1. 1V!N 'titOd, id/ivo!, rhaiiniits, occurs twice as the name of a plant (Jg •J''*' " AV 'bramble,' m. ' thistle,' RV ' bramble,' m. ' thorn,' Ps 58" ,VV and RV 'thorns'). It occurs once as a proper name in the expression ' the threshing-floor of Atad' (Gn SO'"-"). _ The Arab. \l(ad is defined as the branches of the 'au.mj. The 'atisaf is ' a species of thorn, having a round red fruit, like the car- nelian bead, which is sweet, and is eaten,' or 'a
• On the text of this verse and on its interpretation and Itii relation to v.T, see, above all, Moore's note, aU toe.
752
THISTLES, THORNS
THISTLES. THORNS
Bpeciea of thorn trees, having a bitter red fruit, in which is acidity . . . when it grows large it is called gharkad . , . some regard it as tlie 'ulleik.' It is clear that the term 'ausaj, and therefore 'dtdd, must have been applied to a number of plants. 'Ulleik most commonly signifies the bramble or blackberry, but also the smilax, and other prickly climbers. The gharkad is Nitraria tridentata, Desf., a plant confined to salt marshes, of which the fruit is called in Arab, 'enab-edh-dhtb, i.e. 'wolf's grapes.' Dioscorides {Ainrenna, ii. 232) seems to include a number of plants in his vagxie description of 'ausaj. The other descriptions would apply to the boxthom, of which there are 3 species in the Holy Land, Lycium EuropcBum, L., L. Arabicum, Schw., and X. Barbarum, L., all of which have tliorns and red berries. Or they would, in part at least, apply to the jujube, of which there are also several species, Ziztjplius vulgaris, L., the 'enndb, Z. Lotus, L. , and Z. Spina Christi, L., the ncbk or sidr. All of these would have been included under the term Rhamnus, the buckthorn, a genus from which Zizyphus has been set off in modern botany. This genus contains one thorny species, R. punrtnta, Boiss., with its variety Pales- ttna, which is found everywhere in Palestine and Syria. This species would admirably suit the needs of the passages. It is a thorny shrub, 2-6 ft. high, with obovate- oblong to elliptical leaves less than an in. long and about ^ in. wide, insig- nificant flowers, and small fruits. It is well known under the Arab, name 'a/ram, is used for light fuel, and suits exactly the contrast intended in Abinie- lech's speech between the 'dtdd and the lordly cedar. To speak of sitting under the shadow of this contemptible straggling bush is the acme of irony. Being far more general than the boxthorn, especially in the hill - country where Abimelech spoke, it is more likely to have been in his mind. The bo.xthorn would never have been spoken of by the Greeks as fid/xvos, which is the classical name of the buckthorn. "The writer has never met with the former in the hill-country. It is a plant of the coast and Jordan Valley and the interior plateaus.
2. D'lij-ij barkdnim (Jg 8'- "). According to Moore (judges, ad loc), 'in the Egyp. dialect of Arabic bertjan is the name of Phaceopappus sco- pariiis, Boi3s. = Ccmte urea scop., Sieber, a compo- site plant, with thorny heads.
3. I'")': dardar (Gn 3'*, Hos 10*, each time coupled with rip). The Arab, clarddr signifies the elm or the ash, hut shau /cat ed-darddr is generic for the thorny Centaureas, star thistles or knapweeds, which are not proper thistles, i.e. of the "enus Cirsiinn. In both the passages cited the LXX has TplfioXos, Vulg. tribulus. At least 2, perhaps 3, plants were known to the Greeks by this name : Trapa natans, L., the water chestnut, and Tribulus terrcstris, L., a prostrate herb of the order Zt/go- phyltacem, with pinnate leaves, resembling those of the milk vetch, and a fruit composed of bony cells, with a prickly back. These are liable to get into the shoe or between the sandal and the foot, and ])roduce a veritable tribulation. The caltrop, an instrument suggested by them, was used in war to impede the charge of cavalry. Some have identified the tribulus with the thorny
4. ;>^!\ heihk (Pr 15", LXX iKavSa, AV and RV ' thorii ' ; Mic 1* [LXX text dillers] AV and RV ' brier ') refers to some unknown kind of thorn, certainly in the first passage one of those used for hedges. The most common of these in Palestine and Sj-ria is Eleagnus hortensis, M.B., the silver berry or oleaster, known in Arab, as zaizafun. It has still", sharp thorns, and grows in a dense fashion which well fits it for this purpose. The ordinary
brambles, species of Rubus, are also much used for hedges, especially along the coast. Also Paliurut aculeatus, Lam., one of the so-called Christ thorns, a plant of the order Rhamnacem, growing in the interior tablelands. Also Cactus Ficus-InTlica, L., the prickly pear, Smilax aspera, L., the green brier, which makes a most elhcient hedge, and the boxthorn, which is common in hedges about Jatia, Lattakia, and elsewhere. The hawthorn, Crat;egus, of which there are several species, is not used in this way.
5. oin huak. This is variously tr. (2 K 14« 'thistle,' RVm ' thorn ' ; 2 Ch 25i8 ' thistle,' AVm ' furze hnsh' [Calycotome villosa] or 'thorn,' RVm 'thorn'; Hos 9" ' thorns ' ; Is 34i3 AV ' brambles,' KV 'thistles'; Job 31« 'thistles,' RVm 'thorns'; Pr 26" ' thorn ' ; Ca 2= ' thorns ' ; 1 S 13» D-niq ' thickets ' [better t/torn brakes, unless we read with Ew., Wellli., Driver, et al. 0'"!in 'holes']; Job 41- AV ' thorn,' RV ' hook,' m. • spike ' ; 2 Ch 33" AV 'thorns,' RV 'in chains,' m. 'with hooks'). From the above inconsistencies, which are quite parallel to those of the LXX and Vuljj., it is clear that no specific meaning can be attacued to huah. It would seem, however, rather to designate thorns and thorny shrubs and trees than prickles and prickly herbs like thistles.