FRUITS. pert; fruit in general, vegetable or animal (Dent. vii. 13, his ; 51, bis). It originated the English word fruit,' by the n being, sounded as ph, and subsequently converted into f. The Hebrews had three generic terms designating three great classes of the fruits of the land, closely corresponding to what may be expressed in Eng lish as, I. Corn-fruit, or field produce, ; 2. Vint age-in/77, ti,,,n4n; 3. Orchard-fruit, 'VV.
Referrin,g to the separate articles under these heads, we shall bere simply exhibit tbeir relative positions.
a. They are found mutually associated in nine teen places. Dagan occurs with tirosh alone eleven times ; with yayin only once, and there (Lam. ii. 12) yayin is used for grapes. Tirosh occurs thirty eight times ; in thirty places it is associated with the confessedly generic word ddoan ; in twenty one with! yitzhar ; and it is founa only six times without either a'asan or yitzhar.
b. 7/rash occurs seven times with rayshyth or bieeozar, first-fruits ; ' ten times with teroobhah, offerings,' or magnasayr, tithes,' which were mainly the first of gathered fruits and grain in their natural state.
e. Tirosh is connected with yayin in three pas sages only twice by way- of climax merely (Hos. iv.
; Is. xxiv. 7-1o), and once (Mic. vi. 15) as the yielder of wine, not wine itself.
d. Tiros!! is not directly united with shemen (oil) in a single place.
e. The three terms arc constantly and closely connected with expressions indicating- increase of vegetable produce, or the spontaneous growth of the fruits of the earth, or the increase of objects of culture, especially the fruits of tbe field and the vineyard : they also occur in connection with terms expressive of fruital or animal produce, sometinies with the vine, olive, fig, or palm tree, but scarcely ever with their specific fruit, or with particular articles of diet ; still more rarely are they con nected with terms evincing the process of prepar ing or preserving them, or the vehicle or mode of their consumption. In all these respects they pre
sent a complete contrast to terms denoting specific products or artificial preparations, as zayills (olive), shemen (oil), yayin (wine), or lehhem (food or bread).
f. In the very rare instances in which they do c.:ccur in connection with specific articles or cir cumstances, special reasons obviously exist for the fact, confirmatory of the view advanced as to their generic signification. The exceptions prove the rule.
g. Lastly, though the three terms are employed throughout a period of one thousand years (Num. xviii. 12, B.C. 1439, to Neh. xiii. 12, B.C. 409) by a series of fourteen authors, the bulk of whom also use yayin and shemen, occasionally in conjunction, yet not in one instance have they crossed lirosh with shemen, or yayin with yilzhar. On the con trary, the triad of generic terms have been cau tiously and correctly discriminated from words merely denoting some of their species, or artificial preparations from them.
The term rp hayits, summer-fruits,' appears to denote those less important species of fruit which were adapted only to immediate consump tion, or could not be easily or conveniently con served for winter use ( Jer. xl. fo, 12). kayits may have been included as a species under the head of Orchard-fruit : it would seem to indicate either the existence of some contrasted term, as winter-fruits,' or to imply that the products of the class under which it ranked as a species were generally distinguished by their capability of being preserved throughout the year. It is conceived that the products denoted by the third of the gene ric terms above noticed were chiefly characterized by their capacity of being stored up and preserved like our own orchard-fruit ; and thus their generic name might be inclusive of kayits, `summer-fruits,' though mainly and originally refen-ing to winter fruits.'—F. R. L.