KANEH (rup) occurs in several places of the O. T., in all of which, in the A. V., it is lated reed ; as in Kings xiv. 15 ; 2 Kings xviii.
21 ; jOb Xl. 21 ; IS. xix. 6 ; xxxv. ; xxxvi. 6 ; xlii. 3 ; Ezek. xxix. 6. The Hebrew Raneh would seem to be the original of the Greek icdpva, the Latin canna, and the modern canna, cantle, cane, etc., signifying a reed' or cane,' also a fence or mat made of reeds or rushes : the Latin word also denotes the sugar-cane, a pipe, etc. Hence the term appears to have been used in a general sense in ancient as well a.s in modern times. Thus we find in Ha.kluyt, Then they pricke him (the elephant) with sharp canes ;' (Mil ton (l'ar. Lost., iii. 439) describes the Tatars as driving— ' With sails and wind their cany waggons light ;' Grainger also, when referring to the Indians, as described by Lucan, says, That snake sweete liquor from their sugar-canes.' In later times the term cane has been applied more particularly to the stems of the Calanzus Ratang, and other species of rattan canes, which we have good grounds for believing were unknown to the ancients, notwith standing the opinion of Sprengel (Hist. Rei Herb. i. 171), Ctesias duo genera xaXdquov facit, marem sine medulla et feminam ea. praeditam, bane sine dubio Calamunt Rotang, illam Bambusanz nostram. Repetit ea Plinius (xvi. 36).' The Greek word xdAap.os appears to have been considered the proper equivalent for the Hebrew Katzeh, being the term used by St. Matthew (xii. 2o), when quoting the words of Isaiah (xlii. 3), A bruised reed (Kaneh) shall he not break.' The Greek word Latinized is well known in the forms of calamus and culmns. Both seem to stand related to the Arabic .13 kalnz, signifying a reed' or pen,' also a. weaver's reed, and even cutting of trees for planting or grafting ; comp. the Sanscrit kalm, having the same sig.
nification. The German halm, and the English haulm, usually applied to the straw or stems of grasses, would seem to have the same origin. The Greek xdXaki.os, and the Latin calamus, were used with as wide a signification as the Oriental kalm, and denoted a reed, the stalk or stem of corn, or anything made therefrom, as a pen, an arrow, a. reed-pipe. KdNattor is also applied to
any plant which is neither shrub, bush Oki)), nor tree (Sivapov) (see Liddell and Scott's Creek Lex.) So calamus means any twig, sprig, or scion ; comp. Pliny xvi. 74. 24 ; XXiV. 14. 7 5 ; and in India we every day bear the expression, kalm lugana,' e., to apply' or fix' a graft.
Such references to the meaning of these words in different languages may appear to have little relation to our present subject ; but KrtXaduor occurs very frequently in the INT. T., and apparently with the same latitude of meaning : thus, in the sense of a reed or culm of a grass, Matt. xi. 7 ; Luke vii. 24, A reed shaken by the wind ;' of a pen, in 3 John 13, But I will not withpen (KciAadacis) and ink write unto thee ;' Matt. xxvii. 29, Put a reed in his right band ;' ver. 30. took the reed and smote him on the head ; and in Mark xv. 19, it may mean a reed or twig of any kind. So also in Matt. xxvii. 48, and Mark xv. 36, where it is said that they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it on a reed, while in the parallel passage, John xix. 29,11 is said that they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
Fiorn which it is probable that the term roaapos was applied by both the Evangelists to the stem of I the plant named hyssop, whatever this may have been, in like manner as Pliny applied the term Calames to the stem of a bramble.
In most of the passages of the O. T. the word Kanek seems to be applied strictly to reeds of different kinds growing in water, that is, to the hollow stems or culms of grasses, which are usually weak, easily shaken about by wind or by water, fragile, and breaking into sharp-pointed splinters. Comp. t Kings xiv. 15 ; Job. xl. 21 ; IS. XiX. 6 ; xxxv. 7 ; 2 Kings xviii. 21 ; IS. x.xxvi. 6 ; and Ezek. xxix. 7, etc.