HEBREW / ARAMAIC · H3939
לַעֲנָה
la.a.nah — wormwood
1) wormwood 1a) bitterness (metaph.)
8 tagged verse occurrences · see every occurrence →BIBLE DICTIONARY + WORD STUDY
Wormwood
Original Hebrew / Aramaic / Greek connected to this term
How to read this: there is rarely one magic “true meaning” hidden behind an English word. A lexicon records a word’s semantic range. The intended meaning is narrowed by grammar, sentence, author, historical usage and context.
GREEK · G894
ἄψινθος
apsinthos — wormwood
ἄψινθος, -ου, ἡ (also ἀψίνθιον, τό; ἀψινθία, ἡ), wormwood: as a proper name, Rev.8:11.† (AS)
1 tagged verse occurrence · see every occurrence →Historical dictionary entry
Heb. la’anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists. It is noted for its intense bitterness (Deut. 29:18; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; Amos 5:7). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse, punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered “hemlock” (R.V., “wormwood”). In the symbolical language of the Apocalypse (Rev. 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to turn wormwood. The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means “undrinkable.” The absinthe of France is distilled from a species of this plant. The “southernwood” or “old man,” cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is another species of it.
Scripture references
Deuteronomy 29:18Proverbs 5:4Jeremiah 9:15Amos 5:7Amos 6:12Revelation 8:10Revelation 8:11Jeremiah 23:15Lamentations 3:15Lamentations 3:19
Source: Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897). Historical dictionary wording reflects the scholarship and language of its era.