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Easton's Bible Dictionary
Hebrew la'anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists.
It is noted for its intense bitterness ( Deuteronomy
29:18 ; Proverbs
5:4 ; Jeremiah
9:15 ; Amos
5:7 ). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse, punitive suffering.
In Amos
6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered "hemlock" (RSV, "wormwood"). In the symbolical
language of the Apocalypse ( Revelation
8:10 ,
8:11 ) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing
the third part of the water to turn wormwood.
The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means "undrinkable." The
absinthe of France is distilled from a species of this plant. The "southernwood"
or "old man," cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is another
species of it.
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
Four kinds of wormwood are found in Palestine--
(1) Artemisia nilotica ,
(2) A. Judaica ,
(3) A. fructicosa and
(4) A. cinerea . |
The word occurs frequently in the Bible, and generally in a metaphorical sense.
In ( Jeremiah
9:15 ; 23:15
; Lamentations
3:15 ,
3:19 ) wormwood is symbolical of bitter calamity and sorrow; unrighteous judges
are said to "turn judgment to wormwood." ( Amos
5:7 ) The Orientals typified sorrows, cruelties and calamities of any
kind by plants of a poisonous or bitter nature.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
wurm'-wood (la'anah (Deuteronomy
29:18 ; Proverbs
5:4 ; Jeremiah
9:15 ; 23:15
; Lamentations
3:15 ,
3:19 ; Amos
5:7 ; 6:12,
the King James Version hemlock); apsinthos (Revelation
8:11)):
What the Hebrew la'anah may have been is obscure; it is clear it was a bitter
substance and it is usually associated with "gall"; in the Septuagint it is variously
translated, but never by apsinthos, "wormwood." Nevertheless all ancient tradition
supports the English Versions of the Bible translation. The genus Artemisia (Natural
Order Compositae), "wormwood," has five species of shrubs or herbs found in Palestine
(Post), any one of which may furnish a bitter taste. The name is derived from
the property of many species acting as anthelmintics, while other varieties are
used in the manufacture of absinthe.
E. W. G. Masterman
Tags:
absinthe, artemisia, bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, gall, la'anah, wormwood
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