Note 538 — ADDITIONAL NOTES.

Ficatum, in Greek συκωτὸν, hog’s liver enlarged by a particular mode of fatting. The word was originally derived from the fatting of geese with figs for a similar purpose—ficis pastum jecur anseris albi. Hor. It was said to have been the invention of the first Apicius, who lived in the time of the Republic, and whose name was assumed by some other subsequent professors of the culinary art. Apicius Cœlius, whose work is extant, appears, from the names and descriptions which he gives to some of the dishes or sauces, to have lived not long after the reign of Elagabalus. See the preface to the edition of Apicius, by Dr. Lister, physician to Queen Anne. From ficatum, συκωτὸν, are derived the Italian and modern Greek words fegato, συκότι, used for liver in general.