cinnamon

Hebrew: kinamon, the Cinnamomum zeylanicum of botanists, a tree of the Laurel family, which grows only in India on the Malabar coast, in Ceylon, and China

There is no trace of it in Egypt, and it was unknown in Syria.

The inner rind when dried and rolled into cylinders forms the cinnamon of commerce. The fruit and coarser pieces of bark when boiled yield a fragrant oil. It was one of the principal ingredients in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23).

It is mentioned elsewhere only in Proverbs 7:17; Song of Songs 4:14; Rev. 18:13. The mention of it indicates a very early and extensive commerce carried on between Israel and the East.

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