa, Comissão Nacional para as Comemoracões dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 414+5 p., 39 planches. Translation made in 1997 on the basis of the Dutch edition of 1955-57.