McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Holm-tree

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Holm-tree


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( ðñῖíïò , ilex) occurs only in the apocryphal story of Susanna (ver. 58). The passage contains a characteristic play on the names of the two trees mentioned by the elders in their evidence. That on the mastich ( ó÷ῖíïí ... ἄããåëïò ó÷ßóåé óå ) will be noticed under that head. SEE MASTICK. That on the holm-tree ( ðñῖíïí ) is: “The angel of God waiteth with the sword to cut thee in two” ( ἵíá ðñßóáé óå ). For the historical significance of these puns, SEE SUSANNA. The ðñῖíïò of Theophrastus (Hist. Plant. 3, 7, § 3, and 16, § 1, and elsewhere) and Dioscorides (1, 144) denotes, there can be no doubt, the Quercus coccifera, or the Q. pseudococcifera, which is perhaps not specifically distinct from the first- mentioned oak. The ilex of the Roman writers was applied both to the holm-oak (Quercus ilex), and to the Q. coccifera, or kermes oak. See Pliny (N.H. 16, 6). For the oaks of Palestine, see a paper by Dr. Hooker in the Transactions of the Linnaean Society, vol. 23, pt. 2, p. 381-387. — Smith, s.v. SEE OAK.