vannus
vannus, a fan, van, winnow
- a fan, van for winnowing grain, Col. 2, 20, 4; Ap. Met. 11, 10, 26; 11, 16, 28; mystica Iacchi, borne about in the Bacchic festival, Verg. G. 1, 166.
hippotamos ‥ qui oris latitudine ~o comparantur
hec igitur purgans probet, opto, mistica vannus / cum mansura quies jubeleus venerit annus
si vultis ‥ ~o ac ventilabro justitie a paleis separari et inter grana cum ventilabitur area reperiri
~us ei [sc. Baccho ] id est cribrum Cereale, dicata est; quia sicut ~is frumenta, sic ejus mysteriis homines purgantur
Mistica ~us Domini judicio vero, justa ventilacione sibi segregat a zizania frumentum
tritici namque grana contracta sunt hic et minuta, et vix alicujus ~i beneficio purganda
in ij fannis empt' viij d.(
in vino, thure, fanna pro hostiis ‥ in emendacione rote molendini de S.
in ‥ j vann' virgarum magna pro ventilacione bladorum(
lego Roberto filio meo ‥ omnia vasa plumbia mobilia et immobilia cum uno querne et ij vanis et ij cistis
nomina domo pertinencia ‥ hic ~us,a fanne
bainus,þerscel
bamus,ðerscel
Vanni, seu
ventilabrispeciem forte confecta. Ermentarius Monachus lib. 2. de Vita S. Filiberti cap. 14 :
Advecta est deinde in
vase, quod Vannus vulgo dicitur, quædam fœmina duplici damnata incommodo, etc.
Libertates MSS. Villæ S. Desiderii in Campania ann. 1228 : Vannellus carbonis
minuti vendetur 5. solidis tantum, et continet in se duodecim Vannos per mensurationem
Scabinorum.Jehannin de
Mecon........ estoit tenuz et obligiez en la somme de quarente deux Vans de charbon.
Banne vulgo. Vide Benna 5.- a fan, van, winnow: mystica Iacchi, borne in the festival of Bacchus, V.
VANNUS(λίκνον), a winnowing fan, i. e. a broad basket, into which the corn mixed with chaff was received after threshing, and was then thrown up into the wind so as to disperse the chaff and leave the grain (Col. R. R. 2.21; Verg. G. 3.134). The same process was performed by the (probably) more primitive wooden shovel (πτύον, pala lignea), an implement with a long handle and broad blade, sufficiently like an oar to account for the passage in the Odyssey where the oar is mistaken for the ἀθηρήλοιγος (Od. 11.128; PALA). The expression mystica vannus Iacchi in Verg. G. 1.166shows that the shape of the basket winnowing fan and the Bacchic λίκνον (whence the title Διόνυσος λικνίτης) was the same.
The suggestion of Mr. Andrew Lang (Custom and Myth, p. 36), that the mystica vannus was a magic method of raising the wind, like the whirling of the turbo or rhombus [TURBO], though ingenious and attractive, must, we think, be rejected. The λίκνα μυστικὰ are mentioned by Plutarch (Plut. Alex. 2) as being covered with ivy, and containing serpents which belonged to the cult of Dionysus. It is probable that sometimes a figure of the infant Dionysus was actually placed in it, though the representation in the antefixa engraved above may only indicate that he was regarded as spiritually present in the processions. We see here the infant god carried in a λίκνον or vannus by two figures, a Satyr bearing a thyrsus and a Maenad bearing a torch, both wearing skins [NEBRIS]. Some have wished to trace a symbolism of purification by fire and air [cf. OSCILLA], but we have little doubt that the simpler explanation of the mystic vannus is true. Plutarch speaks of the Awakening of Dionysus (ὅταν αἱ Θυιάδες ἐγείρωσι τὸν Λικνίτην, Is. et Os. 35; cf. ἀμφιετῆ καλέω Βάκχον--ἐγρόμενον κούραις ἅμα νύμφαις εὐπλοκάμοισιν, Orph. Hymn. 53), which belonged to the Delphic winter month Δᾳδοφόριος. The swinging of the basket cradle by the nymphs, who were the nurses of Dionysus, represented the call upon the god of springing vegetation to awake. In winter he is an infant sleeping, as the vegetation sleeps; by spring-time he is to wake and gain his full strength: hence the appropriateness of the corn basket being also the cradle of the god. The idea is illustrated by the German superstition of waking the corn described by Mannhardt (Wald-und Feld-Kulte, 1.534): perhaps also by the corn-baby (see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2.23). The scene on the terra-cotta shows doubtless what the procession of the λικνοφορία at Delphi and elsewhere represented: the λικνοφόροι (Dem. de Cor. p. 313.260) bore a cradle in which was either the infant god himself or his attributes, the sacred serpents, &c. (See further on this subject Lobeck, Aglaoph. 700; Roscher, Lexicon der Gr. und Röm. Myth. pp. 1042 f.; Baumeister, Denkm. p. 850.)
[J.Y] [G.E.M](λίκνον). A large shallow basket used in winnowing. The basket in which the Bacchanals carried the sacrificial vessels and the offerings to Bacchus was styled Vannus Mystĭca (Verg. Georg. i. 166).