B. Mixed Natural Colours.
fox-coloured or chestnut, a mixture of red and brown (Zech. i. 8). On the ground that this term is applied to grapes (Is. xvi. 8), it has been contended that it means also purple; but the juci est grapes are not so much purple as reddish brown.
itTy, applied to asses (Judg. v. so).
comes from the same root as and the only reason assigned for regarding it as having any dif ferent meaning from that word, is, that perfectly white asses are so rare, that it cannot be supposed it was a common thing for judges to ride on them. Hence the rendering white-red has been advocated (Gesenius, Ffirst, Bertheau), meaning by that white and red mixed, or red spotted with white. But asses might be called white, though not perfectly white; and it is evident from the style of address in the passage cited, that the distinction named was a rare one. In the East at the present day the breed of white asses is carefully preserved for the use of state dignitaries.
3. 11V. This is applied to he-goats, and is rendered in the A. V. ring-streaked (Gen. xxx. 35, ff.); Sept. Asn-oi ; Sym. Xembracs ; Targ.
N,191)1. According to the last two, which the Arabic version also agrees, the peculiarity specified is that of being white-footed. But this requires an Arabic etymology, and it seems better to trace the word to the Hebrew Tin,, to streak or mark with bands, and to understand it of a skin marked with white bands.
4. used also of sheep or goats (Gen. xxx.
32, ff.) ; A. V. speckled; Sept. TorxiXos, probably white spots on a dark ground.
5. 1.n91 (Gen. xxx. 32, ff.) ; A. V. spotted, per haps white and black intermixed ; the white por tions being larger than where 1p, is used.
6. I'm, used of goats (Gen. xxxi. ro), and of horses (Zech. vi. 3, 6). It probably means pie bald, in which the portions of white are still larger than in the preceding. (Jacob was to have all the goats that had any white in them, whether merely speckled or spotted, or piebald or streaked).
C. Artificial Colours.
1. This word, wherever it occurs, the LXX. render by iaiKiveoz, or baKEpOivos, except at Num. iv. 7, where Aorbpcioupop is used ; and in this rendering Philo, Josephus, and the Church Fathers concur (Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 5 ; io, p. 728). We may therefore regard them as synonymous terms. But what colour is Hyacinth? This name belongs both to a flower and a gem. The flower, however, is of various hues, and the gem is said by some to he the sapphire, by others the amethyst, and by others the carbuncle. We must, therefore, go into a wider field of induction, and see how the terms Liral4os and baKipOtims are applied by the ancients, if we would determine with any approxi mate certainty the colour thus denoted. Now we find Homer comparing hair to it (Odyss. vi. 231; xxiii. IA where Eustathius says it indicates black
hair) ; so also Theocritus (Idyll. x. 28) says the hyacinth is black. That in the latter case, how ever, black is used in the sense of dark-coloured, is evident from the same term being applied in the same line to the violet (toe ,taXcur bIrri , comp. Vir gil's Niger, Eel. ii. IS). Ovid expressly says that the colour of the hyacinth is purple x. 213); Virgil that it is red (Eel. iii. '63) and ferrug,ineous (Georg. iv. 183), that is, as Servius explains, vicinus purpurw subnigrm ;' and Pliny identifies its colour with that of the vacchlium or blackberry (xvi. IS, cf. xxi. 26), and says that it is color viola ceus dilutus' (xxxvii. 9). It is represented also con tinually as the colour of the heavens and of the sea. Philo (de vit. illosi iii. p. 67r) calls it abaAioXov, or iratayelov ciepos, and with this Josephus (Antiq. 6. 4 ; 7. 8) accords. The Gemara says, techelet similis marl et mare firmamento' (Menach. 4); Abarbanel (on Exod. xxv. 4) describes it as sericum infectum colore, qui marl similis est ;' and Kimchi makes it azure or ultramarine. This would lead to the conclusion that the colour called by the ancients hyacinthine was blue; and as blue deepens into black, especially when we look into the depths of the air or of the sea, this will account for the term being applied as synonymous with purple or black. The hair, like a hyacinth, of Homer was doubtless dark shining hair, which, seen under certain aspects, had a purplish hue ; just as claret wine appears blue or purple accord ing to the light. The conclusion at which Bochart arrives as the result of his elaborate investigation is, that the hyacinthine colour eundem esse cum coeruleo aut saltem illi vicinum ;' and with this most have concurred. Hartmann (Die Ilebrderin am Putztische, i 374 ; iii. 123, etc.), whom Ge senius and Winer follow, contends that it was pro perly the purple or violet colour ; but his principal reason for this, viz., that the ancients often identify it with Topekbpa, is without weight, inasmuch as we know that they used this word so widely as to com prehend a vast range of colours, so that omnia splendida, elegantia, venusta at nitescentia vocantur purpura' (Ugolini, Tires. Antig. Sac. xiii. p. 299); thus Horace speaks of Purpurei olores' (Od. iv. r, so); Virgil celebrates a Ver purpureum' (Ec. ix. 40) ; and Aulus Gellius tells us, that when a poet whom he quotes says of the wind, purpurat ondas,' he means quod ventus mare crispificans nite facit' (Noce. Att. xviii. it). In Scripture this term is applied to a string or loop (Exod. xxvi. 4), to a veil or cloth (xxvi. 31), to a lace or fringe (xxviii. 28), and to the priest's robe (xxviii. 3r), and to cloth stuffs (lick. xxvii. 24).