ANETHON (eunlOop) occurs in Matt. xxiii. 23, where it is rendered anise, 'Woe unto you—for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin.' By the Greek and Roman writers it was employed to designate a plant used both medicinally and as an article of diet. The Arabian translators of the Greek medical authors give as its synonyme shabit, the name applied in eastern coun tries to an umbelliferous plant with flattened fruit commonly called `seed,' which is surrounded with a dilated margin. In Europe the word has always been used to denote a similar plant, which is familiarly known by the name of Dill. Hence there is no doubt that in the above passage, instead dvflOov should have been translated ' dill ;' and it is said to be rendered by a synony mons word in every version except our own.
The common dill, or anethum graveolens, is an annual plant, growing wild among the corn in Spain and Portugal ; and on the coast of Italy, in Egypt, and about Astracan. It resembles fennel, but is smaller, has more glaucous leaves, and a less pleasant smell ; the fruit or seeds, which are finely divided by capillary segments, are elliptical, broader, flatter, and surrounded with a membrane ous disk. They have a warns and aromatic taste, owing to the presence of a pale yellow volatile oil, which itself has a hot taste and a peculiar pene trating odour.
The error in translation here pointed out is not of very great consequence, as both the anise and the dill are umbelliferous plants, which are found cultivated in the south of Europe. The seeds of both are employed as condiments and carminatives, and have been so from very early times ; but the anethon is more especially a genus of eastern cultivation, since either the dill or another species is reared in all the countries from Syria to India, and known by the name shubit ; while the anise, though known, appears to be so only by its Greek name dvio-ov. Rosenmiiller, moreover, says, 'In the tract lffassroth (of Tithes), cap. iv. § 5, we read, The seed, the leaves, and the stem of dill (TI34p shaboth) are, according to Rabbi Eliezer, subject to tithe," which indicates that the herb was eaten, as is indeed the case with the eastern species in the present day ; and, therefore, to those acquainted with the cultivated plants of eastern countries, the dill will appear more appropriate than anise in the above passage. J. K.