THORN
380
THORX
Zizyphus Spina Christi. (1. The full plant. 2. Details of stem, flower, and fruit.)
prickles, fjrowing in pairs, the one straight, the other Somewhat recurved (Tristram, A't?,/. His/, of the Bible. p. 429). Some, however, have tixed upon Paliiirus uculeaivs, and others upon Li/ciiim horridnm, as the l)lant which furnished the thorny Avreath in question. See Crown ok 'I'iiohns.
2. Atad (^I:5< ; Sept. ?'/ pcqivoc; Vulg. i-hamnus) oc- curs as a proper name in Gen. 1, 10, 11 : " the threshing- floor of .•!/«(/." See Atad. In the fable in Judg. ix, 14, 15, the atad, or " bramble," is called to reign over the trees. From Psa. Iviii, 1) it is evident that the aidd was employed for fuel : " Before your pots can feel the thorns." Atad is so similar to the Arabic ciusitj that it has generally been considered to mean the same plant, namely, a species of buckthorn. This is confirmed by otadmi being one of the sj'nonyms of rhamnns, as given in the supidements to Dioscorides. A species oi rham- nus is des'jribed both by Belon and by I!auw(df as being common in I'alestino, and l)y the latter as found espe- cially in the neighborhood of .Jerusalem. It has been described by Alpinus as having an abmidance of long branches, on which are found many long and very sharp thorns. So KauwT)lf, " It puts forth long, slen- der, crooked switches, on which there are a great manj' long, strong, and acute thorns." This has been sup- l)0sed by some to be the above-mentioned true Christ's thorn, J'hammis, now Zizi/phus Spina Chrixti; but by others the plant in question is supposed to be Lyrinm Europcerim, or L. ofrnm (box-thorn), both of which species occur in Palestine (see Strand, Flor. Palcest. Nos. 124, 12.5). Dioscorides {Comm. i, 1 19) thus speaks of the (h'i).ivov: "The rhamnus, which some call /jerse- phonion, others Icuaicunthit, the Komans white-tl)orn, or cci-huHj<. and the Carthaginians atadin, is a slirub which grows around hedges ; it has erect branches with sharp spines, like the ovyncantha (liawthorn V), but with small, oblong, thick, soft leaves." Dioscorides mentions three kinds of rhamnus, two of which are identified by Sprengel, in his Commentary, with the two species of Lyciuni mentioned above. In his Hist. Rei Herb., how- ever, he refers the piifivoc to the Zizyphns viilfjaris. See IJelon, Obsemilions de /'///.<. .S'/wy. etc.. II, Ixxviii ; Rau- wolf, Trareh; III, viii ; Alpinus, De I'hint. .V.fjypt. p. 21 ; Celsius, Hierob. i, 199.
Lycium Knropaum is a native of the south of Kurope and the north of Africa; in the (irecian islands it is common in hedges {Enylish Cyclop, s. v. "Lycium;" see also the passages in Belon and Kauwolf cited above).
Li/cium Europmum.
3. Barkan CiP'^?, only in the plur. ; Sept. BapKn- v'lfi) occurs in Judg. viii, 7, 10, where Gideon is de- scribed as saying, "Then I will tear your flesh with the thorns (Jcozim) of the wilderness, and with briers {ba7-ka- ?«'?»)." There is no reason for believing that briers, as applied to a rose or bramble, is the correct meaning; but there is nothing to lead us to select any one prefer- ably from among the numerous thorny and prickly plants of Syria as the biirhii/im of Scripture. Kosen- miiller, however, says that this word signifies " a tiail," and has no reference to thorny plant.s. It probably de- notes the sharp stones set in the bottom of the Oriental threshing-sledge. See BitiEK.
4. Batos (?) Baroc, "bramble bush," Luke vi, 44; elsewhere simply "bush"). See Seneh, below.
5. BoSHAii (n'lL'Sa, literally stink-u-eed, from wN3, to stink, hence to be vorlhlcss; Sept. /3aroc; Yulg. spina, and so the Targ., Syr., and Arab. ; A. Y. "cockle") is the name of a plant or weed of a worthless or noxious kind (Job xxxi, 40). From the connection in which it is introduced, it is probable that some particular and well-known herb is intended; it answers to "thorns" (chodch) in the parallel member. Fiirst j)ronouncps it a useless, noxious, and s])inose herb of the cockle or darnel species. Celsius (f/i^rob. ii. 201) makes it a poisonous plant, the bish of the Arabic writers, a species o( aconite. Lee {Lex. s. v.) suggests hemlock as the probable syno- nym. Zunz gives lolch, and Kenan {Livre de Job, ad loc.) ici-aie. Tristram remarks (jXat. liist. of the Bible, p. 4iS9), " There is a shrub which attacks corn, and has a putrid smell {Uredo J'a'tida). Some of the arums of the corn plains have an intolerably foetid stench, and may well suit the derivation of tlie word. The stink- ing arums are cotnmon in Galilee." See Cockle.
G. Ch.vrul (b!l~in, from an obsolete root inn, which Gesenius thinks = ~i'Hn, to bui-n; but FUrst tliinks = Tnn, in the sense oi pricking, and he compares the Phoenician ''i^in, xtplin', Dioscor. iii, 21; also the vul- gar Heb. ^I^IH, mustard, from its smarting taste), a prickly shrub (A. Y. " nettles," Job xxx, 7 ; Prov. xxiv,
THORN
381
THORN
Acanthus spinosa.
31; Zeph. ii, 9), perhaps a kind of tliistlp. Tristram remarks (N'at. flist. nf the Bible, p. 475), " The charul would appear to be different from the ordinary nettle, since in Prov. xxiv, 31 it is mentioned along with it. It cannot be a shrub like the Zizyphus or the Palinrus, because it is evidently spoken of by Solomon as a plant of (|uick growth in the corn-fields. It must have been of some size, from the passage in Job, where the out- casts shelter under it. I am inclined to believe that it designates the prickly acanthus (Acanthus spinosa), a very common and troublesome weed in the plains of Palestine, and equally abundant among ruins. We have often seen it in the plain of Esdraolon choking the corn, and reaching to the height of six feet. Its sting is most irritating and unpleasant, and well supports the derivation of the Heb. word, ' that which burns.' " See Nettle.