while the Egyptians supplied ropes of Papyrus, which were inferior to the others in strength.
Whilst (
Hebrew characters), derived probably from (Hebrew characters), to strip or peel, is
used for flax in every state, we find another term, (Hebrew characters), used for
tow. This term therefore corresponds to Stuppa in Latin[1];
Etoupe in French; [Greek: Stypê, styppion] or [Greek: stippion] in Greek; (Hebrew characters), from
(Hebrew characters), to comb, in Syriac; Werg in modern German.
Eccles. xl. 4. represents poor persons as clothed in coarse linen, [Greek: ômolinon] (Lino crudo, Jerome), meaning probably flax dressed and spun without having been steeped[2].
In Rev. xv. 6. the seven angels come out of the temple clothed "in pure and white linen." This is to be explained by what has been already said of the use of linen for the temple service among the Egyptians and the Jews. On three other occasions mentioned in the New Testament, viz. the case of the young man, who had "a linen cloth cast about his naked body" (Mark xiv. 51, 52.); the entombment of Christ (Matt. xxvii. 59. Mark xv. 46. Luke xxiii. 53. xxiv. 12. John xix. 40. xx. 5, 6, 7.); and the case of the "sheet" let down in vision from heaven (Acts x. 11. xi. 5.), the sacred writers employ the equivalent Egyptian terms, [Greek: Eindôn], and [Greek: Othonê] or [Greek: Othonion].
The "Byssus of the Hebrews," mentioned by Pausanias may have been so called, because it was imported into Greece by the Hebrews, not because it grew in Palestine, as many critics have concluded.
Herodotus (l. c.) observes, that the Greeks called the Colchian flax [Greek: Eardonikon]. The epithet must be understood as referring to Sardes, from the vicinity of which city flax was obtained according to the testimony of Julius Pollux (l. c.). In another passage Herodotus remarks (v. 87.), that the linen shift worn by the Athenian women, was originally Carian. The Milesian Sindones, mentioned by Jonathan, the Chaldee Paraphrast, on
- ↑ The origin of Stuppa, the Latin term, was from its use in stopping chinks (stopfer, German). It was either of hemp or flax. "Stuppa cannabi est sive lini. Hæc secundum antiquam orthographiam stuppa (stipa?) dicitur, quod ex eâ rimæ navium stipentur: unde et stipatores dicuntur, qui in vallibus eam componunt." Isid. Hisp. Orig. xix. 27.
- ↑ See Bodæusa Stapel on Theophrasti Hist. Plant. l. viii. p. 944.
