KETZIOTH Otrvp) is translated CAssrA. in the A. V., and is said to be derived from IMP, to cut off: it therefore denotes pieces cut off,' or 'fragments ' and hence is applicable to cassia. But many of these derivations have often been traced out in ignorance of the names and pro perties of the various substances known to the nations of antiquity. Cassia is mentioncd in three places (Exod. xxx. 24 ; Ezek. xxvii. 19 ; and in Ps. xiv. 8), in conjunction with myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and ahalim, or eaglewood. All these are aromatic substances, and, with the ex ception of myrrh, which is obtained from Africa, are products of India and its islands. It is pro bable, therefore, that ketzioth is of a similar nature, and obtained from the same countries. Both cinnamon [KINNAmorsd and cassia [KIDDAH] were no doubt known to the ancients, and this is one step of the investigation ; but to prove that the Hebrew words are correctly translated is another, which must be proceeded with before we can infer that the kiddah of Exod. XXX. 24 and Ezek. xxvii. 19, and the ketzioth of Ps. xlv. 8, both signify the same thing. This has not been the opinion of several translators and commentators ; the first having been variously rendered iris, stacte, costus, ginger, canna, fistula, amber, ketziah, and cassia ; while ketzioth, or ketziah, has been rendered cassia, acacia, amber, ginger, and aloes. The Arabic translator has considered it synonymous with the Arabic name salicha, which is no doubt applied to 'cassia.
Ketzioth occurs only once, in Ps. xlv. 8 : ' All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes (ahalim), and cassia (ketzioth).' It has been observed, with reference to this passage, that 'The garments of piinces are often embued with costly perfumes, those of the high-priests were anointed with holy ointment.' We have seen above that ketzioth has been variously translated, but no one seems to have noticed the resemblance of this word to thc kooth and koost of the Arabs, of which Kooshta is said to be the Syriac name, and from which there is little doubt that the xdoros of the Greeks, and costus of the Latins, are derived.
Kdoros is enumerated by Theophrastus (Hist. Pl. ix. 7) among the fragrant substances employed lin making ointment. Three kinds of it are de , scribed by Dioscorides, among his Aronzata (i. r5), of which the Arabian is said to be the best, the Indian to hold the second place, and the Syrian the third. Pliny mentions only two kinds
(xv. r2), duo sunt ejus genera—nigrum, et quoit melius, candicans.' The Persian wilters on Ma teria Medica in use in India, in giving the above synonyms, evidently refer to two of the three kinds of Costus described by Dioscorides, one being called Koos, Hindee, and the other Koost Arabee. The writer of this article obtained both these kind. in the bazaars of India, and found, moreover that the hoot or koost of the natives was often, by'European merchants, called Indian orris, e., Iris root, the odour of which it somewhat resembles. Subsequently he ascertained that this article was known in Calcutta as Puchuk, the name under which it is exported to China. The iden tity of the substance indicated by these various names was long ago ascertained, though not then known to the present writer. Thus Garcias ab Horto, 'Est ergo Costus dictus Arabibus Cost aut Cast In Malacca, ubi ejus plurimus est usus, Pueho, et inde vehitur in Sinarum regionem.' Having obtained the Avast in the north-western pro vinces of India, the writer traced it afterwards as one of the substances brought across the Indus from Lahore (Illust. Hintal. Bot., p. 360). When Dr. Falconer proceeded on his journey to Cashmere, he was requested to make inquiries respecting this substance, and he discovered that it was exported from that valley in large quantities into the Pun jab ; whence it finds its way to Bombay (as in the time of Pliny to Patala) and Calcutta, for export to China, where it is highly valued as one of the ingredients in the incense which the Chinese burn in their temples and private houses. Finding the plant to belong to a new genus, he named it Auck landia, in compliment to the Governor-General of India, and the species Aucklanclia Coshes (Linn. Trans. xix. 23). Considering, therefore, that costus was one of the articles of ancient commerce and is mentioned by Theophrastus as employed in the composition of perfumed unguents, and con sidering the similarity of the Syriac kooshla, and the Arabic kast, to the ketziotk of Scripture, and from their correspondence in properties and uses, the latter appears morc likely to be the costus of the ancients, than cassia, for which there is another name HilDnarr].—J. F. R.