بَنْجٌ
[Hyoscyamus, or henbane;] an arabicized word, [said to be] from [the Persian] بَنْكْ; [but see a quotation from Hammer-Purgstall, near the close of this paragraph;] a certain plant,having an intoxicating kind of grain, or, as some say, of which the leaves and peel and seeds torpify: it is said, in the Kánoon, by Aboo-'Alee [Ibn-Seenà, or Avicenna], that it is a poison which confuses the intellect, and annuls the memory, and occasions insanity and [the disorder termed] خُنَاق [or quinsy]; and it is red, and white:a certain plant having a kind of grain that confuses the intellect, and occasions alienation of the mind, or insanity; and sometimes it intoxicates, when a man drinks it after it has been dissolved; and it is said to occasion forgetfulness:a certain torpifying plant, well known; different fromحَشِيشُ الحَرَافِيشِ; disordering the intellect (مُخَبِّطٌ لِلْعَقْلِ), rendering insane, allaying the pains of humours and pustules, and the earache,applied as a liniment or as a poultice;the worst kindfor useis the black; then, the red; and the safest kind is the white. [Kzw says that the leaves of the garden-hemp (قِنَّب بُسْتَانِىّ, or شَهْدَانَجِ, the latter of which properly signifies hemp-seed,) are the بَنْج which, when eaten, disorders the intellect. And ElIdreesee applies the appellation حَشِيشِيَّة to the “ Assassins. ” This establishes the correctness of De Sacy's opinion, that the appellation “ Assassins ” is derived from the vulgar pl. حَشَّاشِين, for حَشَّاشِين is syn. with حَشِيشَّة, and the sect called by us the “ Assassins ” are expressly said by the Arabs to have made frequent use of بَنْج. Baron Hammer-Purgstall, correctly regarding بَنْج as hyoscyamus , makes the following important observations, “ ‘ Bendj, ’ the pl. of which in Coptic is ‘ nibendj, ’ is without doubt the same plant as the ‘ nepenthe, ’ which has hitherto so much perplexed the commentators of Homer. Helen evidently brought the nepenthe from Egypt, and bendj is there still reputed to possess all the wonderful qualities which Homer attributes to it. ” ] The phrase شَرِبَ البَنْجَ is used by ElKarkhee [as meaning He drank theبنج] because it is mixed with water; or [as meaning he took, or swallowed, theبنج,] according to the conventional language of the physicians.
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