Rye (rpBS, kussemeth), occurs in three places of Scripture (Exod. ix, 32 ; Isa. xxviii, 25 ; and " fitches" in Ezek. iv, 9) ; but its true meaning still remains un- certain. It was one of the cultivated grains both of Egypt and of Syria, and one of those employed as an article of diet. It was also sown along with wheat, or, at least, its crop was in the same state of forwardness; for we learn from Exod. ix, 32 that in the seventh plague the hail-storm smote the barley which was in the ear, and the tlax which was boiled ; but that the wheat and the kussemeth were not smitten, for they were not grown up. Respecting the wheat and the barley, we know that they are often sown and come to maturity in different months. Thus Forskal says, " Bar- ley ripens in February, but wheat stands till the end of March" (Flora ^Egypt. p. 43). The events above re- ferred to probably took place in Februarj' (see Kitto, Picl. Bible, ad loc). That kussemeth was cultivated in Palestine we learn from Isa. xxviii, 25, where it is men- tioned along with ketsah (nigella) and cumin, wheat and barley; and sown, according to some translators, "on the extreme border (n32il) of the fields," as a kind of fence for other descriptions of corn. See Agriculture. This is quite an Oriental practice, and may be seen in the case of fiax and other crops in India at the present day. The rye is a grain of cold climates, and is not cultivated even in the south of Europe. Korte declares (Travels, p. U}8) that no rye grows in Egypt; and Shaw states (p. 351) that rj^e is little known in Barbary and Egypt (Rosenmliller, p. 76). That the kussemeth was employed for making bread by the Hebrews we know from Ezek. iv, 9, where the prophet is directed to " take wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and kussemeth, and pr.t them in a vessel, and make bread thereof."
Though it is very unlikely that kussemeth can mean rye, it is not easy to say what cultivated grain it de- notes. 'I'he principal kinds of grain, it is to be observed, are mentioned in the same passages with the kussemeth. Celsius has, as usual, with great labor and learning, col- lected together the ditlVrent translations which have been given of this dilHcult word. In the Arabic trans- lation of Exod. ix, 32, it is rendered julban : "cicercula, non circula, ut perperam legitur in versione Latina." By other Arabian writers it is considered to mean pease, and also beans. Many translate it vicia, or vetches, as in the A. V. of Exod. ix,32; for according to INIaimoni- des (ad tract. Shabh. xx, 3), carshinin is a kind of leg- ume, which in the Arabic is called kirsdna, but in the
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sacred language hissemetk. Both julban and hirsdna mean species of pulse, but it is not easy to ascertain the specific kinds. The majority, however, instead of a legume, consider kusseineth to' indicate one of the cereal grains, as the rye (secede), or the oat {(wemi), neitlier of which it is likely to have been. These have prob- ably been selected because commentators usually ad- duce such grains as they themselves are acquainted with, or have heard of as commoidy cidtivated. Cel- sius, however, informs us that in the Syriac and Chaldee versions kusseineth is translated kuntu ; Jar in the Latin Vulg. ; Jar adoreum, Guisio, tract. Peak, viii, 5, and tract. Chilaim., i, 1 ; Zta in the Sept., Isa. xxviii. Aquila, Symmachus, and others render it spelta. So Ben-Melech, on Exod. ix and Ezek. iv, says ^^kysse- meth, vulgo spelta," and the Sept. has uXvpa. Upon this Celsius remarks, "All these — that is, kunta, far, ador, c,Ea, spelta, and oXvpa — are one and the same thing." This he proves satisfactorily by quotations from the ancient authors {Hierobot. ii, 100). Dr. Harris states {Nat. Hist, of the Bible, s. v.) that the word kusseineth seems to be derived from kasdin, " to have long hairs;" and that hence a bearded grain must be intended ; ■which confirms the probability of spelt being the true meaning. Gesenius derives it from DD3, " to shear, to poll," and translates it, " a species of grain like wheat, with a smooth or bald ear, as if shorn."
Dioscorides has stated (ii, ill) that there are two kinds of Zaa, one simple, and the other called dicoc- cvs. Sprengel concludes that this is. without doubt, the Trilicum spelta of botanists; that the oli/i-a was a variety, which Host has called T. zea ; and also that the simple kind is the T. monococcon. That these grains were cultivated in Egypt and Syria, and that they were es- teemed as food in those countries, may also be satisfactorily proved. Thus Herodotus states that the Egyptians employ olyra, which others call zea, as an article of diet. I'liny {Hist. Nat. xviii, 8) mentions it as found both in Egypt and in Syria, as it is in more modern times (Dapper, De- scriptiu AsicB, p. 130; Johannes Phocas, De Locis Syr. et Palcesti- 1UP, p. 34; Cels. loc. cit. p. 100). That it was highly esteemed bj' the ancients is evident from Di- oscorides describing it as more nourishing than barley, and grateful in taste. Pliny also (xviii, 11) and Salmasius prefer it, in some respects, to wheat. The goodness of this grain is also implied from the name of semen