In Anplo-Saxon there were two distinct verba, thencan to think, and tln/ncan to seem, the latter used impersonally. These verba be^an to be confused verj" early, and in course of time were always spelt alike. In poetry we still use ' nietliinks,' where the pron. is in the dative, and the word means * it i*eeni3 to me." In Rich. 111. in. i. 6.1, the Quartos have ' Where it thinks best unto your royal self,' out the Folio reads 'Where it think'st best,' probably from confusion between *it thinks' (=it seems) and 'thinkst thou.' Knox in his //lV^>^/, p. 315, Bays, ' But to tills houre I have thought, and yet thinks my selfe alone more able to sut^taine the tbinps athrmed in that my Work, than any ten in Kurope shall be able to refute it,' where the iin^Tuinniatical *1 thinks' may be due to familiarity with the form ' niethinks.'
In AV we find the verb ' think ' = Jfcffm In 'me thlnketh,' 2 S 18'-'' ' Me thinkcth the running of the foremost is like the runninc of Ahiinaaz.' Cf. On 413 Tind. 'And him thought that vii other kyiie came up after them out of the ryver' ; Lv 14^ ' .Me thinke that there is as it were a Icprooy in the house * ; Mandeville, TravcU, 117, 'And them thiiiketh that the more pain, and the more tribulation that they suffer (or love of their god, the more Joy they sliall have in another world." This is the ^'erb that is used' in the phrase 'think good,' Dn 4^ * I thought it good to shew the signs' fRV 'It hath seemed good unto me ') ; Zee 1113 • if yo think gooa, give me my price' ; 1 Th 8^ ' We thought It good to be left at Athens atone ' {ii.ltKr,ffatfjut),
J. Hastings. 'THISBE (BS Qla^T), A e(/37,).— The place from which Tobit was carried away captive by the Assyrians (To P). Its position is described as
being on the right hand (south) of Kedesh-naph- tali in Galilee above Ashcr. Ko trace of the name has j'ct been found. Some commentators maintain tliat Thisbe was the home of Elijah the Tislibite, but this is very doubtful. The LXX reading of 1 lv 17', which makes the jirophet come from ' "Tish- beh (or perh. Thisbon) of Gilead,' seems more likely to be correct. See ELIJAH in vol. i. p. 687*.
C. W. Wilson.
THISTLES, THORNS. — There is probably no country on earth of the .same extent which has so many plants with prickles and thorns as the Holy Land. One would be tempted to believe that this is a providential provision to protect them from the ravages of goats, asses, and camels, were it not that the mouths of these creatures are provided with a mucous membrane so tough that it seems impervious to thorns. One of the spec- tacles most striking to a stranger in this land of surprises is that of a flock of goats, browsing in a patch of Eryngiums, or Cirsium.i, or prickly Cen- taureas, and crunching down the heads, a couple of inches in diameter, composed of stiti' thorns, and then masticating them with evident relish. The camel deals even with the noli-me-tangcre spheres of the Echinops, the huge heads of the Onopurdon, Carlina, and Ci/nara, and the thornj' plates of the Indian tig. Zilla mtjagroides, Forsk., a most im- practicable crucifer, with a juice as pungent as its long stiir thorns, is the favourite desert food of the camel. He tears oil' and devours the twigs of the thorny Astragali. Only a few thorny plants, with little succulence to tenjpt, and with extraordinary defensive armour, such as the acacia trees, the buckthorn, and some of the more erinaceous Astra- gali of the alpine regions, and Calycotome villosa, escape the devourers. Notwithstanding this, the thorns flourish and multiply, and, in many places, take possession of the land. Thistles grow to a height of 10-15 ft. Thorny Astragali cover acres of ground on the high mountains. Poteriuin s/nnusum, Bhamnus punctata, and Calycotome villosa are everyNvhere. So abundant is the first of these, the thorny burnet, in one region of Her- nion, as to give its name to the district, which is c.-iUed MuMta'at el-BillAn, i.e. District of the Thorny Burnet. A large part of the lime pro- duced in the country is burned with this shrub, which is 'cut up' (Is 33'-) With pruniiig-hooks. It is then bound in huge bundles, and transported on the backs of men or animals to the kilns. Often an acre or more around a limekiln is seen covered with these large heaps of most combustible fuel. It produces a high heat, .and makes excellent lime. The.se and other thorns iire also used in ovens, and for culinary purposes (Ee 7"). Owners of asses thresh out various species of thistles and thorns, and use tliem for feeding their beasts. It is probably in allusion to this custom that Gideon is said to have ' taught [tUre.^hcd] the men of Succoth (along) with thorns of the wilderness and briers '(Jg 8"').* It is not strange that, with such a number of ])rickly plants as exist in Palestine, there should have been many names in Hub. to express them. Few or none of these denote species, and the VS.S have not attempted to tr. tiiem with any uniformity. We subjoin an analy.sis of these terms.