AGRIELAIA ('A-ypzeXafct ; New Test. cl-ypig Xatos). The wild olive-tree is mentioned by St. Paul in Romans xi. 17, 24. Here different opinions have been entertained, not only with respect to the plant, but also with respect to the explanation of the metaphor. One great difficulty has arisen from the same name having been applied to different plants. Thus by Dioscorides (De Mater. Med. i. 137) it is stated that the 'AypLeXafa, or wild olive tree, is by some called Cotinus, and by others, the Ethiopic olive. So, in the notes to Theoph. ed Boda Stapel, p. 224, we read, Sed hic 'corms Lego cum Atheno, id est oleaster. Est. vero alias cotinus, frutex, de quo Plinius, xvi. 18. Est et in Apennino frutex qui vocatur Cotinus, ad lineamenta modo conchylii colore insignis.' Hence the wild olive-tree has been confounded with rhos cotinus, or Venetian sumach, with which it has no point of resemblance. Further confusion has arisen from the present Eluagnus angustifalia of botanists hay ing been at one time called Olea sylvestris. Hence it has been inferred that the 'A-ypteXaia is this very Elagrrus, E. angustifolia, or the narrow-leafed Oleaster-tree of Paradise of the Portuguese. In many points it certainly somewhat resembles the true alive-tree—that is, in the form and appearance of the leaves, in the oblong-shaped fruit (edible in some of the species), also in an oil being ex pressed from the kernels ; but it will not explain the present passage, as no process of grafting will enable the Elxagnus to bear olives of any kind.
If we examine a little further the account given by Dioscorides of the 'AypActta, we find in i. 141, IlEpl SaKptiou Aatas Alezo7L4s, that our olives and wild olives exude tears—that is, a gum or resin, like the Ethiopic olive. Here it is important to remark that the wild olive of the Grecians is distinguished from the wild olive of Ethiopia. What plant the latter may be, it is not perhaps easy to determine with certainty; but Arabian authors translate the name by zait-al-Soudan, or the olive of Ethiopia.
Other synonymes for it are lortz-al-bur, or wild almond ; and badam kohee, i. e., mountain almond. Under the last name the writer has obtained the kernels of the apricot in Northern India, and it is given in Persian works as one of the synonymes of the burkookh, or apricot, which was originally called apricock and prmcocia, no doubt from the Arabic burkookh. The apricot is extensively culti vated in the Himalayas, chiefly on account of the clear beautiful oil yielded by its kernels, on which account it might well he compared with the olive tree. But it does not serve better than the Else agnus to explain the passage of St. PauL From the account of Dioscorides, however, it is clear that the Ethiopic was distinguished from the wild, and this from the cultivated olive Land as the plant was well known both to the Greeks and Romans, there was no danger of mistaking it for any other plant except itself in a wild state, that is, the true 'A7pLEXala, Oleaster, or Olea eurvpaa, in a wild state. That this is the very plant alluded to by the apostle seems to be proved from its having been the practice of the ancients to graft the wild upon the cultivated olive tree. Thus Pliny (Hut. Nat. xvii. IS) says, Africa peculiare quidem in oleastro est inserere. Quadam aternitate consenes cunt proxima adoptioni virga emissa, atque ita alia arbore ex eadem juvenescence: iterumque et quoties opus sit, ut avis eadem oliveta constent. Inseritur autem oleaster calamo, et inoculation.' In the Pictorial Bible' this practice has already been adduced as explaining the text ; and Theophrastus and Columella (De Re Rust. v. 9) also refer to it. The apostle, therefore, in comparing the Romans to the wild olive tree grafted on a cultivated stock, made use of language which was most intelligible, and referred to a practice with which they must have been perfectly familiar.—J. F. R.