A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Gleucinum,-i (s.n.II) (sc. oleum), abl.sg. gleucino [= Gk. gleukinon]: oil of must (‘must’ = Gk. gleukos,-eos (s.n.II), q.v.

Oleum,-ei (s.n.II) gleucinum, abl.sg. oleo gleucino, oil of must (Lewis & Short).

- “… among the ancients there existed a preparation which consisted of oil and ‘must’ – new unfermented wine, mixed together, for the purpose of being applied to wounds. It was called Gleukinon in Greek and Gleucinum or Oleum Gleucinum in Latin, that is - ‘must’- sweet wine, mixed with oil. In describing the mode by which it was prepared, Pliny says – “In order to make Gleucinum, ‘must’ is boiled over a slow heat; by other it is made without fire, but they leave a vessel filled with oil and must surrounded with grape husks for twenty-two days, stirring it twice a day; the must is then all taken up by the oil” (Nat. Hist. XV. VII. Dioscorides, a Greek physician who lived at the beginning of the Christian era states (i.67) that “the vessel was enclosed in a mass of grape husks because it contained spices, wine, and oil” Pliny indicates “Gleucinum draws together (astringes) and cools after the fashion of ointment made from the grapes of the wild vine” (Nat. Hist. xxiii. Xlvi. Dioscorides states its virtues in somewhat different terms – “It is said to afford warmth, to give ease, to mollify” (i.67). Columella, a Latin writer … “concerning Oleum Gleucinum A very large oil vessel requires to be provided; then during the vintage season, sixty pints of the very best kind of ‘must’ and as newly expressed as possible, with eighty pound weight of oil poured into into that; then spices are added” &c. (Book xii, chap. 51). This compound was called Gleukinon in Greek from Gleukos which is equivalent to ‘Mustum in Latin – grape juice unfermented” Pliny: “You may say in Latin, That it is made of new wine (musteum), that it is new wine and oil (mustumque oleum) for Gleukos in Greek is ‘mustum” (A Practical Bible Temperance Commentary Alexander Stewart).