La jaunisse, le jaune et quelques oiseaux dans l’Antiquité classique

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the link between jaundice and birds, according to the bond between the yellow colour and jaundice. For Ancient people, origin of the Greek name of this illness, ikteros, is the one of the kite (iktinos), whose eyes are yellow and black like those of the patient, or the one of a bile-coloured animal, perhaps the ikteros. Two birds, the ikterus and the charadrius, not well identified, are the only animals, known to us, which are prescribed in a method for transferring the jaundice, i.e the staring of yellow colour by the patient. Investigation about these points and on likely identifications for the two birds shows that many less or more yellow birds can be used against jaundice and that importance of the glance of the bird in the staring therapy is probably the origin of the ancient etymological explanations.

Keywords

• bird
• charadrius
• icterus bird
• jaundice
• kite
• colours