KARCOM (rbl; ; Sept. tcp6Kos) occurs only once in the O. T., viz., in Cant. iv. 14, where it is mentioned along with several fraorant and stimu lant substances, such as spikena'rd, calamus, a»d cinnamon, trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes (ahalim) ; we may, therefore, suppose that it was some substance possessed of similar properties. The name, however, is so similar to the Persian (4:15. karkam, and both to the Greek Kpkos, that we have no difficulty in tracing the Hebrew karcom to the modern crocus or saffron ; but, in fact, the most ancient Greek translators of the O. T. con sided Kporcos as the synonym for karcom. lt is also probable that all three names had one common origin, saffron having from the earliest times been cultivated in Asiatic countries, as it still is in Persia and Cashmere. Crocus is mentioned by Homer, IIippocrates, and Theophrastus. Dioscorides de scribes the different kinds of it, and Pliny states that the benches of the public theatres were strewed with saffron ; indeed the ancients frequently made use of this flower in perfumes. Not only saloons, theatres, and places which were to be filled with a pleasant fragrance, were strewed with this sub stance, but all sorts of vinous tinctures retaining the scent were made of it, and this costly perfume was poured into small fountains, which diffused the odour which was so highly esteemed. Even fruit and confitures placed before guests, and the orna ments of the rooms, were spread over with it. It was used for the same purposes as the modern pot pourri ' (Roseruniiller, Bibl. Bot., p. 138). In the present day a very high price is given in India for saffron imported from Cashmere ; native dishes are often coloured and flavoured with it, and it is in high esteem as a stimulant medicine. The com
mon name, saffron, is no doubt derived from the Arabic zafran, as are the corresponding terms in most of the languages of Europe.
Nothing, therefore, was more likely than that saffron should be associated with the foregoing fragrant substances in the passage of Canticles, as it still continues to be esteemed by Asiatic nations, and, as we have seen, to be cultivated by them. Hasselquist also, in reference to this Biblical plant, describes the ground between Smyrna and Magnesia as in some places covered with saffron, and Rauwolf mentions gardens and fields of crocus in the neighbourhood of Aleppo, and particularizes a fragrant variety in Syria.
The name saffron, as usually applied, does not denote the whole plant, nor even the whole flower of crocus sativus, but only the stigmas, with part of the style, which, being plucked out, are carefully dried. These, when prepared, are dry, »arrow, thread-like, and twisted together, of an orange yellow colour, having a peculiar aromatic and penetrating odour, with a bitterish and somewhat aromatic taste, tinging the mouth and saliva of a yellow colour. Sometimes the stigmas are pre pared by being submitted to pressure, and thus made into what is called cake saffron, a form in which it is still imported from Persia into India. Hay saffron is obtained in this country chiefly from France and Spain, though it is also sometimes prepared from the native crocus cultivated for this purpose. Saffron was formerly highly esteemed as a stimulant medicine, and still enjoys high repute in Eastern countries, both as a medicine and as a condiment.—J. F. R.