322 ORIGIN OF CULTIVATED PLANTS. 



saw it in the provinces to the south of the Caucasus, 

 "cultivated and nearly wild here and there round vil- 

 lages." Another ^ indicates it vaguely in the south of 

 Russia, but more recent floras fail to confirm this. 



The history and names of this plant may give clearer 

 indications of its origin. It has been cultivated in the 

 East, in the Mediterranean basin and even in Switzerland, 

 from prehistoric time, According to Herodotos, Theo- 

 phrastus, etc., the ancient Egyptians used it largely. If 

 their monuments give no proof of this, it was probably 

 because the lentil was, like the bean, considered common 

 and coarse. The Old Testament mentions it three times, 

 by the name adaschum or adaschimfiy which must cer- 

 tainly mean lentil, for the Arabic name is ads,'^ or adas.^ 

 The red colour of Esau's famous mess of pottage has not 

 been understood by most authors. Reynier,* who had 

 lived in Egypt, confirms the explanation given formerly 

 by Josephus; the lentils were red because they were 

 hulled. It is still the practice in Egypt, says Reynier, to 

 remove the husk or outer skin from the lentil, and in 

 this case they are a pale red. The Berbers have the 

 Semitic name ades for the lentil.^ 



The Greeks cultivated the species— /a^os or faJcai. 

 Aristophanes mentions it as an article of food of the 

 poor.^ The Latins called it lens, a name whose origin is 

 unknown, which is evidently allied to the ancient Slav 

 lesha, Illyrian lechja, Lithuanian lenszicJ The differ- 

 ence between the Greek and Latin names shows that the 

 species perhaps existed in Greece and Italy before it was 

 cultivated. Another proof of ancient existence in Europe 

 is the discovery of lentils in the lal^e-dwellings of St. 

 Peter's Island, Lake of Bienne,^ which are of the age of 



* Georgi, in Ledebour, Fl. Ross. 



* Forskal, Fl. Mgypt. ; Delile, Plant. Cult, en £gypte, p. 13. 

 ' Ebn Baithar, ii. p. 134. 



* 'Reynier, £conomie puhlique et rurale des Arahes et desJuifs, Gen^ye, 

 1820, p. 429. 



* Diet. Franf.-Berhere, in 8vo, 1844. 



* Hehn, CuUurpflxinzen, etc., edit. 3, vol. ii. p. 188. 



' Ad. Pictet, Origines Indo-Europ^enn^s, edit. 2, vol. i. p. 364; 

 Hehn, ubi swpra. 



" Heer, Pflanten der Pfahlhauten, p. 23, fig. 49. 



