DMLBS tentatively suggests that the word, also attested elsewhere, may be a misreading or a deviant form of orthonopoea (‘form of asthma in which one can breathe only in an upright position’). A similar suggestion can be found in Alph 131.n1 as an interpretation for the passage ‘Orthomia: i. difficilis inspiracio vel respiracio’; see also Alejandro García González, Alphita. Edición crítica y comentario, Firenze, 2007, p. 265.