Dictionary

barometz en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈbæɹəmɛts/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Possibly a corruption of Russian баране́ц (baranéc, “species of club moss (genus Lycopodium)”, from бара́н (barán, “ram (male sheep)”) + -ец (-ec, diminutive suffix)).

Meanings

1. A purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.
   • [...] I say to you what I should say if any little Barometzes should come under my care. It is more on the imaginary side than the matter of fact. 1919 February 15, The Garden: […], volume 83, London: Hudson and Kearns, →OCLC, page 69, column 3:
   • Cradled in ſnow and fann'd by arctic air / Shines, gentle Barometz! thy golden hair; / Rooted in earth each cloven hood deſcends, / And round and round her flexile neck ſhe bends; / Crops the grey coral moſs, and hoary thyme, / Or laps with roſy tongue the melting rime; [...] 1789, [Erasmus Darwin], “Canto I”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), page 30, lines 283–288:
   • One has only to consult [Jorge Luis] Borges's own "Book of Imaginary Beings" to encounter chimeras, phoenixes, basilisks, barometzes (the last a kind of vegetable lamb) and the like. 1987 April 12, Cynthia Ozick, “The Library of Nonexistent Classics”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Nov 2017, page 12:
   • Much wonder is made of the Boramez, that ſtrange plant-animall or vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which Wolves delight to feed on, which hath the ſhape of a Lamb, affordeth a bloudy juice upon breaking, and liveth while the plants be conſumed about it; and yet if all this be no more then the ſhape of a Lamb in the flower or ſeed, upon the top of the ſtalk, as we meet with the formes of Bees, Flies and Dogs in ſome others, he hath ſeen nothing that ſhall much wonder at it. 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Some Others”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 152:
   • However, one night when I was hard at work in one of the powder mills outside the fortress, I was captured along with some others by a band of Tartars and carried off so deep into their territory that I not only saw borametz, the legendary sheep-shaped melon, growing, I ate it. 1999, Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, “On the Short and Diverting Road by which He Came Home to His Da”, in Mike Mitchell, transl., Simplicissimus, Sawtry, Cambridgeshire: Dedalus Books, published 2010, →ISBN:
   • It seemed to be at least as good a vegetable lamb as Lepas was an unripe vegetable bird, and one version of the story itself is probably explained by it. That is the version in which the barometz grows out of the ground, being attached to its root system by its umbilical cord and capable of feeding only as far as that cord will reach—a perfect counterpart to the Jidra of the Talmud. 1948, Willy Ley, The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn: An Excursion in Romantic Zoology, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 82:
2. A golden chicken fern or woolly fern (Cibotium barometz), the rhizomes of which are covered in furry brown hair; the legend (sense 1) is supposed to have arisen because, when inverted, the rhizomes with stalks growing out of them resemble lambs.
   • A singular vegetable production met with in the deserts, concerning which various fables have been related, is a kind of fern called the barometz, or Scythian lamb; the latter name being given to it from its woolly body, attached to the ground by a long slender stalk, affording a distant resemblance to a lamb grazing. 1807, J[ohn] Aikin, “Chinese Tatary”, in Geographical Delineations, or A Compendious View of the Natural and Political State of All Parts of the Globe, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for F. Nichols, by Kimber, Conrad, & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 256–257:
   • Cibotium. This is a small distinct genus of robust-growing and highly ornamental plants; and, though generally considered Tree Ferns, some species have a decumbent rhizome, of which the Barometz, or Vegetable Lamb, is a good example. 1868, Benjamin Samuel Williams, “Descriptive List of Exotic Ferns”, in Select Ferns and Lycopods: British and Exotic. […], London: Published and sold by the author, →OCLC, page 93:
   • [page 7] The Tartarian, or Scythian lamb, or borametz, is a plant, of which many miraculous tales are told. Travellers say that it exactly resembles a lamb, and that its pulp is similar to the flesh of lamb; and that it contains blood, &c.; but these accounts require confirmation. [...] [page 8, footnote †] [The plants] appear to be originally the roots or stalks of certain vegetables, probably of the capillary kind, covered with a woolly moss, which, naturally naturally bearing resemblance to the figure of a lamb, have been helped out and brought nearer to it by art, and the addition of new parts. Sir Hans Sloane, and Breynius [Jacob Breyne], give us the figures and descriptions of such borametzes in their collections. 1826, Eliza P. Reid, “Part I. Rice, Licorice, Maize, or Indian Wheat, and Some Other Plants.”, in Historical and Literary Botany, […], volume III, Windsor, Berkshire: C. Andrews, […], →OCLC, pages 7 and 8:
   • A portion of the Baromez does present a rude resemblance in its shape to the figure of an animal, and is covered by a soft downy substance, which may be compared to a silky fleece, of a reddish-brown colour, and which gives to it more the appearance of a dog than a lamb. [1866], “The Field and the Heath”, in Beauties and Wonders of Vegetable Life; […], London: The Religious Tract Society, […], →OCLC, page 263:
   • Nor can we affirm that this plant of [Gustav] Kunze is not that which gave rise to the tales of wonder, for, although the species was first botanically determined by Kunze from [Hugh] Cuming's Philippine Island specimens, and although it is shown to be a native also of Sumatra, yet we have lately (in 'Kew Garden Miscellany,' vol. ix. p. 334) had occasion to record the fact of our having received specimens of the same Fern from Hongkong, Chusan, and South China, of which country the Barometz is considered a native. 1861, William Jackson Hooker, “Introductory Notice”, in The British Ferns; […], London: Lovell Reeve, […], →OCLC, footnote:
   • Cibotium Barometz frond resembles the Cibotium Scheidei but the growth is different as well as the color. The Barometz is more stiff and upright where the Scheidei droops and is more delicate and lighter green. 1949, The Begonian: […], Long Beach, Calif.: American Begonia Society, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 265, column 2:

Forms

Relateds

watersheep

Synonyms

vegetable lamb · Scythian lamb · vegetable lamb of Tartary

Translations (22)

th ว่านลูกไก่ทอง (Cibotium barometz) · de Baumlamm (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · de Skythisches Lamm (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · ru боране́ц (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · de Pflanzliches Lamm (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · pt borametz (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · min paku simpai (Cibotium barometz) · pl jagnię scytyjskie (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · fr barometz (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · cmn 植物羊 (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · nl barometz (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · id penawar jambi (Cibotium barometz) · de chinesischer Schatullenfarn (Cibotium barometz) · ms pokok ayam emas (Cibotium barometz) · ru бораме́ц (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · ru баранец (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · ja バロメッツ (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · cmn 金狗毛蕨 (Cibotium barometz) · uk баранець (half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb) · vi cẩu tích (Cibotium barometz) · pl otężałka (Cibotium barometz) · fi kiinanentinsiipi (Cibotium barometz)

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