OROTH occurs in two passages of Scripture, where it is translated herb in the A. V. ; it is generally supposed to indicate such plants as are employed for food. The most ancient transla tors seem, however, to have been at a loss for its meaning. Thus the Septuagint in one passage (2 Kings iv. 39) has only the Hebrew word in Greek characters, diptu',0, and in the other (Is. xxvi. 19), tape, sanationem, v. medicinam, vel herbas medi cinales.' The Latin Vulgate, and the Chaldee and Syriac versions, translate oroth in the latter passage by lucent, in consequence of confounding one Hebrew word with another, according to Celsius (Hierobot., vol. i., P. 459). But the Syriac and Arabic translators give the names for mallows, tit e Arabic khabeeza, in Lower Egypt called habeeza. ? With respect to the meaning of oroth, Rosen miiller says that it occurs in its original and general signification in Is. xxvi. 19, viz., green herbs. The future restoration of the Hebrew people is there announced under the type and figure of a revival of the dead. Thy dew is a dew of green herbs,' says the prophet, i. e., as by the dew green herbs are revived, so shalt thou, being revived by God's strengthening power, flourish again. The passage, however, appears an obscure one, with respect to the meaning of oroth. Celsius has, with his usual learning, shown that mallows were much employed as food in ancient times. Of this there can be no doubt, but there is no proof adduced that oroth means mallows. It or it might not, because there are many other plants which were and still are employed as articles of diet in the East. as
purslane, goosefoot, chenpodiums, lettuce, endive, etc. Some have translated oroth in 2 Kings iv. 39, by the word eruca, which is usually applied to a species of brassica.
But it appears to us that oroth should be con sidered only in conjunction with pakyoth ; for we find in 2 Kings iv. that when Elisha came again to Gilgal, and there was a dearth in the land, he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets (yen. 39) ; and one went out into the field to gather herbs (oroth). and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds (pakyoth) his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not.' From this it would appear that pakyoth had been mistaken for oroth ; and as the former is universally acknowledged to be the fruit of one of the gourd tribe, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that oroth also was the fruit of some plant, for which the pakyoth had been mistaken. This is nothing more than conjecture, but it appears to be justified by the context, and may be admitted, as nothing better than conjecture has been adduced in support of other interpretations, and as there are fruits, such as that of the egg plant, which are used as articles of diet, and for which the fruit of the pakyoth, or wild gourd, might have been mistaken by an ignorant person [PAKvoTH]. J. F. R.