A distinctive pairing
Fennel is identified with the Benandanti in a number of published summaries, while sorghum appears with opposing witches and warlocks. The pair is memorable precisely because ordinary agricultural materials occupy the role that later retellings might assign to weapons.
The translation problem
Plant names move between local speech, Italian scholarly writing and English translation. Botanical precision may exceed what the surviving wording can support. Every new translation should be identified as such, with botanical equivalents presented cautiously.
An evidentiary use
Repeated motifs can help compare statements and identify possible shared narrative traditions. Yet repetition in a court dossier may also reflect repeated questioning. A source graph is better than a motif count when asking whether accounts were independent.
Source and revision record
- Santarelli and Weber, Benandanti, EreticopediaScholarly reference · Survey of agrarian, funerary and therapeutic strands, with discussion of scholarly disagreement.
- Trial transcripts: Paolo Gasparutto and Battista Moduco, 1575–1581 (translated excerpt via University of Washington)Edited translation of primary record · A modern publication of translated trial testimony, not a facsimile of the original manuscript. Copyright may apply.