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Legendary islands of the Atlantic; a study in medieval geography

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Autolocus
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« Reply #90 on: July 19, 2009, 03:37:02 am »

84 MAYDA

ing of holes in ships, the tawny monsters, known to the Arabs,
which rise from the depths, the dragons that come flying to
devour. The words "Arabe" and "Arabour" are readily de-
cipherable; so is "dragones." Perhaps there is no statement that
Arabs have been to that island, for their peculiar experience
may belong to some other quarter of the globe; but the verbal
association is surely significant. The name Bentusla (Bentufla?)
applied to this crescent island by Bianco in his map of I448 4
has sometimes been thought to have an Arabic origin; but one
would not feel safe in citing this as absolute corroboration.
The Breton character of the ships, however, may be gathered
(as well as from their direction and behavior) from the barred
ensigns which they carry, recalling the barred standard set up
at Nantes of Brittany, in Dulcert's map of I339, 6 just as the
fleur-de-lis is planted by him at Paris.



MAYDA AND THE ISLE OF MAN

We have, then, in this fourteenth-century island a direct
recorded association with the Arabs, followed long after by
what have been thought to be Arabic names. We have also a
pictorial and cartographical connection with Brittany and also
an indication of relations with Ireland. This last is fortified
by its next and, except Mayda, its most lasting name.

The great Catalan map of 1375' (Fig. 5) calls it Mam, which
should doubtless be read as Man, for it was common to treat
"m" and "n" as interchangeable, no less than "u" and "v" or
i" and "y." Thus Pareto's map of I455 7 (Fig. 21) turns the Latin
hanc" into "hamc" and "Aragon" into "Aragom." On some of the



""



< Theobald Fischer: Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt-und Seekarten italienischen
Ursprungs, i vol. of text and 17 portfolios containing photographs of maps, Venice,
1877-86; reference in Portfolio n (Facsimile della carta nautica di Andrea Bianco
dell' anno 1448), PI. 3- See also Kretschmcr, text, p. 184.

* A. E. Nordenskiold: Periplus: An Essay on the Early History of Charts and
Sailing-Directions, transl. by F. A. Bather, Stockholm, 1897, PI. 8.

*Ibid.,P\. ii.

7 Kretschmcr, atlas, PI. 5.



MAYDA AND THE ISLE OF MAN 85

early maps, e. g. that of Juan da Napoli (fifteenth century), 8 the
proper spelling "Man" is retained, just as it is retained and has
been ever since early Celtic days, in the name of the home of
"the little Manx nation" in the Irish Sea. That the same name
should be carried farther afield and applied to a remote island
of the Atlantic Ocean is quite in accordance with the natural
course of things and the general experience of mankind. No
doubt the name Man might be derived from other sources,
but the chances are in this instance that the Irish people whose
navigators found Brazil Island (or imagined it, if you please)
did the same favor for the crescent-shaped "Man," quite over-
riding for a hundred years any preceding or competing titles.

Almost immediately there was some competition, for the Pinelli
map of I384 9 calls it Jonzele (possibly to be read I Onzele, a
word which has an Italian look but is of no certain derivation),
reducing the delineation of the island to a mere shred, bringing
Brazil close to it, and giving the pair a more northern and more
inshore location. Another map of about the same period follows
this lead, but there the divergence ended. Soleri of 1385 10
reverted to the former representation; and about the opening
of the fifteenth century the regular showing of the pair was
established Brazil and Man, circle and crescent, by those
names and in approximately the locations and relative position
first stated.

It is true that the crescent island is sometimes represented
without any name, as though it were well enough known to
make a name unnecessary. But during the fifteenth century,
when it is called anything, with a bare exception or two, it is
called Man. Its shape and general location are substantially
those of the Catalan map of 1375 on the maps of Juan da Napoli ;

8 Listed as No. 17 in Justin Winsor: The Kohl Collection (now in the Library of
Congress) of Maps Relating to America, Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.,
1004, p. 27.

A. E. Nordenskiold, Periplus. PI. 15.

10 Ibid., PI. 18.



86 MAYDA

Giraldi, 1426 ; 11 Beccario, 1426" and I435 13 (Fig. 20); Bianco,
1436 and 1448 ; 14 Benincasa, 1467" and I482 16 (Fig. 22); Roselli,
1468;" the Weimar map, (probably) about 1481 ; 18 Freducci,
1497 ; 19 and others arguing surely a robust and confident tradi-
tion.
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