Threshing (prop, d^tl; but sometimes T^'^'^'^H, to tread out, cikoativ; and occasionally li^l^). The He- brews made use of three different processes for separa- ting the grain from the stalk (comp. Isa. xxviii, 27 sq.), an operation always carried on in the open air. See Straw.
1. In the earliest period, and even later for small quan- tities, especially in the former part of the harvest sea- son, and fi)r the frailer kinds of grain, the seed was beat- en out with sticks (13311, Sept, paj3^i'Ciiv). This was a process applied to other agricultural products (Jerome, ad Isa. loc. cit.), as well as to field grain (Judg. vi, 11 ; Ruth ii, 17; Isa. xxviii, 27; comp. Columel. ii, 21 ; Stra- bo, iv, 201). It is a method still in use in the East (Robinson, ii, 650; iii, 233). See Harvest.
2. Usually, however, horned cattle (IMishna, Shebiith, v, 8, as still in Egypt, Arabia, and Syria), seldom asses or (in modern times) horses (Shaw, p. 124; Bucking- ham, p. 288), were driven around, usually yoked in pairs or several abreast, and these, by means of their hoofs (Mic. iv, 13), cut up and separated the chaff and straw from the grain (Isa. xxviii, 28; Jer. 1, 1 1 ; Hos. x, 11; comp. Varro, De Re Rust, i, 51 ; Homer, 11. xx, 495 sq. ;
THRESHING-FLOOR
390 THRESIIING-INSTRUxMENT
Pliny, xviii, 72). So also in ancient Egypt (Wilkinson, 2d ser. i, 87, 90), See Thke.siiing-i'i.oou.
3. The most effectual nieilioil of tliresliing was by means of thrcsliing-machines (^^^n 5ni?3 [Arab. «o- raj], or simply V^^n, I^a- xxviii, 27 ; xli, 15; Job xli, 22; also ")p"l2, Juilg- viii, 7, IG; see Gesen. Thesaur. p. 244; noi/JoXoj', <'/i!"'^'"n,l^liny,xviii,72; Talni. >3"i"i::). These consisteil sometimes of a wooden plank {frahea, or tnih(i) set with sharp stones or iron points, which was dragged over the sheaves (Kashi, on Jm. xli, 15; comp. Yarro, i, 52 ; Columel. ii, 21 ; Virgil, Geon;. i, 164), sometimes of a sort of cart or wheeled sledge {plostellum Pha'nicum ; comp. Jerome, ad Isa. xxv, 10, and xxviii, 27). Such a wagon is mentioned in Isa. xxviii, 27 sq. (nbjy "SIX and nbn:^''. ^I'V?)- See Thkeshing-in-
STKir.MKNT.
Cattle were used for this vehicle, as usually still among the Arabians (Wellsted, i, 194); and the Mosaic law forb:ule the yoking-together of various kinds of beasts, as well as the muzzling of the animals (Deut. xxv, 4; Josephus, A7ii. iv, 8, 21 ; 1 Cor. ix, 9 ; Talmud, Keliin, xvi, 7; comp. /Elian, Anim. iv, 25), a usage prevalent among the ancient Egyptians and other na- tions (Hochart, lliernz. i, 401 ; comp. Michaelis, Mas. Jier/il. iii, 130). See JIizzle.
Threshing is frequently employed by the Hebrew poets as a figure of the divine or providential chastise- ments, especially national invasion (Isa. xli, 15; Jer. li, 33; Mic. iv, 13; Hab. iii, 12). In one passage (Isa. xxi, 10), the bruised grain is made an image of the captive Jews. See generally Schottgen, TrituvK ei Fitl- lonke Antiquilates (Tr. ad Kh. 1727 ; Lips. 1763) ; Paul- sen, Ackerbau, p. 110 sq. See Agriculture.
Threshing-floor ('"15, goi-en, liXwv ; Chald. "I'HX, idddr, Dan. ii. 35), a level and hard-beaten plot in the open air (Judg. vi, 37; 2 Sam. vi, 6), on which the sheaves of grain (Mic. iv, 12) were threshed (Isa. xxi, 10; Jer. li, 33; Matt, iii, 12; the Mishna remarks that
Oriental Threshing-floor.
the threshers wore gloves, Kelivi, xvi, 6), so that the wind had free play (Hos. xiii, 3; Jer. iv, 41; comp. Varro, De Re Rust, i, 51, 1, " Aream esse oportet in agro sublimiorc loco, quani perflare possit ventus"). The top of a rock is a favorite spot for this purpose. The sheaves were _
carried straight from the field, "
eitlipr in carts, or, as more com- monly happens in the present day, on the backs of camels and asses, to the threshing-tloor. On this open space the sheaves were spread out, and sometimes beaten with flails — a method practiced especially with the lighter kin<ls of grain, such as fitches or cum- in ( Isa. xxviii, 27 ) — but more generally' by means of oxen. For this purpose the oxen were j-oked side by side, and driven round
over the corn, by a man who superintended the opera- tion, so as to subject the entire mass to a sufficient pressure ; or the oxen were yoked to a sort of ma- chine ( what the Latins called trihuluin or trakeu ) which consisted of a board or block of wood, w'ith bits of stone or pieces of iron fastened into the lower surface to make it rough, and rendered heavy by some weigiu, such as the person of the driver, placed on it; this was dragged over the corn, and hastened the operation (ver. 27 ; xli, 15). The same practices are still followed, only nudes and h<irses are occasionally employed instead of oxen, but very rarely. Dr. Robin- son describes the operation as he witnessed it near Jericho : " Here there were no less than five Hoors, all trodden by oxen, cows, and younger cattle, arranged in each case five abreast, and driven round in a circle, or rather in all directions, over the tloor. The sled, or sledge, is not here in use, though we afterwards met with it in the north of Palestine. By this process the straw is broken up and becomes chaff. It is occasionally turn- ed with a large wooden fork having two prongs; and, when sufficiently trodden, is thrown up with the same fork against the wind, in order to separate the grain, which is then gathered up and winnowed. The whole process," he adds, " is exceedingly wasteful, from the trans]K)rtation of the corn on the backs of animals to the treading-out upon the bare ground" {Researches, ii, 277). During this operation the Mohammedans, it seems, generally observe the ancient precept of not muz- zling the oxen while treading out the corn ; but the Greek Christians as commonly keep them tightly muz- zled. See Thrksuing.