Minucius Mandrake
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Jump to navigationJump to search- Minucia: Roman family with patrician roots, but the plebian branches made their mark from Republican to imperial times. With Tristan, and Mandrake, the image of the root or low usurping the old order.
- Mencius: Chinese philosopher
- Minutiae: small details and finer points. Tristan as "small."
- Mandrake: a root that looks like a small man (Tristan) and has deliriant and hypnotic hallucinogenic properties. A bawdy play on the idea that Tristan's "little man" or his "man root" also has deliriant, hypnotic and magical qualities on Isolde. The Mandrake also figures into the story of Rachel, Leah and Jacob and curing Rachel's infertility.
- Ginseng: the Chinese equivalent to Mandrake, which also looks like a little man and is reputed to increase fertility.
