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Materia medica in the manuscript “Great folk-medicine book from Sinj”

Manuscripts containing collections of folk recipes which were used as manuals for preparation of remedies and gave directions for treatment of diseases were written mostly by Catholic priests in Croatia in the past centuries. These manuscripts provide valuable data for ethnographers and historians of pharmacy and medicine. Kinds and incidences of diseases afflicting humans in the past, development of ethnopharmacology, folk medical terminology, names of medicinal herbs, and the interaction of folk and scientific medicine may be recognized in these manuscripts. Hence, a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation of these books is recommended. Here we present the manuscript «Great Folk-Medicine Book from Sinj» written around 1750 by an unknown author in southern Croatia (Dalmatia). It was found in the archive of the Franciscan monastery in Sinj, and it has not been described in the literature. The collection was written in the Croatian Cyrillic script, which was used in Croatia from the Middle Ages to the second half of the 19th century. The collection contains 1700 recipes for human medical practice, and 8 recipes for veterinary medical practice. Three recipes contain household advice. Materia medica of the manuscript is mostly composed of drugs of plant origin. Remedies of animal and mineral origin are also included. Valuable information is given about the folk names of diseases and medicinal plants as well as descriptions of the ways of preparing remedies.

“Great folk-medicine book from Sinj”; folk recipes; Croatian ethnomedicine

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