Anise (awj&ov, anethum) occurs in Matt, xxiii, 23, ""Woe unto you— for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin." By the (ireok and Roman writers it was employed to designate a plant used both medici- nally ••nid us an article of diet (Pliny, xix, 01 ; xx, 74 Apicius, vi, 5, 9). The Arabian translators of the Greek medical authors give as its synonyme shabit,
the name applied in Eastern countries to an umbellifer- ous plant with flattened fruit commonly called " seed," which is surrounded with a dilated margin. In Eu- rope the word has always been used to denote a simi- lar plant, which is familiarly known by the name of dill. Hence there is no doubt that, in the above pas- sage, instead of "anise," avr\Qov should have been translated " dill ;" and it is said to be rendered by a synonymous word in every version except our own.
The common dill, or Anefkum graveolens, is an an- nual plant, growing wild among the corn in Spain and
Anethum Graveolens.
Portugal ; and on the coast of Italy, in Egypt, and about Astrachan. It resembles fennel, but is smaller, has more glaucous leaves, and a less pleasant smell : the fruit or seeds, which are finely divided by capillary segments, are elliptical, broader, flatter, and surround- ed with a membraneous disk. They have a warm and aromatic taste, owing to the presence of a pale yellow volatile oil, which itself has a hot taste and a peculiar penetrating odor._ The error in translation pointed out above is not of very great consequence, as both the anise and the dill are umbelliferous plants, which are found cultivated in the south of Europe. The seeds of both are employed as condiments and carminatives, and have been so from very early times ; but the anethum is more especially a genus of Eastern cultivation, since either the dill or another species is reared in all the countries from Syria to India, and known by the name shabit; while the anise, though
Pimpinclla Anisvm.
ANKLET
235
ANNAS
known, appears to be so only by its Greek name civi- ' oov. In the Talmudical tract Masseroth (of Tithes), iv, 5, we read, " The seed, the leaves, and the stem of dill (""0123, shatath") are, according to Rabbi Eliezer, subject to tithe" (comp. Gemara, Aboda Sara, i, 2), which indicates that the herb was eaten, as is indeed the case with the Eastern species in the present day ; and, therefore, to those acquainted with the cultivated plants of Eastern countries, the dill will appear more appropriate than anise in the above passage (see Celsii Htrrobot. i, 494 sq.). See Dill.
The proper anise (Gr. di'iaoi') is the Pimpinella ani- sum of Linnaeus, an Eastern annual umbelliferous plant, the seeds of which are principally employed in the manufacture of cordials or liqueurs, and as a reme- dy against flatulence. Indeed all these kinds of plants, like the common fennel, possess a wanning medicinal property. See Aromatics.
There is another plant very dissimilar in external character to the two named above, the leaves and cap- j sules of which are powerfully carminative. This is the "star anise," or aniseed-tree (f/licium anisatuni), which belongs to the natural order Magnoliacea>. In China this is frequently used for seasoning dishes, etc. ; but the species of this genus are not natives of the Bible lands, and must not be confused with the umbellifer- ous plants noticed in this article. See Botany.
Anklet. This word does not occur in Scripture, but the ornament which it denotes is clearly indicated by "the tinkling (or jingling) ornaments (OZ", e'kes) about the feet" mentioned in the curious description of female attire which we find in Isa. iii. See Attire. Even in the absence of special notice, we might very safely conclude that an ornament to which the Orien- tal women have always been so partial (Thomson's j Land and Book, i, 182) was not unknown to the Jew- I ish ladies. The Egyptian monuments represent them as worn by men likewise (Wilkinson, iii, 375). The j figures below represent different styles of anklets, as found on the Egyptian monuments, and in use at pres-
Oriental Anklets. 1, 2, 5, C, 7, Ancient ; o, 4, S, Modern.
ent (particularly by females) among the Egyptians, Persians, Arabs, and Hindoos. Anklets of solid gold or silver are worn by some ladies, but are more un- common than they formerly were. They are, of course, very heavy, and knocking together as the wearer walks, make a ringing noise ; hence it is said in a song, "The ringing of thy anklets has deprived me of reason" (Lane's Mod. Egyptian?, ii, 410). This practice, nevertheless, is forbidden in the Koran (xxiv, 31). This prohibition, however, perhaps rather refers (see Chardin, i, 133, 148, 104) to the small bells used by females, especially dancing girls, around the ankles (Lane, ib. ii, 368). To increase this pleasant sound, pebbles were sometimes enclosed in them (Calmet, s. v. Periscelides, Bells). Tertullian discountenances them (De eult.femin. ii, 13). They were sometimes of great value, but the poorer village children wear them of iron. For their use among the ancient Egyptians, see Wilkinson, iii, 374, and among the ancient Greeks
and Romans, Smith's Did. of Class. Ant. s. v. Peri- scelis. They do not, Ave believe, occur in the Nineveh sculptures. Livingstone writes of the favorite wife of an African chief, "She wore a profusion of iron rings on her ankles, to which were attached little pieces of sheet iron to enable her to make a tinkling as she walked in her mincing African style" (p. 273). On the weight and inconvenience of the copper rings worn by the chiefs themselves, and the odd walk it causes them to adopt, see id. p. 276. See Bracelet. An'na ("Avi/a, the Greek form of the name Han- nah [q. v.] ; it also occurs in the cognate Punic as that of the sister of Dido, Virgil, jEn. iv, 9), the name of two women.