NORTH (fley ; Sept. ; Vulg. Sep tent, io, etc.) The Shemite, in speaking of the quarters of the heavens and of the earth, supposes his face turned towards the east, so that the east is before him, the west behind, the south on the right hand, and the north on the left. Hence the words which signify east, west, north, and south, signify also that which is before, behind, on the right hand, and on the left. Thus Aquila renders the words, the north and the south' (Ps. lxxxix. 12), 1341/Yetv Kat Sqcciv, the north and the right hand.' The Hebrew word translated north occurs in the five following senses : 1. It denotes a quarter of the heavens ; 2. of the earth ; 3. a north aspect or direction.; 4. it is the conventional name for certain countries irrespectively of . their true geo graphical situation ; and, 5. it indicates the north wind. 1. It denotes a particular quarter of the heavens ; thus, fair weather cometh out of the north (Job xxxvii. 22) ; literally, gold cometh,' which Gesenius understands figuratively, as mean; ing the golden splendour (of the firmament), and compares Zech. iv. 12, 'gold-coloured oil.' The Sept. somewhat favours this idea—tiro Pobiia XPnaavyoilvra, cloud having the lustre of gold,' which perhaps corresponds with the xpvcrconds alb*, the gilded aether or sky, of an old Greek tragedian, quoted by Grotius. The same Hebrew word seems used poetically for the whole heaven in the following passage : He stretcheth out the north (literally the concealed, dark place), (like rpOs Aioov, in Homer) over the empty place' (Job xxvi. 7 ; Sept. in' otiSev). Hence the meaning probably is, that the north wind clears the sky of clouds ; which agrees with the fact in Palestine, to which Solomon thus alludes, The north wind driveth away rain' (Prov. xxv. 23). Homer styles it alOprz yEpirvs, producing clear weather' (11. xv. 171 ; Od. v. 296). Josephus calls it afflparraTos, that wind which most produces clear weather' (Antig. xv. 9. 6) ; and Hesychius, eriMtos, or auspicious ;' and see the remarkable rendering of the Sept. in Prov. xxvii. 16. In the words, cold weather cometh out of the north' (Job xxxvii. 9), the word rendered ' north' is ?TO, mezarim, which Ge senius understands to mean literally the scattering,' and to be a poetical term for the north winds, which scatter the clouds and bring severe cold. He, therefore, with Cocceius and Schultens, ap proves of Kimchi's rendering of the phrase by venti flantes et dispergentes.' By some a northern star is here understood : the Vulgate has the Sept. cinpeor7jota (perhaps to be read dper3a or dozrolipos); while others, as Abets Ezra, and after him Michaelis, regard Atez,arim in this text as the same with the constellation denoted elsewhere by mazzaroth (Job xxxviii. 22), and mazzatoth (2 Kings mdii. 5).
The word MY occurs also in the same sense in the following passages t the wind turneth about to the north' (Eccles. i. 6) ; a whirlwind, out of the north' (Ezek. i. 4). 2. It means a quarter of the earth (Ps. cvii. 3 ; Is. xliii. 6 ; Ezek. xx. 47 ;
xxxii. 30 ; comp. Luke xiii. 29). 3. It occurs in the sense of a northern aspect or direction, etc. ; thus, looking north' (1 Kings vii. 25 ; 1 Chron. ix. 24 ; Num. xxxiv. ; on the north side' (Ps. xlviii. 2 ; Ezek. viii. 14 ; x1. 44 ; comp. Rev. xxi. 13). 4. It seems used as the conventional name for certain countries, irrespectively of their true geographical situation—namely, Babylonia, Chal dwa, Assyria, and Media—which are constantly represented as being to the north of Judtea, though some of them lay rather to the east of Palestine. Thus Assyria is called the north (Zeph. ii. 13), and Babylonia (Jer. i. 14; xlvi. 6, to, 20, 24; Ezek. xxvi. 7 ; Judith xvi. 4). The origin of this use of the word is supposed to be found in the fact that the kings of most of these countries, avoiding the deserts, used to invade Judma chiefly on the north side, by way of Damascus and Syria. Thus also, the kings of the north that were near,' may mean the kings of Syria, and those that are afar off,' the Hyrcanians and Bactrians, etc., who are reckoned by Xenophon among the peoples that were subjected or oppressed by the king of Baby lon, and perhaps others besides of the neighbour.
ing nations that were compelled to submit' to the Babylonish yoke (Jer. xxv. 26). By the princes Of the north' (Ezek. xxxii. 3o), some understand the Tyrians and their allies (ch. xxvi. 16), joined here with the Zidonians, their neighbours. The families of the north' (Jer. i. 15) are inferior kings, who were allies or tributaries to the Babylonian empire (comp. xxxiv. I ; I. 41 ; Ii. 27). The families of the north' (Jet, xxv. 9) may mean a still inferior class of people, or nations dependent on Babylon. 5. The Hebrew word is applied to the north wind. In Prov. xxvii. 16, the impossibility of concealing the qualities of a contentious wife is illustrated by comparing it to an attempt to bind the north wind, nrriny. The invocation of Solomon (Cant. iv. 16), Awake, 0 north, and come, thou south, blow upon my garden that the spices may flow out,' and which has occasioned much perplexity to illustrators, seems well ex plained by Rosenmiiller, as simply alluding to the effect of winds from opposite quarters, in dispersing t-he fragrance of aromatic shrubs (ver. 13, 14) far and wide, in all directions. A fine description of the effects of the north wind, in winter, occurs in Ecclus. xliii. 20 ; which truly agrees with the horrifer Boreas' of Ovid (Md. i. 65), and in which reference is made to the coincident effects of the north wind and of fire (v. 21 ; comp. v. 3, 4), like the Borem penetrabile frigus adurit' of Virgil (Georg. i. 93) ; or Milton's description, — The parching air Burns fierce, and cold performs the effects of fire.' Paradise Lost, ii. 595.
Josephus states that the north wind in the neigh bourhood of Joppa was called by those who sailed there MeNaupbpetos, the black north wind,' and certainly his description of its effects, on one occa sion, off that coast, is appalling (De Bell. gird. iii. 9. 3).—J. F. D.