CONSTANTYN. There is some uncertainty among scholars about the birthplace of Constantinus Africanus (c. 1015-1087). It is suggested either as Carthegenia (modern Tunis) or Sicily. He was perceived as African by his contemporaries, hence his agnomen or title of place, Africanus, quite unlike the title of conquest or achievement, the Africanus of the two Scipios, Major and Minor. The story of his life in Chronica monasterii Cassinensis, by Peter the Deacon, librarian at Monte Cassino in the early twelfth century, is based more on legend than on fact. Constantinus's translation of Arabic medical texts into Latin gave the West a number of important works. These formed the foundation of modern science and biology. He was a much cited authority from the twelfth until the sixteenth century, and his translations were widely circulated. Chief of these was the surgical part of Kitab al-maliki (The Royal Book) of Ali ibn al-Abbas, which Stephen of Antioch translated as Regalis dispositio. Other translations are his De melancholia (On Melancholy) and De coitu (On Sexual Intercourse). M. Bassan notes that comments on coitus as remedies for various afflictions are to be found in the works of Hippocrates, Galen, Rhazes, and ibn-Sina. Constantinus also translated Galen's Pantegni, a copy of which was owned by Merton College between 1360 and 1385. A printed edition of Constantinus's works appeared in Basel in 1536, Constantini Africani post Hippocratem et Galenum ([Works of] Constantinus Africanus after Hippocrates and Galen).

Constantyn is one of the Physician's authorities, Gen Prol 430-434. January eats and drinks before going to bed with May, as Constantyn, "the cursed monk," recommends, more than eight aphrodisiacs and three kinds of wine, as Paul Delany points out, MerchT 1809-1812. Constantinus discusses the advantages and disadvantages of coitus, prescribing remedies for sexual disorders, emphasizing the importance of nutrition for a healthy sex life, and places the function of coitus within the scheme for the perpetuation of the human species. [Januarie: May]

Constantyn, the ME contraction, occurs in final rhyming position, Gen Prol, 433, MerchT 1810.