[HarryHirsch]

Good question. Is oleum used for liquid fat, no matter the source, or is it confined to plant-based oils? pinguis has definite animalistic qualities. You'd think it was oleum nucis indicæ [1], not pinguis nucis indicæ, except when used in a metaphorical manner.

Paging Reginald Foster, Father Reginald please!

[1] nux indica is the coconut

[Camillo]

Pinguis isn't even a noun, is it? I think it's an adjective.

[jaclaz]

Pinguis can be a name alright besides an adjective, but it is more "fat":

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=pinguis&la=la&ca...

I provided the link to google books to the Liber fundamentorum pharmacologia only to show that oleum serpentis was actually an ancient remedy, of course the Latin of a book translated from medieval Persian might be not exactly Cicero, still it should be much better than any translation I can do.

But most probably oleum was a synonym of olive or however vegetable oil in ancient Rome, and it is entirely possible that the actual Persian medicine was the extract of some plant and only called serpentis.

On the other hand, besides the name, we don't actually know if snake oil is actually made of snake oil or snake fat or something else.

[Camillo]

The link only shows pinguis as an adjective or adverb. I don't see any reference to it being a noun on that page.

[jaclaz]

>Subst.: pingue , is, n., fat, grease, Plin. 11, 37, 85, § 212; Verg. G. 3, 124: “taurorum, leonum ac pantherarum pinguia,” Plin. 28, 9, 38, § 144: “comedite pinguia,” Vulg. 2 Esd. 8, 10.—

"Comedite pinguia" may be not "classic" latin, still it is known enough:

https://books.google.it/books?id=VOmwZ1AwFsMC&printsec=front...

[tylerhou]

Pinguis definitely has solid fat connotations for me.