A fillet is a little thread (Lat. filum, a tliread, Fr. fl, dim. flet). Its oldest and commonest appli- cation is to a ribbon for binding the hair, 'llius Spenser, FQ l. iii. 4 —
• From her faire head her fillet she undigbt' ;
and Fuller, Holy Warre, 125, ' They pleaded that the Crown was tied on Guys head with a woman's fillet.' But it came to be used early, and is still in use, for any narrow strip of binduig material.
J. HA-STINGS.
FINE. — For the subst. Fine see Crimes and Punishments. The adj. 'fine' is of fre(iuent occurrence, but only in a few cases does it re- present a Heb. or Gr. word. These are: (1) :'b tObh, 2 Ch i''- « ' tine gold,' Ezr 8=' ' fine copper,' La 4' ' most fine gold' (in (in 2'- it is tr'' 'good,' its usual tr", ' the gold of that land is good '). Aram. 39 tdhh, Dn '2^- 'fine gold.' (2) p-i;:' siirik. Is 19" ' fine flax,' lit. ' combed flax,' as RV. (3) i? pi}z, Ca 5" ' most fine gold,' Ges. ' refined gold.' (4) 3^ri
• Cf. Shaks. K. John, 11. L 658—
' I trust we shall. If not fill up the measure of her wiU, Yet in some measure satisfy her.'
t This is the only occurrence of the particular compound Ar«^ BL\x.-iryr,pfM in biblical Greek. Lightfoot gives classical quotA- lions, in order to bring out that the special force of a.W ia ' from another quarter.' That is what is sought to be expressed by 'on my ]iart.' But T. K. Abbott ('Intern. Crit. Com.' in loc.) points out that i»«TXT;^M# itj^elf, in the two instances where in NT it is used with impttu^ (1 Co 10", ph 230)_ expresses a supply coniirig from a dilTcrent quarter from the deficiency. He tlnds the idea of balance in the itW, and hopes it is not an over-refinement to suggest that i»T«,«TAt:^tai. is more unassuming than oLtBttkY.pbi, 'since part of the force of the word is thrown on the idea of correspondence.' Christ's afllictionfl are inconi- )>lete till Paul brings his quota of afiliction to a<ld to them. And every Christian must bring his quota of atfiiction to add to them before they are complete. For the alllicttons are iiol the atllictions of the Uctlecnicr. but of His Bodv the Church They are His atnictions Juat becauae the Church u Uia Body.
8
FIR
Mlebh, Ps 81" 147" ' the finest of the wheat,' lit. as AVm and RVm 'fat of wheat': the fuller phrase * kidney-fat of wheat ' Is found in Dt 32". (5) Koffopis, Jth 10» ' fine bread ' (RVm ' pure ').
In all other cases ' fine ' goes with its subet. in order to bring out the fuU meaning of tlie subst. in the Heb. or Greek. It is used (1) along with linen for B^ sMsh, Gn 41", Ex 25* etc., Ezk IG'"- '» 27' ; for pi bilz, 1 Ch 4" 15", 2 Ch 2» 3", Est 1« 8", Ezk 27'« J for jny sddhin, Pr 31*' (RV ' linen gar- ments'), Is 3^; for pex 'ctun, Pr 7" (RV 'linen of the yam ') ; for /SiVtros, Lk 16", Rev 18" ; for (adj.) ^uVffti-oi, 1 Es 3«, Rev IS'' ig'!*^ "; and for aivdJiy, Mk 15*" (RV 'a linen cloth'). (2) With /lour for njib fdleth, Lv 2' etc., Nu 6" etc., 1 K 4«>, 2 K 7'- "• *, 1 Ch 9=» 23», Ezk W^- " 46" ; and for ffcfilSaXis, Sir 35» 38", Bel', 2 Mac P IS'', Rev 18'». (3) With gold for i? jxJz, Job 28", Ps lO" 119'", Pr 8'», Ca 5'», Is 13", La 4^ ; for Dna ketheni, Job 31**, Pr 25", Dn 10» (RV 'pure gold'); and for piij hArUz Pr 3", Zee 9". (4) With hra-^s for xa^'«)^'• ^afof [-OS], Rev V 218 (RV . burnished '). Thus the adj., which was introduced to mark a distinction in the Heb. and Greek words, has been used so freely as to obliterate any distinction, and RV has done little to restore it. 'Fine' means 'finished' (Lat. finitus. Old Fr. fin), and hence of superior quality, and that is its meaning in all those places. RV, however, has introduced the word in the sense of ' broken small,' 'of minute particles,' Dt 9^ 'as fine as dust ' (isi;'? pi, AV ' small as dust').
The verb to fine (mod. ' refine ') is derived from the adj., and signifies to make pure. It occurs only Job 28' ' Surely there is a vein for silver, and a place for gold where they fine it ' ('pi;, RV ' which they refine '). ' Fining ' is used twice, Pr 17' ' the fining pot is for silver' (lisp, Amer. RV 'refining pot ' ), so 27°'. ' Finer ' occurs only Pr 25* ' a vessel lor the finer' ("jix, Amer. RV 'refiner').
J. Hastings.
FIR (»\-qi MrSsh ; once D-n'iiji bSrCtkim, Ca 1" ; ApKfvBos, K^dpos, tLtvs, KV-jrdpiffaos, ttci'/ct; ; ahics, cupress^ts). From the numerous words by which the LXX has tr'' the Heb. original, it is clear that the learned men of that day were not agreed as to the identity of the tree intended. In a considerable number of passages the tr° is not the name of a tree at all. The conditions required in the tree are — (1) That it could supply boards and planks and timber for doors (LXX vevKivai, 1 K 6">-*'). (2) That it could supply beams (LXX KiSptyot, 2 Ch 3°) for the roofing of the temple. These must have been large, and veiy strong. (3) That it was useful In shipbuUding (Ezk 27°). "The LXX in this passage has transposed the words for cedar and fir, giWng as follows: 'The cedar from Senir was built for thee, the planks of the decks were taken off the cypress of Lebanon, of which to make for thee pine masts.' It uses here Kviripi(T(Tos for the transposed word. It is not clear why the word pine in the last clause was added. Perhaps it refers to the resinous quality of the wood. (4) It was suitable for musical instruments (2 S 6'). The LXX, however, in this passage renders the word bSrCshim bj' iv l<r)(vi, in strength, and not by the name of any tree. This corre- sponds with the parallel passage 1 Ch 13* 'with all their might,' where the Heb. text is 'i'Vrs o-i'sbi instead of crna 'sj;^ Si3. If we adopt the reading of 1 Cli in 1 S, the abruptness and apparent unseasonableness of the mention of the wood of which the musical instruments were made is avoided, and the two passages satisfactorily recon- ciled. The slight clerical error which would thus be corrected is obvious on a comparison of the two texts side by side. Budde lias adopted this amended reading in his new edition of the text