The palm gave its name to Pheenicia and to Pheenix in Crete. Jericho was the ‘city of palm trees’ (Dt 345, Jg 116 318. 2 Ch 28"). They existed in great numbers there in the time of Christ. A few wild ones exist now in the Jordan Valley. Perhaps the fronds used in Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem came from that region. Hazazon-tamar (Gn 147, 2 Ch 903) possibly means *the felling of the palm tree.’ Palms must have been abundant in En-gedi (Sir 24"), a fact con- firmed by Josephus and Pliny. Baal-tamar (Jg 20") and Deborah’s palm tree (Jg 4°), in the hill- country of Benjamin, were probably isolated trees —perhaps, according to Stanley, the same tree. As above said, palms were never common in the upper hills. This would make a single tree in such a situation a landmark. There are still a few in the liills of Pal. and Lebanon. Tamar in the south of Juda (Ezk 47! 48%) must have been within the wilderness of the wanderings. Robinson (BRP? ‘i. 198, 202) places it at e/-Mih. Tadmor (2 Ch 8*)
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is a corruption of (or a mistake for) Tamar. It was noted for its palm trees. None now remain. Bethany is derived by some from ‘ya-m3=house of dates, while others derive it from myrm2=house of sorrow. ‘The improbability of dates being produced in quantities sufficient to give their name to a place, inclines us to think that the latter is the more correct etymology. Three women are named Tamar (Gn 38%, 2S 13' 14%). See TAMAR.
Dates are a staple article of food among the Bedawin of Sinai and elsewhere. A seedless palm tree flourishes in the Convent of Mar Siba. Fine xroves of palm trees are found in all the oases. The dates are dried separately, not compressed into cakes. For their weight, they contain a very large proportion of nutritious matter. A handful of them lasts an Arab a day or two. Date brandy is made in the Convent of St. Catherine in Sinai, and elsewhere. Date honey, called dibs, is also made. ‘hough there is no unmistakable allusion to the use of dates as food in the Bible, there can be no doubt that they were so employed. No mention is made of the use of palm wood in building. In modern times it is used only for gate- posts and rafters. The midribs of the fronds are used in making crates for fruit and coops for fowls.
G. E. Post.
PALMER-WORM (0)3 gazadm, κάμπη, eruca).—In the article on Locust, 6, we have pointed out the uncertainty as to the identification of the creatures referred to in Jl] 1" 2%, Am 45. Bochart and his followers suppose them to be stages in the growth of the locust. The Oxf. Heb. Lex. agrees with him. The root 013=Arab. jazam, signifies ‘to cut off.’ This would apply to any destroying larva. We have further pointed out (Locust, 9) that the λᾶς (AV and RV ‘caterpillar’) is probably, as in RVm, a stage of the locust. There are numerous larvee of moths and butterflies which infest plants in Pal. and Syria, but none which amount to a pest, or do any damage comparable to that inflicted by the successive stages of the locust. The Eng. palmer- worm is an old name for the caterpillar, which is so called either from its wandering about like a pilgrim, or (more probabl ) from its resemblance to the palm, provincial Eng. for the catkin of a willow. G. E. Post.
PALSY.—From Gr. παράλυσις (παρά and λύω ‘to loosen’) came Lat. paralysis, whence Fr. paralysie. In Old Fr. there were several forms, of which paralasie and palasie are typical. In Middle Eng. also the longer and shorter forms were in use with a great variety of spelling, paralisie, parlesi,
alasie,* palasye,t palesie,* palsey, palsye, etc.
hus ‘ paralysis’ and ‘palsy’ are doublets. The former gradually We out of common use, and does not occur in AV ; but now it is supplanting the latter, except in echoes of biblical language.
The subst. παράλυσις is used only once (Ezk 21) )) in LXX. It isnot used in NT; ‘ palsy’ is the tr. of either the adj. παραλυτικός or the verb παραλύομιαι, generally in the form ‘sick of the palsy.’ When the Greek is the verb (Lk 5'*, Ac 57 05) RV translates by the Old Eng. verb ‘ to palsy,’ which is not used in AV, but occurs twice in Shaks. Coriol. v. ii. 46, and Meas. for Meas. 11. i. 36—
* All thy blessed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms Of palsied eld’; and is still in poetic use. see under MEDICINE, p. 326. * These two forins are found in Wyclif’s version. ¢ As in Chaucer, Rom, of Rose, A 1098—
‘The mordaunt, wought In noble wyse, Was of a stoon ful precious,
That was so fyn and vertuous,
That hool a man it coude make
Of palasye, and of tooth-ake
For palsy or paralysis J, HASTINGS.
PALTI (ede, adr(e)l).—1. One of the twelve men sent by Moses to spy out the land, Nu 13%. He was the representative of the tribe of Benjamin. 2, The man to whom Michal, David’s wife, was given by Saul, 1S 254 See MICHAL, MARRIAGE, . 274°.” In 2S 3" he is called Paltiel. See follow- ing article under No. 2. J. A. SELBIE.