From this Heb. term many have thought is derived the Greek word oivcw, which occurs of linen or muslin cloth, e. g. a loose garment worn at night instead of the day-clothes, q. d. night-gown (IMark xiv, 51, 52, "linen cloth"); used also for wrapping around dead bodies, q. d. grave-clothes, cerements (" fine linen," JMark xv, 4(); "linen cloth," Matt, xxvii, 59, "linen," Mark xv, 4(5; Luke xxiii, 53). This appears to have been a fine fabric (probably usually, but not necessarily of linen), either the Egyptian (Pollux, vii, 16, 72) or Indian; called in Egypt sentei- (Peyron, p. 299), the Sanscrit sindhu (Jablonski, Opusc. i, 297 sq.). Others trace a connection with Ti'^oc, Sind (Passow, Lex. s. v.) ; some (as Etymol. Marj.) from the city Sidon, etc. It appears to have specially denoted a fine cotton cloth from India (Herod, i, 200 ; ii, 95 ; iii, 86 ; vii, 181) ; also generally a linen cloth, used as a signal (Polyb. ii, G6, 10), for sur- geons' bandages (Herod, vii, 181), for mummy-cloth (Herod, ii, 86), or other purposes (Sophocles, Ant. 1222; Thuc. ii, 49). This word is therefore not decisive as to the material. See Schroder, i)e Vest. Mid, p. 339; Mi- chaeVis, Sitppl. 1720; Wetstein, N. T. i, 631.— Gesenius, 7'hes. Neb. s. v.
8. Karpas' (03"i3, Sept. KapTrami'og, Yulg. carbasi- mis^ " occurs in the book of Esther (i, 6), in the descrip- tion of the hangings 'in the court of the garden of the king's palace,' at the time of the great feast given in the city Shushan, or Susan, by Ahasuerus, who ' reigned from India even unto Ethiopia.' We are told that there were white, rp-een, and blue hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marl)le. Kai-jms is translated green in our version, on the authority, it is said, ' of the Chaldee par- aphrase,' where it is interpreted leek-rjiren. Rosenmiiller and others derive the Hel)rew word from the Arabic hi- ?•»(/>, which signifies 'garden \\arAcy,' A pium petroseli- 7iiim, as if it alluded to the green color of this plant; at the same time arguing tliat as ' the word karpas is placed before two other words which undoubtedly de- nfite colors, viz. the u-hite and the putplc-bli/e^ it proba- bly also does the same.' But if two of the words denote colors, it would appear a good reason why the third should refer to the substance which was colored. This, there is little doubt, is what v.-as intended. If we con- sider that the occurrences related took place at the Per- sian court at a time when it held sway as far as India, and that the account is bj' some supposed to have been originally written in the ancient language of Persia, we
may suppose that some foreign words may have been introduced to indicate even an already well-known sub- stance ; but more especially so if the substance itself was then first made known to the Hebrews. The He- brew Icarjms is very similar to the Sanscrit karpasinn, karpnsa, or karpase, signifying the cotton-plant, whence the Armen. kierbas, and the Greek KvpjSaaia, Kvplic'imc, etc. (^Asiat. Researches, iv, 231, Calcutta). Celsius {Ili- erobot. i, 159) states that the Arabs and Persians have karpkas and kiibas as names for cotton. These must no doubt be derived from the Sanscrit, while the word karpas is now applied throughout IntUa to cotton with the seed, and may even be seen in English prices-cur- rent. KapTTOCTOc occurs in the Periplus of Arrian, who states (p. 165) that the region about the Gidf of Barj^- gaze, in India, was productive of carpasus, and of the fine Indian muslins made of it. The word is no doubt derived from the Sanscrit karpasa, and, though it has been translated ^'?ie muslin by Dr. Vincent, it may mean cotton cloths, or calico in general. Mr. Yates, in his recently published and valuable work, Textrinvm A nti- quorum, states that the earliest notice of this Oriental name in any classical author which he has met with is the Ime ' Cai-basina, molochina, ampelina' of Cascilius Statins, who died B.C. 169. Mr. Yates infers that as this poet translated from the Greek, so the Greeks must have made use of muslins or cahcoes, etc., which were brought from India as early as 200 j-ears B.C. See his work, as well as that of Celsius, for numerous quotations from classical authors, where carbasus occurs; proving that not only the Avord, but the substance which it indi- cated, was known to the ancients subsequent to this pe- riod. It might, indeed must, have been known long before to the Persians, as constant communication took plaoj by caravans between the north of India and Per- sia, as has been clearly shown by Heeren. Cotton was known to Ctcsias, who lived so long at the Persian court. PUny describes it as a Spanish article {Nat. If. xix, 1), but other ancient writers call it a product of India and the East (Strabo, xiv, 719; Curtius, viii, 9). Xothing can be more suitable than cotton, white and blue, in the above passage of Esther, as J. F. Royle long since (1837) remarked in a note in his Essay on the A ntiqiiity of Hindoo Medicine, p. 145 : ' Hanging curtains made with calico, usually in stripes of different colors and padded with cotton, called purdahs, are employed throughout India as a substitute for doors.' They may be seen used for the very purposes mentioned in the text in the court of the king of Delhi's palace, where, on a paved mosaic terrace, rows of slender pillars support a light roof, from which hang by rings immense padded and stri]ied cur- tains, which may be rolled up or removed at pleasure. These either increase light or ventilation, and form, in fact, a kind of movable wall to the building, which is used as one of the halls of audience. This kind of struc- ture was probably introduced by the Persian conc]uerors of India, and therefore maj' serve to explain the object of the colonnade in front of the palace in the ruins of Persepolis'' (Kitto). See Abulpharag. Hist, dynast, p. 433 ; Salmasius, //o/Honym. c.81 ; C&l&ins, Hierobvt. ii, 157; Schroder, Be Vest. Mnl. p. 108 sq. See Cotton.