Flag
There are two Hebrew words rendered “flag” in our Bible:
A word of Egyptian origin, and denoting “any green and course herbage, such as rushes and reeds, which grows in marshy places.” (Genesis 41:2,18) (here translated meadow). It is perhaps the Cyperus esculentus . A word which appears to be used in a very wide sense to denote “weeds of any kind.” (Exodus 2:3,5; Isaiah 19:6)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Flag
Flag Two Hebrew words: ⇒See a list of verses on FLAG in the Bible. (1) cuph (Ex 2:3,1, "flags"; Isa 19:6, "flags"; Jon 2:5, "weeds"). This is apparently a general name which includes both the fresh-water weeds growing along a river bank and "seaweeds." The Red Sea was known as Yam cuph. (2) 'achu (Ge 41:2,18, the King James Version "meadow," the Revised Version (British and American) "reed-grass"; Job 8:11, "Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag (margin "reed-grass") grow without water?"). Some such general term as "sedges" or "fens" would better meet the requirements. ⇒See the definition of flag in the KJV Dictionary ⇒See also the McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible on Flag
Two Heb. words are tr* hy flag. 1. inK i'dhu ; ixa [in LXX of Sir 40" this was supposed till 1896 to represent the Heb. 'dhn] ^oirroiiov) occurs in three connexions, (a) Where the kine feed in an 'dhu (Gn 4P>8). (6) Where Bildad asks, ' Can the rush (ftji, viTrvpos) grow up without mire? can the flag (intt, po&roiiov) grow without water?' (Job 8"). (c) In a passage (Hos 13'') where both AV and RV, foUowmg the LXX, give brethren for cnif 'Ahtm, which the Oxf. Heb. Lex. regards as a plural of inx, abbreviated from D'lnx 'Akdivtm, tlie context seeming to point to a water plant, withering before the E. wind, which dries up its spring. In the passage in Job the gume and the 'dhu occur in the two members of a parallelism. RVm gives for g6me ' pa[>3Tus,' and for 'dhu ' reed-grass ' (cf. Ebers, Egypten u. die Biicher Moses, 338 f.). The latter is no more definite than flag, and therefore only confuses the question of identity by another term. We • lUflhi has ' ponds of rett,' where the waters rest and ore retained 1 Ibn Ezra gives 'where are the souls of the fish'; this is also adopted by Ki…
Fausset's Bible Dictionary on Flag
Exo 2:3. Cuwph Hebrew, the Egyptian tufi or sufi. An undesigned coincidence that so many Egyptian words should occur in Exodus, just what we should expect if it be, as it professes, Moses' record; but no Hebrew reared in Palestine long after the Exodus would have had the knowledge of the Egyptian tongue which the many plainly Hebraized Egyptian words in Exodus indicate that its author possessed; nor would the author have used these words with out explanation of their meaning, had he not known that his readers were equally familiar with them. This flag is a species of papyrus, distinct from and less than that commonly used in Egypt to construct light boats, namely, the "Bulrush papyrus (from whence comes our paper), of which Moses' ark was made. (See BULRUSH) The cuwph or "secondary papyrus" is again used in the case of Egypt, Isa 19:6. Also "the Red Sea," the sea of suph (Exo 10:19). Gesenius explains "seaweed" or "rush"; a seaweed like wool is thrown in quantities on its shores. Jon 2:5-6 uses it of "the seaweeds wrapped about his head," for He was not swallowed by the fish at once,…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia