NAAZUZ, or NAATZUTZ ('VW)), occurs only in two passages of Isaiah, in both of which it is translated thorn' in the A. V. (chap. vii. 18, 19 ; lv. 13). Some have translated it generally, as in the English version, by thorn, shrub, thorny shrub, or small tree. Others have attempted to define it specifically, rendering it bramble, white-thorn, etc. (Gels. Hierobot. ii. p. r9o) ; but nothing certain has been determined respecting it. Celsius endea vours to trace it to the same origin as the Arabic word naaz, which he states to be the name of a plant, of which the bark is employed in tan ning leather. The meaning of the term he con tinues, in Chaldee, is infigere, defigere, ' to stick into,' or fix,' and it is therefore supposed to refer to a prickly or thorny plant. R. Ben Melech says that commentators explain naazuz by the Arabic word sidr, which is the name of a well known thorny bush of Eastern countries, a species of Zizyphus. This, Sprengel says, is the Z. vul garis, found in many parts of Palestine, as well as in many of the uncultivated tracts of Eastern countries. Others suppose the species to be the
nabak of the Arabs, which is the Zizyphus Lotus, and considered to be the Lotus of the ancients. But from the context it would appear that the plant, if a zizyphus, must have been a less highly esteemed variety or species. But in a wild state these are very abundant, bushy, prickly, and of little value. Belon says, Les hayes, pour la plus part, sont de tamarisques, cenoplia (i.e., zizyphi species) et rhamnes.' In Freytag's Arabic Lexicon the above Arabic word naaz is said to be the name of a thorny tree, common in the Hedjaz, the bark of which is used in tanning hides, and from whose wood a dentifrice is prepared. This might be a species of acacia, of which many species are well known to be abundant in the dry and barren parts of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt.—J. F. R.