ALMON
170
ALMONER
I'Hist. des Arabes avant I'Islamisme, i, 33 sq., 168, 194 sq.), one of whom is said to have married the daugh- ter of Ishmael (Pococke, Specim. p. 80) ; while anoth- er named Modar was the grandson of Adnan (Pococke, p. 46; Ibn Coteiba, in Eichhorn's Monum. Arabum, p. 63). Gesenius (Thes. Ileb. p. 93) rejects both these names, as less likely than a corruption from Morad, the name of a tribe in the mountains of Arabia Felix near Zabid (see Abulfeda, Hist. Anteislamica, p. 190, ed. Fleischer), so called from their progenitor, a son of Kahlan, son of Saba, son of Jashhab, son of Jaarab, son of Kachtan, i. e. Joktan (Pococke, S])ecim. p. 42, ed. White ; Abulfeda, p. 478, ed. De Sacy ; Eichhorn, ut sup. p. 141 ; comp. generally Michaelis, Spicileg. ii, 153 sq.).
Al'mon (Heb. Almon ', tJl"a*>3>, hidden; Sept. 'EX/xwv v. r. rdfidKa), the last named of the four sac- erdotal cities of the tribe of Benjamin (Josh, xxi, 18), called Alemeth (q. v.) in the parallel passage (1 Chron. vi, 60), where it is named second of the three there mentioned ; it is omitted in the general list of the Benjamite cities (Josh, xviii, 21-28). Jarchi and Kimchi, after the Targum of Jonathan, confound it with the Bahurim (q. v.) of 2 Sam. iii, 16. Schwarz (Pal- est, p. 128) says he discovered the ruins of ancient buildings bearing the name Al-Muth, which he regards as Almon, on a hill one milo north-east of the site of Anathoth ; doubtless the Almit similarly identified by Dr. Robinson (new ed. of Researches, iii, 287 ; comp. Tobler, Denkblcitter, p. 631). See also Almon-dibla-
THAIM.
Almond 0£'^?, shalced', wakeful, from its early blossoming, comp. Plin. xvi, 25, 42) occurs as the name of a tree in Eccles. xii, 5 : " The almond-tree (Sept. dfivydaXov, Vulg. amygdalum) shall nourish, and the fruit of the caper (q. v.) droop, because man goeth to his long home." This evidently refers to the profuse flowering and white appearance of the almond- tree when in full bloom, and before its leaves appear. It is hence adduced as illustrative of the hoary hairs of age (Thomson's Land and Book, i, 496). Gesenius, however, objects (Thes. Heb. p. 1473) that the blos- soms of the almond are not white, but roseate, like the peach-blow; but see Knobel, Ewald, Hitzig, in loc. In Jer. i, 11, a "rod of an almond-tree" (Sept. KapvivoQ, Vulg. vif/ilans) is made an emblem of prompt vigilance and zeal, according to the inherent force of the original term (Henderson, Comment, in loc). The produce of the tree is also denoted by the same term, evidently some species of nut, in Gen. xliii, 11 (Sept. Kapvov, Aquila and Symmachus cifivydaXov), where Jacob desires his sons to take into Egypt of the best
fruits of the land, almonds, etc. As the almond-tree is a native of Syria and Palestine, and extends from thence to Afghanistan, and does not appear to have been indigenous in Egypt, almonds were very likely to form part of a present from Jacob, even to the great men of Egypt ; the more especially as the practice of the East is for people to present what they can afford in their respective stations. In Num. xvii, 8, the rod of Aaron is described as having " brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds" (Sept. Kapva, Vulg. amygdalas). In Exod. xxv, 33, 34; xxxvii, 19 (where the derivative verb TjSEJ is used), bowls are directed to be made like almonds (Sept. KapvivKovc.). The form of the almond would lead to its selection for ornamental carved work, independent- ly of its forming an esteemed esculent, as well as probably yielding a useful oil. See Nut.
The word X*tb, luz, translated " hazel," also occurs in Gen. xxx, 37, as the name of some tree, rods of which Jacob peeled and set before his ewes at the time of their conception ; and was probably another term for the almond, of which the Arabic name is still luz (For- skal, Flora sEg. p. 67). Some think this was the wild almond, while shaked designates the cultivated variety (Rosenmuller, Alterth. IV, i, 263 sq.). See Hazel.
The almond-tree very closely resembles the peach-tree both in form, blossoms, and fruit; the last, however, being des- titute of the pulpy flesh covering the peach-nut. It is, iu fact, only an- other species of the same genus {Amygdalus com- munis, Linn.). It is a native of Asia and Af- rica, but it may be culti- vated in the south of Eu- rope, and the hardier va- rieties even in the mid- dle portions of the Unit- ed States. The flowers appear as early as Feb- ruary (Thomson, Land and Book, i, 495), or even January ( Pliny, xvi, 42; comp. Buhle, Calend. Palast. p. 5 sq. ; Schu- bert, Reis. iii, 114), the fruit in March (Kitto, Phys. Hist, of Pah sf.).
For a general discussion of the subject, see Celsius, Hierob. i, 297 sq. ; Hayne, Beschreib. d. in d.Arzneikunde gebrauchlichen Gewdchse, iv, No. 39; Strumpf, Hand- buch der Arzneimittellehre (Berlin, 1848), i, 93 sq. ; Martius, Pharmakogn. p. 254 sq. ; Loudon, Arboret. Britann. (Lond. 1838), ii, 637 sq. ; Penny Cyclopedia, s. v. Amygdalus. See Botany.
Armon-diblatha'im (Heb. Almon' -Diblatha'- yim, found only with !~l- local and in pause, "jlobs ita^nsa1?, [to the] covering of the two fig-cakes ; Sept. TAfuhv Af/i\a3-«i//,Vulg. ffehnondeblathaim),the fifty- first station of the Israelites [see Exonr,] between Di- bongad and the well (Beer) in the wilderness east of the Dead Sea (Num. xxxiii, 46, 47); probably the same elsewhere called Beth-diblathaim (Jer. xlviii, 22) and DiBLATH (Ezek. vi, 14). See Diblathaim. It appears to have lain in a fertile spot not far north of Dibon-gad, perhaps on the edge of the eminence over- looking the Wady Waleh. See Dibon-gad.