CORMORANT (ktirrmo-rant). In the list of un clean birds (Lev. xi:17, Deut. xiv:17) the word cormorant is probably the correct rendering of the Heb. shaw-lawk', bird of prey.
It is a large black bird, living by fishing. Its scientific name is Pholacrocorax carbo. In all other places in the A. V. where cormorant is used pelicon should be substituted for it, as the true rendering of the original, r'S'F'.„, kaw-ath', vom iting. The true cormorant is found along the salt and fresh waters of Syria, and is certainly a "plunger," so that there is no reason for a change in the passages of the Pentateuch, as some have suggested. These birds are as large as the raven, of a dark color, with long necks, webbed feet, feed upon fish, and are proverbial for their voracity. (See SALACH).
CORN (korn). The Hebrew word la daw gnaw', which is rendered 'grain,"corn,' and some times 'wheat' in the Authorized Version, is the most general of the Hebrew terms representing 'corn,' and is more comprehensive than any word in our language, seeing that it probably includes not only all the proper corn grains, but also vari ous kinds of pulse and seeds of plants, which we never comprehend under the name of 'corn' or even of 'grain.' Daw-gawn may, therefore, be taken to represent all the commodities which we describe by the dif ferent words corn, grain, seeds, peas, beans, Among other places in which this word occurs, see Gen. xxvii :28-37; Num. xviii :27; Deut. xxviii :51; Lam. ii :12, etc. There is another word, bar. which denotes any kind of cleansed corn, that is, corn purified from the chaff and fit for use (Gen. xli :35-49 ; Prov. xi :26 ; Job xxxix:4; Joel ii :24) • The same word is more rarely used to describe corn in a growing state (Ps. lxv :13). The word sheber, which is sometimes rendered corn, denotes in a general sense 'provisions' or 'victuals,' and by consequence 'corn,' as the principal article in all provisions (Gen. xlii:i, 2, 19; Gen. xxvii :28 ; Neh. x :39, etc.).
It is evident from Ruth ii :14; 2 Sam. xvii 29, etc., that parched corn (i. e., grain) constituted part of the ordinary food of the Israelites, as it still does of the Arabs resident in Syria. Their methods of preparing corn for the manufacture of bread were the following: The threshing was done either by the staff or the flail (Is. xxviii: 27, 28)—by the feet of cattle (Deut. xxv :4)—or by "a sharp threshing instrument having teeth" (Is. xli :15), which was something resembling a cart, and drawn over the corn by means of horses or oxen. When the corn is threshed, it is sepa rated from the chaff and dust, by throwing it for ward across the wind, by means of a winnowing fan, or shovel (Matt. iii :12), after which the grain is sifted to separate all impurities from it, Amos ix :9 ; Luke xxii :31. Hence we see that the threshing-floors were in the open air, Judg. vi ; 2 Sam. xxiv :IS. The grain thus obtained was commonly reduced to meal by the hand-mill, which consisted of a lower mill-stone, the upper side of which was concave, and an upper mill-stone, the lower surface of which was convex. The hole for receiving the corn was in the center of the upper mill-stone ; and in the operation of grinding the lower was fixed, and the upper made to move round upon it, with considerable velocity, by means of a handle. These mills are still in use in the East. and in some parts of Scotland. Dr. E. D. Clarke says, "In the island of Cyprus I ob served upon the ground the sort of stones used for grinding corn, called querns in Scotland, common also in Lapland, and in all parts of Palestine.
These are the primeval mills of the world; and they are still found in all corn countries, where rude and ancient customs have not been liable to those changes introduced by refinement. The em ployment of grinding with these mills is confined solely to females; and the practice illustrates the prophetic observation of Saviour, concerning the day of Jerusalem's destruction : "Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken, and the other left," Matt. xxiv :4t. Mr. Pennant, in his Tour to the Hebrides, has given a particular account of these hand-mills, as used in Scotland, in which he observes that the women always ac company the grating noise of the stones with their voices ; and that when ten or a dozen are thus em ployed, the fury of the song rises to such a pitch, that you would, without breach of charity, imagine a troop of female demoniacs to be assembled. As the operation of grinding was usually performed in the morning at day-break, the noise of the fe males at the hand-mill was heard all over the city, which often awoke their more indolent masters. The Scriptures mention the want of this noise as a mark of desolation in Jer. xxv :to, and Rev. xviii :22. There was a humane law, that "no man shall take the nether or upper mill-stone in pledge, for he takcth a man's life in pledge," Dent. xxiv: 6. He could not grind his daily bread without it. (Ca!met.) "Corn of all kinds is carried in sheaves from the harvest-fields on asses, mules, horses, or camels. It is threshed by the 'mural* or inouroj (Heb. Wra,c), and winnowed, and stored in earthen, barrel-shaped receptacles or oblong bins in the houses (2 Sam. iv:6), or in pits under the floor (2 Sam. xvii:9), or in store-houses (2 Chron. xxxii:28). It is now often stored in un derground chambers, with domed roofs, at the top of which is an opening to introduce the corn and remove it. These chambers, contrary to what might be expected, are dry and free from vermin. They are sometimes excavated in the rock, at other times in a sort of soft marl called him wdrah." (G. E. Post, Hastings' Bib. Diet.) The different products coming under the de nomination of corn, are noticed under the usual heads, as BARLEY, WHEAT, etc. their culture, tin der ACRICULTURE; their preparation, under BREAD, FOOD, MILL, etc.
FlguratItie. (1) A handful of torn sown on the top of the mountains, may denote Christ himself, the corn of wheat, as preached, or his gospel-truths and ordinances, dispensed by a few apostles and other preachers, in places spiritually barren to an eminent degree, and yet remarkably fruitful in the conversion of multitudes, and the production of much grace and many good works (Ps. lxxii:16). (2) The people of God revive as the corn; when watered with the rain of his word and Spirit, and warmed by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, they recover from spiritual decays, pleasantly flourish, and forebode a rich harvest of eternal blessedness (Hos. xiv:7). (3) Good men dying in old age are as a shock of corn coming in in its season; being fully prepared for death, they are carried by angels into the heaven ly mansions (Job v:26). (4) Blessings, whether temporal or spiritual, arc likened to corn, to de note their necessity and eminent usefulness for men's souls or bodies (Is. lxii:8; Ezck. xxxvi:29; Hos. ii :9; Zech. ix:17). (5) Manna is called corn of heaven; it fell from heaven, and sustained men's lives as grain does (I's. ;xxviii: 24/.