CHAPTER XIII 



EMMER 



Triticum dicoccum, Schiibler. Char, et Descr. cerealium in Hort. Tub. 

 29 (1818). 



T. Spelta * dicoccon, Schrank. Baier. Fl. i. 389 (1789). 



T. Spelta, Host. Gram. Austr. iii. 21, t. 30 (1805), (non Linn.). 



T.farrum, Bayle-Barelle. Mon. de Cer. 50, t. 4, Figs, i and 2 (1809). 



T. amyleum, Seringe. Melanges botaniques, 124 (1818). 



T. Zea, Wagini. Anb. d. Getreid. 33 (1819). 



Spelta amylea, Seringe. Cer. Eur. 76 (114), (1841). 



T. vulgare dicoccum, Alef. Landw. Fl. 331 (1866). 



T. dicoccum, Korn. Handb. d. Getr. i. 81 (1885). 



T. sativum dicoccum, Hack. Nat. Pfl. ii. 2, 81, 84 (1887). 



THE word Emmer is found in old glossaries of the eighth-thirteenth 

 centuries as Amer, Amar, and Emmer. Its derivation is obscure, but it 

 is probably of Celtic origin, for in a glossary to Prudentius it is stated that 

 " far is a genus of corn which is called ' emerum ' by the Celts of Gaul." 



In Germany in mediaeval times this cereal was termed Amelkorn or 

 Ammelkorn, a name which Bock (1539) and Fuchs (1543) say was given 

 to it because Amylon or Amylum (starch) was prepared from it ; its 

 French name Amidonnier is similarly connected with Amylon or Amylum. 



Emmer is one of the most ancient cultivated cereals. A beardless ear 

 of it is described by Heer from the Neolithic pile-dwellings at Wangen 

 (Switzerland), and Schulz states that remains of it from the Neolithic 

 period have also been obtained in Denmark, Germany (Bruchsal and 

 Heidelberg), and Bohemia (Kl. Czernosek). 



Portions of ears were found in prehistoric pile-dwellings at Ripac 

 near Bihac" in Bosnia, and grains attributed to this species by Wittmack 

 and Buschan were found among the vegetable remains from prehistoric 

 pile-dwellings of the Bronze Age at Auvernier and Peterinsel (Switzerland). 

 Fragments of carved models of ears (natural size) in ivory and wood from 

 the tomb of King Zer-Ta (third king of the 1st Dynasty 5400 B.C.) are 

 good representations of ears of T. dicoccum, although described as ears of 



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