' Have you a catalogfue Of all the voices that we have procured Set down by the poll?"
The Heb. word is always n^S^J gulgolcth, which in the places where it is rendered 'poll ' as well as in Ex 16'^ (AV ' for every man,' AVm ' by the poll or head,' RV 'a head') and 38== (AV 'A bekah for every man,' AVra 'a poll,' RV 'a head') means the nead or the person in counting, taxing;, etc., but elsewhere means the head as severed from the body (2 K ^, 1 Ch 10'»), or the skuU as broken with a stone ( jg 9"). The idea in the Heb. word as in the Eng. is roundness.*
To 'poll the head' is to make it look more rounded by cutting oil" the hair. The expression occurs in 2 S 14*'"- (Heb. [nV;] in Piel, usually tr. 'to shave') and Ezk 44-" (Heb. cc|, its only occur- rence); and 'to poll' by itself in Mic l'*"'Make thee bald and poll thee for thy delicate children' (Heb. 113, usually to 'shear'). Cf. Wyclifs (1388) tr. of Job 1=" 'Thanne Joob roos, and to-rente his clothis, and with poUid heed he felde doun on the erthe ' ; and 1 Co ll' (1380), ' Forsoth ech womman preiynge, or prophesyinge, the heed not hilid, defoulith hir heed : forsoth it is oon, as yif sche be maad ballid, »oWjV/, or clippid.'
In Jer 92« 25=^49^- RV chau-es 'that are in the utmost comers' into 'that have the corners of their hair polled,' in accordance with AVm. See Hair, vol. iL p. 284'. J. Hastings.
POLLUTION.— See Purification.
POLLUX.- See DioscmiL
POLYGAMY.— See Marriage.
POLYTHEISM.— See God, and Idolatet.
POMEGRANATE (l^iri rimmon, p6a, granatum). — There can be no doubt of the identity of this tree. Its Arab, name, rummtln, is plainly of the same origin. Its botanical name is Punica Granatum, L., of the order Granatece. It is 10-15 feet high, with oblong lanceolate deciduous leaves, a woody- leathery top-shaped calyx, five to seven scarlet petals, very numerous stamens in several rows, and an ovary with two tiers of cells, three in the lower and five in the upper tier. The fruit is apple- shaped, crowned by the lobes of the woody calyx, yellowish or brownish, with a blush of red, and contains very numerous angular seeds, siirrounded by a juicy pulp. It grows wild in N. Syria and possibly in GUead. The fruit is of two varieties, the sweet and the acid. The pomegranate ia repeatedly mentioned in the ^Coran as one of the trees of Paradise. It is constantly alluded to in Arab stories.
The Scripture allusions to the pomegranate are also frequent. The spies brought pomegranates (Nu 13-^). The Israelites in the wilderness of Zin (Nu 20°) lamented the pomegranates of Egypt, along with its figs and vines. Moses, in recounting the good things of Canaan, did not forget them (Dt 8"). S.aul abode under a pomegranate tree (1 S 14^). Solomon compares the temples of his bride to a piece of the fruit (Ca 4*), and her whole person to an orchard of them (v."). The beautiful
• Thia perhaps explains the name Golootha, ' the place of a «kull,' Mt 273S, Mk 1622, Lk 2333 (UV), Jn lit".
POMMEL
PONTUS
15
flower is alluded to (6" 7"), and the juice or wine as a beverage (S-). The withering or barrenness of this tree was a sign of desolation (Jl 1'-, Hag 2"'). The fruit was embroidered (Ex 28=^), and sculptured (1 K 7"*, etc.). It was also sculptured on the Egyptian monuments. It is mentioned in Sir 45'. Nuiiierovis places were named from this trte, as Uimmon (Jos 15'-), Gathrimmon (21"), En-rimmon (Neh 11^). The pometrranate is as extensively cultivated and as highly prized now as in ancient times. The beautifully striped pink and crysUil grains are shelled out, and brought to table on plates. The acid sort is ser^-ed with sugar. Rose-water is sometimes sprinkled over the grains. The juice of the acid sort is sweetened as a beverage, and also used in salads. The rind is used in tanning. It is also a powerful anthel- mintic, principally against the tape- worm. A knife useil in cuttin" the rind turns black, as does also the section of the rind, from the formation of tannate of iron. G. E. Post.
POMMEL (from Old Fr. pomel, dim. of pomme ; Lat. ponium, an apple) is the tr. in 2 Ch i'^'*- " of n'='3 qullah, which in the parallel passage, 1 K 7"'<"»- *-, is tr. ' bowl.' RV gives ' bowl ' in 2 Ch also. The reference is to the ' bowl- or globe-sliaped portion of capitals of the two pillars in the temple ' (Oxf. Heb. Lex.), so that po?«m«/ (which like the Hel). word contains the idea of roundness) is not unsuitable. Wyclif uses the word, not only of the round end of the handle of a sword, but of the whole handle, Jg 3^ ' the pomel (1388 ether hilte) folwide the yren in tlie wound.' In Pr 25" (1388) he uses it in the orig. sense of an apple, ' A goldun pomel (Vulg. mala aurca) in beddis of silver is he that spekith a word in his time.'
J. Hastings.
POND.— See Pool.
PONTIUS PILATE.— See PiLATE.
PONTUS (ITivTos) was a name used in a vague and loose way to designate certain large tracts of country in the north-eastern part of Asia Minor adjoining the Black Sea (which was often called by the Greeks 'the Sea'). Originally, the name ■was applied to all or any part of the Black Sea coasts ; and the Attic orators regularly use it of theTauric Chersonese (Crimea) and the Cimmerian Bosporus ; * and comparatively late writers also, such as Trogus, Diodorus, etc., sometimes apply the name to those remote parts. Herodotus, vii. 95, on the other hand, speaks of the Greeks of Pontus contributing 100 ships to the fleet of Xerxes in 480 B.C., obviou.sly meaning the south Euxine coasts in general ; and Xenophon in the Anabasis uses it of the eastern parts of the south coast. The term, as thus applied, was rather a mere description than a real name. It was only at a late period, and through iiolitical circum- stances, that ' Pontus ' began to liave a definite sense as a geographical name.