just this week, in an other thread, Dr bill brought up the word strigil.. in ancient times, soap was pretty crude, and water in many places, was none to clean, or readily available. to 'wash' one rubbed a soft oil into the skin, and the gently scraped off the oil and dirt.. aromatic oils, like myrrh were added to olive oils (third press usually, the cheapest and coarsed olive oil, and the one smelling the most olivey) the fragrant oil was better smelling... another common oil, was lavender. lavender has at its root laver, (latin) and goes back to lou in IE, to wash. the plant was first cultivated in ancient persia, but was common all through europe by roman times.

its now associated with old ladies, but its scent neutralizes body odor, especially ones associated with menstuation. it was so common for washing, its very name means to wash! and if you have ever seen a lavender bush, you know, its a small (18 inch .5 meters) high bush. myrrh is just another plant oil.

{waterless hand soaps, are still available, usually based on lanolin, (oil from sheep) you rub them in, and rub or scrap off.. }

cultivate -- does any one know what that word used to mean?


my other obsession