KUSSEMETH (11*ID) occurs in three places of Scripture. In the A. V. it is translated rye in Exod. ix. 32 ; Is. xxviii. 25 ; and filches in Ezek. iv. 9 ; but its true meaning still remains uncertain. It was one of the cultivated grains both of Egypt and of Syria, and one of those em ployed as an article of diet. It was also sown along with wheat, or, at least, its crop was in the same state of fonvardness ; for we learn from Exod. ix. 32, that in the seventh plague the hail-storm smote the barley which was in the ear, ancl the flax which was boiled ; but that the wheat and the kussenzetk were not smitten, for they were not grown up. Respecting the wheat and the barley, we know that they are often sown and come to maturity in different months. Thus Forskal says, Hordeum cum mense Februario maturatur, triti cum ad finem Martii persistit' (Flora ,Egypt., P. 43)• The events above referred to probably took place in February (vid. Pict. Bible). That kussemeth was cultivated in Palestine yve learn from Is. xxviii. 25, where it is mentioned along with ketzalt (nigella) and cumin, wheat and barley ; and sown, according to some translators, 'on the extreme border of the fields,' as a. kind of fence for othcr kinds of corn. This is quite an Oriental practice, and may be seen in the case of flax and other grains in India, at the present day. The rye is a grain of cold climates, and is not cultivated even in the south of Europe. Korte declares (Travels, p. 168) that no rye grows in Egypt ; and Shaw states (p. 35i) that rye is little known in Barbary and Egypt (Rosenmtiller, p. 76). That the kussenzeth was employed for making bread by the Hebrews we know from Ezek. iv. 9, where the prophet is directed to take wheat, and bar ley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and base meth, and put them in a vessel, and make bread thereof.' Though it is very unlikely that kzessemeth can mean rye, it is not easy to say what cultivated grain it denotes. The principal kinds of grain, it is to be observed, are mentioned in the same pas sages with the kussemeth. Celsius has, as usual, with great learning and labour, collected together the different translations which have been given of this difficult word. In the Arabic tmnslation of Exod. ix. 32, it is renderedjidban: cicercula, non circula, ut perpemm legitur in versione Latina.' By other Arabian writers it is considered to mean peas, and also beans. Many translate it vicia, or vetches, as in the A. V. of Exod. ix. 32 ; for ac cording to Maimonides (ad Tr. Shabb., xx. 3), carschinin is a kind of legume, which in the Arabic is called kirsana, but in the sacred language kusse tneth. Both julban and kirsana mean species of pulse, but it is not easy to ascertain the specific kinds. The majority, however, instead of a legume, consider harenzeth to indicate one of the cereal grains, as the rye (senate), or the oat (avena), neither of which is it likely to have been. These have pro bably been selected because commentators usually adduce such grains as they themselves are ac quainted with, or have heard of as commonly cul ttvated. Celsius, hovvever, informs us that in the Syriac and Chaldee versions kussemeth is translated kunta ; far in the Latin Vulgate ; fizr adoreum, Guisio, Tract. Peah, viii. 5, and Tract. Chgaim,
i. ria in the Septuagint, Is. xxviii. Aquila, Symmachus, and others, render it :pita. So Ben Melech, on Exod. ix., and Ezek. iv., says kysse meth, vulgo spe/ta,' and the Septuagint has tiXtpa. Upon which Celsius remarks : all these—that is, kunta, far, ador, spelta, and 6Xtipa — are one and the same thing.' This he proves satisfactorily by quotations from the ancient authors (/. c. ioo). Dr. Harris states that the word kusseineth seems to be derived from cararn, to have long hairs f and that hence a bearded grain must be intended ; which confirms the probability of Spelt being the true meaning.
Dioscorides has stated (ii. 1), that there are two kinds of Zetd, one simple, and the other called dicoccos. Sprengel concludes that this is, without doubt, the Mticum S26elta of botanists ; that the olyra was a variety which Host has called Triti cum Zea ; and also that the simple kind is the 7'riticum monococcon. That these grains were cultivated in Egypt and Syria, and that they were esteemed as food in those countries, may also be satisfactorily proved. Thus Herodotus states that the Egyptians employ olyra, which others call utt, as an article of diet. Pliny (Hist. Nat. xviii. 8) mentions it as found both in Egypt and in Syria : lEgypto autem ac Cili theque et Asix, ac Gmecim peculiares, zea, olyra, tiphe.' So in more modern times : In ./Egypto zeam abunde nasci refert Dapperus descriptione Asiee, p. uo. Et Monachos circa Jordanem, pane Avpirn vesci, scribit Johannes Phocas de Locis Syr. et Palmstinx, p. 34' (Cels. c. loo). That it was highly esteemed by the ancients is evident from Dioscorides describing it' as -more nourishing than barley, and grateful in taste. Pliny also (xviii. r) says : Ex zea pulcrius, quarn ex tritico fit granum ;' and Salmasio : quod lautior panis ex zea quam ex tritico fieret.' The goodness of this grain is also implied from the name of semen having been especially applied to it (C. Bauhin, Pinox, p. 22).
Triticum Spetta, or Spelt, is in many respects so closely allied to the common wheats as to have been thought by some old authors to have been the original stock of the cultivated kinds ; but for this there is no foundation, as the kind cultivated for ages in Europe does not differ from specimens collected in a wild state. These were found by a French botanist, Michaux, in Persia, on a moun tain four days' journey to the north of Hamadan. It is cultivated in many parts of Germany, in Switzerland, in the south of France, and in Italy. It is commonly sown in spring, and collected in July and August. Though some circumstances seem to point to this species as the kussemeth of Scripture, the subject is still susceptible of further investigation, and can only be finally determined by first ascertaining the modern agriculture of eastern countries, and comparing it with the ancient accounts of the agriculture of Syria and Eg-ypt.—J. F. R.