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The Latin reading blog: Pseudo-Matthew 20: The palm tree in the desert.
I have written before about Pseudo-Matthew and as it is still the season for nativity stories – epiphany in the West and Christmas for the Orthodox Churches - I have chosen the story of the palm-tree in the desert from this gospel. As far as I can see it only occurs in this text, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have a wide circulation: many texts have been lost and there is no reason to think that an older Greek or Aramaic version has not existed. I come to this because in the Quran Jesus is said to be born under a palm tree. We know that the Quran has many stories based on Jewish and Christian apocryphal texts, probably because these stories, though not canonical, were popular amongst Christian communities. It is unlikely that a story of Mary giving birth in the desert under a palm tree ever existed in Christian texts, but the following story might well have given a starting point for developing an alternative version of the birth of Jesus by Mohammed . Did Mohammed read Latin? No, but if there is some truth in my assertion, then an Arabic or Aramaic copy must have existed. To be honest I am not the first to see the parallel, actually I found it on internet (see link below), but I have not found an explanation of how this story came into the Quran and if there is a relationship, we have to assume the existence of a version in a Semitic language.
In the story of pseudo-Mathew, Mary sees a palm tree in the desert and want to have some of its fruits, but the tree is too high. Joseph is more concerned about the lack of water, but little Jesus asks the tree to bow its top to Mary and subsequently orders water to come from its roots.
This is the text in the Quran (19 22):
So she conceived him, and she retired with him to a remote place. And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm-tree: She cried (in her anguish): "Ah! would that I had died before this! would that I had been a thing forgotten and out of sight!" But (a voice) cried to her from beneath the (palm-tree): "Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; "And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee.
Factum est autem die tertia profectionis suae ut Maria nimio
solis ardore fatigaretur in eremo, videns arborem palmae dixit ad
Ioseph: Quiescam paululum sub umbra eius. Ioseph autem festinans
duxit eam ad palmam et descendere eam fecit de iumento. Cumque
resedisset Maria, respiciens ad comam palmae vidit eam plenam
pomis, et dixit ad Ioseph: Desidero, si fieri posset, ut ex istis
fructibus huius palmae perciperem.  Et ait ad eam Ioseph: Miror te
dicere hoc, cum videas quantae sit altitudinis palma ista, et quod
tu de palmae fructibus cogitas edere. Ego magis de aquae penuria
cogito, quae nobis iam defecit in utribus, et non habemus unde nos
et iumenta refocillare valeamus. Tunc infantulus Iesus laeto vultu
in sinu matris suae residens ait ad palmam: Flectere, arbor, et de
fructibus tuis refice matrem meam. Et confestim ad hanc vocem
inclinavit palma cacumen suum usque ad plantas Mariae, et
collegerunt ex ea fructus quibus omnes refecti sunt. Postquam vero
collecta sunt omnia poma eius, inclinata manebat, expectans ut eius
ad imperium resurgeret ad cuius imperium fuerat inclinata. Tunc
Iesus dixit ad eam: Erige te, palma, et confortare, et esto consors
arborum mearum quae sunt in paradiso patris mei. Aperi autem ex
radicibus tuis venam quae absconsa est in terra, et fluant ex ea
aquae ad satietatem nostram. Et statim erecta est palma, et
coeperunt per radices eius egredi fontes aquarum limpidissimi et
frigidi et dulcissimi nimis.  Videntes autem fontes aquarum gavisi
sunt gaudio magno, et satiati sunt cum omnibus iumentis et
hominibus, gratias agentes deo.
profectio –ionis (f.): departure
nimio: too much, very
arborem palmae: explicative genitive
quiesco quievi quietum: to take a rest
paululum: a little, for a while
iumentum: beast of burden
percipio percepi perceptum: to seize or better here `receive, get’ (In Classical Latin it means `to seize completely’, but in vulgar Latin compounded verbs are often used without a distinction from simplex.)
miror miratus sum: to wonder
edo esi esum: to eat
uter utris (m.): leather bag
cacumen cacuminis (n.): top. Peak
planta: sole of the foot, foor
reficio refeci refectum: refreshed
eius… cuius: of Jesus
erigo eregi erectum: to raise up
conforto: to become strong
aperio aperui apertum: to open
abscondo abscondi (abscondidi) absconditum (absconsum):  to conceal, hide
limpidus: transparent, limpid, clear
gaudeo gavisus: to rejoice (gavisi sunt gaudio magno is a figura etymologica: verb and noun having the same root. This is quite common in Hebrew, though in itself it proves not a Semitic  original, as this stylistic figure is common in the Vulgate.)
This link also contains a translation of the Latin text
I have been unable to find details about this stone carving.
Posted by Leo Tepper at 04:28
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