ture, that the word NISMAN in this verse of Isai. xxviii. 25, translated "the appointed," is an error of the transcription, for POD SESAMON, which varies one letter only, and that by the mere omission of a stroke to complete its form; the sesamum, so well known in the East. If we suppose the letter to have been omitted here, then we may make the into 1, and read sesamem ; otherwise we may read, according to the Egyptian name SEMSEMUM, D, supposing the first syllable omitted. The The passage would then be "He casts abroad the wheat, barley, and sesamum in their places."

The other word rendered "fitches" in our translation of Ezek. iv. 9, is no cUSMETH; but in Exod. ix. 32, and Isai. xxviii. 25, "rye." In the latter place the Septuagint has ɛ, and in the two former Auge; and the Vulgate in Exodus, " far," and in Isaiah and Ezekiel "vicia." SAADIAS likewise took it to be something of the leguminous kind, a, cicercula (misprinted circula in the Polyglott version) or a chickling. Aquila has ea, and Theod. oλuga. Onkelos and Targum have and Syr.

which are supposed to be the millet, or a species of it called panicum. Pers. 07, the spelt; and this seems to be the most probable meaning of the Hebrew word; at least it has the greatest number of interpreters from Jerom to Celsius. The following are the words of the former in his Comment. on Ezek. tom. iii. p. 722. "Quam nos vitiam [viciam] interpretati sumus, pro quo in Hebræo dicitur chasamin; Septuaginta Theodotioque posuerunt oλugav, quam alii avenam, alii sigalam putant. Aquilæ autem prima editio et Symmachus (eas, sive Leas, interpretati sunt; quas nos vel far, vel gentili Italiæ Pannoniæque sermone spicam speltamque dicimus." "There are not, however, wanting, who think it was rye; among whom R. D. Kimchi, followed by Luther, and our English translators; Dr. Geddes, too, has retained it, though he says that he is inclined to think that the spelt is preferable. Singular is the version of Gr. Ven. aıyıλo↓, (probably a misprint for any) oats: yet the Arabic translator of Isaiah and Ezekiel uses a word w, which some are of opinion denotes avena, oats, while others think it means secale,

rye 15

Dr. Shaw thinks that this word may signify rice. Hasselquist, on the contrary, affirms that rice was brought into cultivation in Egypt under the Caliphs. This, however, may be doubted. One would think from the intercourse of ancient Egypt with Babylon and with India, that this country could not be ignorant of a grain so well suited to its climate.

FLAG. IN ACHU.

Occ. Gen. xli. 2, 18, and Job, viii. 11, and SUPH, Exod. fi. 3, 5; Isai. xix. 6; and Jon. ii. 5, "weeds."

15 Geddes, Crit. Rem. on Exod. ix. 32.

The word achu in the two first instances is translated " meadows," and in the latter "flag." It probably denotes the sedge or long grass, which grows in the meadows of the Nile, very grateful to the cattle. It is retained in the Septuagint in Gen. Ev Tw axe; and is used by the Son of Sirach, Ecclus. xl. 16, axi and axa; for the copies vary.

St. Jerom, in his Hebrew questions or traditions on Genesis, writes, "Achi neque Græcus sermo est, nec Latinus, sed et Hebræus ipse corruptus est." The Hebrew vau and jod, being -like one another, and differing only in length; the LXX interpreters, he observes, wrote N ACHI for ACHU; and, according to their usual custom put the Greek x for the double aspirate. That the grass was well known among the Egyptians he owns in his Comment upon Isai. xix. 7, where the LXX render y AROTH, paper reeds, to axi to Xλwgov. "Cum ab eruditis quærerem, quid hic sermo significaret, audivi ab Ægyptiis hoc nomine lingua eorum omne, quod in palude virens nascitur appellari."

"We have no radix," says the learned Chappellow, "for N, unless we derive it as Schultens does, from the Arabic achi, to bind or join together." Thus Parkhurst defines it, "a species of plant, sedge, or reed, so called from its fitness for making ropes, or the like, to connect or join things together; as the Latin "juncus," a bulrush, à jungendo, from joining, for the same reason 16" and he supposes that it is the plant, or reed, growing near the Nile, which Hasselquist describes as having numerous narrow leaves, and growing about eleven feet high; of the leaves of which the Egyptians make ropes 17. It should, however, be observed, says the author of " Scripture Illustrated," that the LXX in Job, viii. 11, render butomus, which Heysichius explains as "a plant on which cattle are fed, like to grass;" and Suidas, as "a plant like to a reed, on which oxen feed." These explanations are remarkable, because we read Gen. xli. 2, that the fat kine of Pharaoh fed in a meadow, says our translation, on ACHU in the original. This leads us to wish for information on what aquatic plants the Egyptian cattle feed; which, no doubt, would lead us to the achu of these passages II. The word SUPH is called by Aben Ezra “ a reed growing on the borders of the river." Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and Tremellius, render it by juncus, carex, or alga; and Celsius thinks it the fucus or alga [sea

18

16 So the English retain the word junk, for an old rope, or cable. 17 Hasselquist, Trav. p. 97.

18 "Vocabulum Copticum esse jam alii monuerunt. Scholtzii et Woidii Lex. Copt. p. 10. et 53. Complectitur nomen vel maxime bucolica Ægyptia ab Heliodoro in Æthiopicis, lib. i. p. 10, eleganter descripta; recteque a Josepho, ipso quoque bono significationis teste ixos, palustria, redditur, Ant. 1. v. c. 5. Michaelis, Lex. Hebr. Suppl. N. 61. p. 56.

weed 19.] Dr. Geddes says, there is little doubt of its being the sedge called "sari;" which, as we learn from Theophrastus and Pliny, grows on the marshy banks of the Nile, and rises to the height of almost two cubits 20. This, indeed, agrees very well with Exod. ii. 3, 5, and "the thickets of arundinaceous plants, at some small distances from the Red Sea," observed by Dr. Shaw 21; but the place in Jonah seems to require some submarine plant.

Browne, in his Travels, p. 191, observes, "At Suez I observed in the shallow parts of the adjacent sea a species of weed, which in the sunshine appeared to be red coral, being of a hue between scarlet and crimson, and of a spongy feel and quality. I know not whether any use be made of it, nor am I acquainted with its Arabic name; but it strikes me, that, if found in great quantities at any former period, it may have given the recent name to this sea; for this was the Arabian gulf of the ancients, whose Mare Erythraum, or Red Sea, was the Indian Ocean. This weed may, perhaps, be the SUPH of the Hebrews, whence YAM SUPH, their name for this sea.' This, however, is all conjecture; and in the close of this article, I think it will appear is not an authority for the appellation given to this sea.

One of the questions, which Michaelis proposed for the investigation of the travellers sent into Arabia by the king of Denmark, was respecting the meaning of the term suph given to what is now called "the Red Sea 22" He himself was of the opinion which Celsius had advanced, that it meant a species of alga, probably the sargazo, which grew at the bottom of the sea, around the shore, and spread its floating leaves, of a reddish hue, on the surface. He observes that the D is mentioned in Exod. ii. 3, as growing in the Nile; and that in the ancient Egyptian

19❝ Alga venit pelago, sed nascitur ulva palude."

Alga is the sea-weed; ulva is only used to express the reeds or weeds growing in pools and standing waters.

"Suf est le nom d'une herbe ou d'une plante, que l'on trouve en Ethiopie, de la grandeur du Chardon, la fleur est même assez semblable à celle du Chardon, a la couleur près, qui approche beaucoup de celle du Saffran. Les Abessins s'en servent beaucoup dans leurs teintures, et en fond un incarnat très beau." Lobo, Voyage d'Abissinie, trad. Fr. par M. le Grand, Amst. 1727, page 53.

20❝Fructicosi generis est sari, circum Nilum nascens, duorum fere cubitorum altitudine." Plin. N. H. 1. xiii. c. 23.

21 Trav. p. 447, ed. 4to.

22 Exod. xiii. 18; xv. 4; Numb. xiv. 25; xxi. 4; Judg. xi. 16; 1 Kings, ix. 26; Psal. cvi. 7, 9, 22; cxxxvi. 13, 15; and Jer. xlix. 21. Once by the Septuagint, Jud. xi. 16, rendered aλa00 £10, in other places, gvega daλacoa, and in the Vulgate "rubrum mare."

In our translation of Deut. i. 1, we read," in the plain over against the Red Sea." As Moses and the people were in the plains of Moab, the place here spoken of, and called in the original sʊPH, could not be the Red Sea, for they were now farther from that than they had yet been; and, indeed, there is no word for "sea" in the original. The place SUPH is perhaps the same that is called "Ziph" in 1 Sam. ix. 6.

μνιου

language, the sea is named sari, and that this plant, which is mentioned by Pliny, may be the sargazo of M. Jablonski23. M. Niebuhr, who was one of these travellers, remarks, "Reeds are so common about the Arabic gulf, as to have procured it the name Jam suph, or the sea of reeds, from the ancients 24. But Mr. Bruce thinks the sea suph, in our and other versions called "the Red Sea," should be named the sea of coral. He says, "As for what fanciful people have said of any redness in the sea itself, or colour in the bottom, all this is fiction; the Red Sea being in colour nothing different from the Indian or any other ocean. There is greater difficulty in assigning a reason for the Hebrew name Jam suph, properly so called, say learned authors, from the quantity of weeds in it. Thus, both Diodorus Siculus and Antemidorus in Strabo, (cited in Bochart, V. i. p. 282.) have taken particular notice of the piou and Quxous, moss and alga, with which the sea abounds, and from whence they account for its remarkably green colour. Com. Wisd. xix. 7. Dr. Shaw also is for translating "the sea of weeds" from the variety of alga and fuci; but observes, "I no where observed any species of the flag kind; we have little reason, therefore, to imagine that this sea should receive a name from a production which does not properly belong to it." Forskal, Descr. plantar. Flor. Egyptiaco Arabica, p. 24, declares, 66 Arundines non crescunt ad littora Maris Rubri, nisi ubi fontes et lacustria sunt loca, velut Ghobeibe; quæ rarissima inveniuntur." Mr. Bruce also adds, "I never (and I have seen the whole extent of it) saw a weed of any sort in it; and indeed, upon the slightest consideration, it will appear to any one, that a narrow gulf, under the immediate influence of monsoons blowing from contrary points six months each year, would have too much agitation to produce such vegetables, seldom found but in stagnant waters, and seldomer, if ever, found in salt ones. My opinion then is, that it is from the large trees or plants of white coral, spread everywhere over the bottom of the Red Sea, perfectly in imitation of plants on land, that the sea has obtained this name."

A learned friend, Rev. Dr. West, of New Bedford, who called upon me when writing this article, strengthened, by his ingenious criticisms, this opinion of Mr. Bruce. He observed that the word SUPH means, sometimes, a post or stake, to which the large branches of coral may bear some resemblance. Dr. Shaw speaks of them as so considerable, that they tied their boats to them. The sea is at this day called Bahrsuf, and the vegetation it produces sufo: and Calmet produces the authority of John de Castro, viceroy of the Indies for the king of Portugal, who

23 Pantheon. Egypt. 1. iv. c. 1. § 6. p. 151. et Diss. de Terrâ Gosen, p. 24 Trav. V. ii. p. 349. translation.

60.

believed that it had its name from the quantity of coral found in it.

If, after this, I might hazard a conjecture of my own, I would contend that it means the extreme or boundary sea; my reasons for which I will adduce after accounting for the name which it now bears. It is certain that the books of the Old Testament invariably call it "the sea suph." I am inclined to believe that the name "Red" was not given it till after the Idumeans [or Edomites] had spread themselves from east to west, till they came to border upon and possess this sea. They had long the property and use of it for their shipping. Then it came to be called by the name of "the Sea of Edom." Afterwards the

Greek mistook the name D for an appellative instead of a proper name, and therefore rendered it equga baλaoce, that is, the red sea; for Edom, in the language of that country, signified red; and it is observed in Scripture, that Esau, having sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for a mess of red pottage, was for that reason called Edom, i. e. the red. Gen. xxv. 30. And Strabo, 1. xvi. p. 766; Pliny, N. H. l. vi. c. 23; Pomponius Mela, 1. iii. c. 8, and others 25 say, that this sea was so called, not from any redness that was in it, but from a king who reigned in a country adjoining to it." This is confirmed by 1 Kings, ix. 26, and where the sea suph is mentioned as in the ter

2 Chron. viii. 17, ritory of Edom 26.

Now it is to be observed that this sea is twice mentioned expressly as the limit or extreme boundary of the possessions of the Israelites. Exod. xxiii. 31; and Numb. xxxiv. 3; and, in several instances, is implied, or included, in the boundary. Deut. xi. 24; Josh. i. 4; 1 Kings, iv. 21, 24, and Psal. lxxii. 8. The original and most general meaning of suph is end, limit, extremity, or farther part. This has induced me to believe it originally called by the Jews, the farther boundary sea. That it was not named suph because abounding in coral, I apprehend from this circumstance, that that marine production is mentioned in Scripture by an entirely different name. It is spoken of in Job, xxviii. 18, and Ezek. xxvii. 16, as a precious stone, and is called ramut 28. See CORAL.

25 Agatharcides, p. 2. Quint. Curtius, 1. viii. c. 9. Philostratus, l. iii. c. 15. Fuller, Miscel. Sacr. 1. iv. c. 20. Prideaux Connect. V. i. p. 10. Univ. Hist. V. xviii. p. 338.

26 In 1 Kings, ix. 26, it is rendered by the LXX soyarm Jaλaooav the farthest sea. 27 See Buxtorf and Taylor, Heb. Concordance.

28 The opinion which I have given above is corroborated by the conjecture of Lippenius, whose remark has been lately pointed out to me. He supposes the name of the sea to mean, "circumscribed by visible bounds on both sides," in contradistinction, perhaps, to the Great Sea, or Mediterranean. "Dicitur mare Suph Hebraice ex rad. D, deficere finire, unde est nomen 5, finis, seu extremitas, Eccles. iii. 11. Hinc mare Suph est, vi verbi, mare finitimum, limitatum, terminis et littoribus circumseptum.

[Navig. Salomonis Ophirit. illustr. Wittemb. 1660, p. 286.]

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