Nuts (Hastings' Dictionary)

The equivalent of two Heb. words— 1. o> botnim, τερέβινθοι, terebinthi. The (unused) sing., [55 bdten, of this is perhaps the cognate of the Arab. butm, the n being substituted for the m. This word in Arab. is generic for terebinth. Its eneric character seems to have been lost in Heb., in which are several words the signification of which is uncertain as between the terebinth and the oak. (See OAK).

Doubtless the form botnim, the plural of the assumed 53, refers, in the onl passage in which it occurs (Gn 43"), to pistachio nuts. They are the fruit of Pistacia vera, L., a tree of the Order Anacardiacee, 10-20 ft. high, with 1-2 pair of odd pinnate leaflets 3-5 in. long, or simple ovate leaves. The nut is oblong, apicu- late, # in. long, 4 in. broad, with green oily cotyledons. It is donbtfully indigenous, but every- where cultivated in the orchards near cities.

The tree and its fruit are known as fist. The nuts NYMPHA OR NYMPHAS are a favourite pak of the Orientals. While the Heb. on the one hand thus appropriated the term 153 to one species of the modern genus Pistacia, the Arabs, on the other, have appre priated it to three other species of the same genus, allied to each other, but differing from the pis- tachio. They are P. Terebinthus, L., P. Pales tina, Ehr. (which should be regarded simply as a variety of the foregoing), and P. mutica, F. and M.

These are the true terebinths, and prob- ably the trees intended by a)x, and perhaps other Heb. words. (See OAK). They attain a height of 20-25 ft. and a diameter of 30-40. They have pinnate leaves, and small lenticular inedible fruits, from which an oil, used in tanning and other arts, is expressed. Probably both the Hebrews and the Arabs originally recognized the generic connexion between the pistachio and the terebinth. It is clear, from the LXX and Vulg.

, that those VSS recognized the analogy. RVm ives the gloss, ‘that is, pistachio nuts.’ It is interesting to note that in Mardin a terebinth is cultivated, under the name of "δέχ, which bears fruit of the lenticular shape of the terebinth nutlets, but as large as a cherry stone, and with an edible kernel, resembling in taste pistachio nuts. Some such terebinthine tree must have been the wild stock of the pistachio.

The city Betonim in Gad, east of the Jordan (Jos 13%), was doubtless named from trees, either of pistachio or terebinth. It is now called Botneh, a survival of its Heb. form, but carrying to Arab minds the meaning of the Arab. botn=‘ belly.’ 2. tax égéz. This word also occurs but once (Ca 6"). The exact similarity to the Arab. jauz= ‘walnut,’ and the univ cultivation of this tree in the East, make it practically certain that the walnut is intended. The LXX κάρυον and the Vulg.

nua are generic, but also are often used ΒΡΘΟΙΠΟΒΙΥ for the walnut. They are the seeda of the fruit of Juglans regia, L., a noble tree, growing in moist situations. It attains a height of 20-30 ft. and a diameter of 50-60. It is par- ticularly common around the village fountains, and along the mountain torrents. {ts foliage is fragrant. The nuts are of excellent quality, and very cheap. One variety measures 2 inches in its long diameter. α. E. Post. NYMPHA or NYMPHAS.

—A prominent member of the Church at Laodicea, at whose house a con- gregation was accustomed to meet, Col 4% The question of reading is a difficult one, chiefly because of the ambiguity of the evidence from the Latin and Syriac versions. But the reading ‘her house’ in B 67** seems best to explain the origin of the others. Taphttuots objection, that ‘a Doric form of the Greek name here seems in the highest degree improbable,’ though endorsed by T. K, Abbott (7πέ. Crit. Com, in loc.)

, can hardly stand in face of the evidence for similar forms in Jn 115, Ac 9% (see Hort, App. p. 163a; Jannaris, Historical Greek Grammar, § 270). If this reading be adopted, her name must have been Nympha, and she must have occupied in the Church a position similar to that of Prisca at Rome (Ro 16%), and perhaps of Pheebe at Cenchres (Ro 161), and Lydia at Philip i (Ac 16), If the reading ‘ his house’ be ado ἘΠ from DFGKL, ete.

, the name must be read Nymphas, and is probably to be regarded as a contraction for Nymphodorus. The reading ‘their house’ (SACP, ete.) would leave the form of the name uncertain. Nymphas and Eubulus are commemo- rated together as ‘Holy Apostles’ on Feb. 28, in the Greek Calendar. There is nothing in NT to account either for the combination of the names or for the title. See Acta Sanct. Bolland. Feb. 28, Ρ. 719. J. O. F. Murray.

OABDIUS OABDIUS Seeley — One of the sons of Ela muha married a foreign wife, 1 Es 9577- ΑΒΡῚΙ of zr 1055,