2'»» S. VI. 136., Aug. 7. »58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



101 



LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 7. 1858. 



AMBER IN THE BIBLE AND THE PHILOLOGY OF 

 ELECTBUM, AMBER, AMBERGRIS, ETC. 



Sir G. C. Lewis says (2°" S. vi. 3.), " there is 

 no mention of amber in the Old Testament." * The 

 word occurs thrice in Ezekiel, i. 4. and 27., and 

 viii. 2. The phrase is similar in the three in- 

 stances — " as the colour of amber." The subject 

 is not devoid of interest, and I have bestowed some 

 little trouble in turning it over. 



Consulting the Polyglot we find a variety of 

 renderings. The Septuagint has as Spacyts ^x^Krpov. 

 The German is wie Licht Jielle. The French, 

 comme un metal qui sort dufeu. The Italian, come 

 la sembiama di Jin rame (copper or brass). The 

 Spanish, conio apariencia de electro. The Vulgate, 

 species electri. The Catholic or Douay Bible has 

 — "the resemblance of amber," and, viii. 2,, "the 

 appearance of amber." Walton's interlinear trans- 

 lation, flammse crepitantis ocidus, — thus literally 

 rendering PJ? ocidus, instead of " colour " or " ap- 

 pearance." Lastly, the "Jewish School and Family 

 Bible" renders the passage " as the colour of gold 

 ore" whilst the Arabic Version gives the Persian 

 kah-niba, quidam aspectus succini, i. e. amber, — 

 vulgo, " Carabe." 



Commenting on this passage in Ezekiel, Dr. 

 Adam Clarke observed : " The word ^\eKTpov which 

 we translate amber was used to signify a com- 

 pound metal, very bright, made of gold and 

 brass : " still it is impossible positively to state 

 what the Prophet meant by the word so variously 

 rendered. It is well known that the first chapter 

 of Ezekiel — as containing much mystery and 

 obscurity — was withheld from the perusal of the 

 ancient Hebrews until they attained their thir- 

 tieth year. (St. Jerqm. Epist. ad Paulin.) 



The original is 'POyTI Chaschnal, which is said 

 to be the opei'xaAKos and orichalcum of the Greeks 

 and Romans — a compound of gold and silver — 

 perhaps of any metal with gold, if not simply our 

 brass, an alloy of copper and zinc; but certainly 

 the electrum of the ancients, whatever were the in- 

 gredients of the compound metal : hence the use 

 of the word by the Septuagint and in the Vul- 

 gate. (Cf AViner, Lex. in h. v.) 



On the other hand,Buxtorf says, that Chasch- 

 mul means prima (a live coal), " sumnie ignita, 



adeoque ardentissiraa, quasi 70 K^n festinanter 

 excidens et consumens ; " and he translates the 

 passage " vehd color prunse ignitissimae : " and fur- 

 ther to complicate the matter, the Talmud (B. 



[* It is obvious from Sir G. Lewis's Note (p. 76.) re- 

 ferring to the inentioii of ainljer in Ezekiel, that his 

 remark applies, not to the word, but to the substance. — 

 Kd. "X. &Q."] 



Chagiga 13. b.) refers the word to one of the ten 

 orders of angels (Chajoth), deriving it from riE'n 



Ckaschah, " to be silent," and ^?D, malal, " to 

 speak " — angels, in fact, who sometimes are silent 

 (when Jehovah speaks), and 'sometimes shout 

 forth the praises of His works. Another interpre- 

 tation is given by Maimonides (in More Nebochim, 

 Pt. 3. c. 5.) as implying the sense of festinare et 

 excidere. Fiirst quotes the Talmudic interpreta- 

 tion, and renders it very finely by Glanzwesen, a 

 lustre-being, — whilst he gives the earlier meanings 

 as Glanzmetall, Glanzerz, Golderz, which last is 

 adopted, as we have seen, by the Jewish Family 

 Bible. 



Bochart (Opera, iii. lib. vi. c. 16.) has most ela- 

 borately examined this passage in Ezekiel. He ob- 

 serves, very pertinently, that the preceding word, 

 pyS, colour, is never applied but to inanimate ob- 

 jects, and quotes numerous instances : — he therefore 

 concludes that if Chaschnal was the name of an 

 angel, the Prophet would not have said " of the 

 colour of Chaschmal," but " in the likeness — simi- 

 litude." He thinks that the word does not mean 

 so much electrum,— a metal compounded of gold and 

 silver, — as one consisting of gold and brass ; and 

 infers that Ezekiel borrowed the word from the 

 Chaldseans, amongst whom he was a captive whilst 

 writing his prophecies. He maintains that it 

 meant the compound metal orichalcum. 



He says that amongst the ancients f/AexTpoy had 

 three meanings : 1. Succinum (our amber) ; 2. A 

 metal composed of gold and silver ; 3. A transpa- 

 rent stone called muha by the Arabians. He con- 

 cludes that Chaschmal could be neither amber nor 

 the maha, since the latter does not shine in the 

 fire, and the former burns dull, and is converted 

 into pitch and rosin. It seems to follow, therefore, 

 that, after all, Sir G. C. Lewis is right in saying 

 that " there is no mention of amber in the Old 

 Testament," although it occurs in our version. 



The word electrum occurs in several forms in 

 Greek, and it is impossible to decide whether the 

 substance so called received its name from that of 

 the Sun, HAe/cTcop, or the star HAe/crpa, one of the Pleia- 

 des, or that the eifulgence of the metal originated 

 the names of the luminaries. Throughout all the 

 proper names, evidently involving the original word, 

 the idea of brightness, that which is brilliant or 

 eminently beautiful, prevails ; and it should seem 

 that, whatever its origin, rjKsKrup, as applied to the 

 Sun, was borrowed and given as a name to the 

 metal whose radiance seemed to vie with the solar 

 beam. The fanciful etymology by which Butt- 

 mann derived fiAacrpov from ?Akw is simply absurd ; 

 since, by the very proposition, 'e\Kw, " to draw," is 

 supposed to refer to the electrical property of 

 amber— a property which was only discovered in 

 the sixth century b.c. by Thales — consequently 

 long after amber, by its golden or brass-like 



