Cinnamon

קנמון , an agreeable aromatic; the inward bark of the cahella, a small tree of the height of the willow. It is mentioned, Exo 30:23, among the materials in the composition of the holy anointing oil; and in Pro 7:17; Son 4:14; Sir 24:15; and Rev 18:13, among the richest perfumes. This spice is now brought from the east Indies; but as there was no traffic with India in the days of Moses, it was then brought, probably, from Arabia, or some neighbouring country. We learn, however, from Pliny, that a species of it grew in Syria.

Cin´namon occurs in three places of Scripture; first, about 1600 years before the Christian era, in Exo 30:23, where it is enumerated as one of the ingredients employed in the preparation of the holy anointing oil: ’Take thou also unto thee powerful spices, myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon (kinnamon besem) half as much (i.e. 250 shekels), together with sweet calamus and cassia.’ It is next mentioned in Pro 7:17, and again in Son 4:14; while in Rev 18:13, among the merchandise of Babylon, we have ’cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense.’

Many writers have doubted whether the kinnamom of the Hebrews is the same article that we now call cinnamon. Others have doubted whether our cinnamon was at all known to the ancients. But the same thing has been said of almost every other drug which is noticed by them. If we were to put faith in all these doubts, we should be left without any substances possessed of sufficiently remarkable properties to have been articles of ancient commerce.

Cinnamon of the best quality is imported in the present day from Ceylon, and also from the Malabar Coast, in consequence of the cinnamon plant having been introduced there from Ceylon. An inferior kind is also exported from the peninsula of India. From these countries the cinnamon and cassia of the ancients must most likely have been obtained, though both are also produced in the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, in China, and in Cochinchina. Cinnamon is imported in bales and chests—the bundles weighing about one pound each. The pieces consist of compound quills, are about three feet long, slender, and enclose within them several smaller quills. These are thin, smooth, of a brownish color, of a warm, sweetish, and agreeable taste, and fragrant odor; but several kinds are known in modern markets, as they were in ancient times.

In Ceylon cinnamon is carefully cultivated, the best cinnamon gardens being on the southwestern coast, where the soil is light and sandy, and the atmosphere moist from the prevalent southern winds. The plants begin to yield cinnamon when about six or seven years old, after which the shoots may be cut every three or four years. The best kinds of cinnamon are obtained from twigs and shoots; less than half, or more than two or three inches in diameter, are not peeled. ’The peeling is effected by making two opposite, or when the branch is thick, three or four longitudinal incisions, and then elevating the bark by introducing the peeling knife beneath it. In twenty-four hours the epidermis and greenish pulpy matter are carefully scraped off. In a few hours the smaller quills are introduced into the larger ones, and in this way congeries of quills are formed, often measuring forty inches in length. The bark is then dried in the sun, and afterwards made into bundles, with pieces of split bamboo twigs.’ Besides cinnamon, an oil of cinnamon is obtained in Ceylon, by macerating the coarser pieces of the bark, after being reduced to a coarse powder, in sea-water, for two days, when both are submitted to distillation. A fatty substance is also obtained by bruising and boiling the riper fruit, when an oily body floats on the surface, which on cooling concretes into a dirty whitish, rather hard, fatty matter. Some camphor may be procured from the roots.

Fig. 132—Kinnamomum cassia

Cassia bark was distinguished with difficulty from cinnamon by the ancients. In the present day it is often sold for cinnamon; indeed, unless a purchaser specify true cinnamon, he will probably be supplied with nothing but cassia. It is made up into similar bundles with cinnamon, has the same general appearance, smell, and taste; but its substance is thicker and coarser, its color darker, its flavor much less sweet and fine than that of Ceylon cinnamon, while it is more pungent, and is followed by a bitter taste; it is also less closely quilled, and breaks shorter than genuine cinnamon. Dr. Pereira, whose description we have adopted, has ascertained that cassia is imported into the London market from Bombay (the produce of the Malabar Coast), and also from the Mauritius, Calcutta, Batavia, Singapore, the Philippine Islands, and Canton. Mr. Reeves says, ’Vast quantities both of cassia seeds (buds) and cassia lignea are annually brought to Canton from the province of Kwangse, whose principal city (Kweihin, literally ’cassia forest’) derives its name from the forests of cassia around it. The Chinese themselves use a much thicker bark, unfit for the European market.’ The Malabar cassia lignea is thicker and coarser than that of China. From the various sources, independently of the different qualities, it is evident, as in the case of cinnamon, that the ancients might have been, as no doubt they were, acquainted with several varieties of cassia. These, we have no doubt, are yielded by more than one species. Mr. Marshall, from information obtained while he was staff-surgeon in Ceylon, maintained that cassia, or at least a part of it, was the coarser bark of the true cinnamon. Dr. Wight has ascertained that more than one species yields the cassia of Malabar, often called cinnamon. Besides cassia bark, there is also a cassia oil, and cassia buds, supposed to be produced by the same tree. There can be no reasonable doubt, as cinnamon and cassia were known to the Greeks, that they must have been known to the Hebrews also, as the commerce with India can be proved to have been much more ancient than is generally supposed.

One of the ingredients in the perfumed oil with which the tabernacle and its vessels were anointed, Exo 30:23 Pro 7:17 Son 4:14 . It is the inner bark of a tree growing about twenty feet high, and being peeled off in thin strips curls as it is found in market. It is of a dark red color, of a poignant taste, aromatic, and very agreeable. That of the finest quality comes from Ceylon, Jer 18:13 .\par

Cinnamon. A well-known aromatic substance, the rind of the Laurus cinnamomum, called Korunda-gauhah, in Ceylon. It is mentioned in Exo 30:23, as one of the component parts of the holy anointing oil. In Rev 18:13, it is enumerated among the merchandise of the great Babylon.

The aromatic inner rind of the Laurus cinnamomum. A perfume only in Old Testament (Exo 30:23); a condiment with us. Imported into Judaea by the Phoenicians. It now grows best in S.W. Ceylon. From the coarser pieces oil of cinnamon is obtained, and a finer oil by boiling the ripe fruit. This last gives the delightful odor to incense when burning. Gesenius derives it from qun, qaneh, "cane," the idea being that of standing upright. Cassia lignea is often substituted in the markets for the more delicate flavored cinnamon. Others derive the word from Cinn (Chinese), amomum (nard). It reached Phoenicia overland from China by way of Persia.

(קִנָּמוֹן; Gr. κινάμων; a word, according to Herodotus [3, 111], of Phoenician origin; according to Gesenius [Thes. Heb. p. 1223], from קוּן, to stand upright) occurs first in Exo 30:23, where it is enumerated as one of the ingredients employed in the preparation of the holy anointing oil: “Take thou also unto thee powerful spices, myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much (i.e. 250 shekels), together with sweet calamus and cassia.” It is next mentioned in Pro 7:17 : “I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.” Again, in Song of Solomon 14: “Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.” In Rev 18:13, among the merchandise of Babylon (Rome), we have “cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense.” Also in Sir 24:15, “I gave a sweet smell, like cinnamon and aspalathus.” Cinnamon was probably an article of commerce in ancient Babylon. The Hebrews received this Indian production through the Midianites and Nabathaeans, who brought it from the Arabian Gulf. It seems that the Arabians at an early period had commercial intercourse with Ceylon and Continental India, as they were the first navigators of the Indian Ocean (Gen 37:25). Many writers have doubted whether the kinnamon of the Hebrews is the same article that we now call cinnamon. Celsius quotes R. Ben-Melech (ad Song of Solomon 3:14) and Saadias (Exodus 30) as considering it the Lign Aloe, or Agallochum. Others have doubted whether our cinnamon was at all known to the ancients. But the same thing has been said of almost every other drug which is noticed by them. The word κιννάμωμον occurs in many of the Greek authors, as Herodotus, Hippocrates, Theophrastus, Dioscorides, Galen, etc.

The first of these, writing 400 years before the Christian aera, describes Arabia as the last inhabited country towards the south, and as the only region of the earth which produces frankincense, myrrh, cinnamon, cassia, and ledanum (3, 107). He states, moreover, that the Arabians were unacquainted with the particular spot in which it was produced, but that some asserted it grew in the region where Bacchus was educated. From all this we can only infer that it was the production of a distant country, probably India, and that it was obtained by the route of the Red Sea. Theophrastus (9, 5) gives a fuller but still fabulous account of its production; and it is not until the time of Dioscorides, Galen, and the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, that we get more definite information. Galen says that cassia and cinnamon are so much alike that it is not an easy matter to distinguish the one from the other. Cinnamon of the best quality is imported in the present day from Ceylon, and also from the Malabar coast, in consequence of the cinnamon plant (Cinnamomum Zeylanicum) having been introduced there from Ceylon. An inferior kind is also exported from the peninsula of India, the produce of other species of cinnamomum, according to Dr. Wight. From these countries the cinnamon and cassia of the ancients must most likely have been obtained, though both are also produced in the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, in China, and in Cochin China. Cinnamon is imported in bales and chests, the bundles weighing about 1 lb. each. The pieces consist of compound quills, are about three feet long, slender, and inclose within them several smaller quills. These are thin, smooth, of a brownish color, of a warm, sweetish, and agreeable taste, and fragrant odor; but several kinds are known in modern markets, as they were in ancient times.

In Ceylon cinnamon is carefully cultivated, the best cinnamon-gardens being on the south-western coast, where the soil is light and sandy, and the atmosphere moist from the prevalent southern winds. This little tree belongs to the laurel family, and the leaf is not unlike the laurel, though of a lighter green. The white blossom comes out with great profusion, and for many miles around Colombo brightens all the landscape in its season, although it diffuses hardly any perceptible odor through the air. The tree is about twenty feet in height, and spreads into numerous branches; the fruit or nut is about the size of a damson, and when ripe is of a black color. The plants begin to yield cinnamon when about six or seven years old, after which the shoots may be cut every three or four years. The best kinds of cinnamon are obtained from twigs and shoots; those less than half an inch, or more than two or three inches in diameter, are not peeled. “The peeling is effected by making two opposite, or, when the branch is thick, three or four longitudinal incisions, and then elevating the bark by introducing the peeling-knife beneath it. In twenty-four hours the epidermis and greenish pulpy matter are carefully scraped off. In a few hours the smaller quills are introduced into the larger ones, and in this way congeries of quills are formed, often measuring forty inches in length. The bark is then dried in the sun, and afterwards made into bundles, with pieces of split bamboo twigs” (Percival’s Account of Ceylon, p. 336-351).

Besides cinnamon, an oil of cinnamon is obtained in Ceylon, by macerating the coarser pieces of the bark, after being reduced to a coarse powder, in sea-water for two days, when both are submitted to distillation. A fatty substance is also obtained by bruising and boiling the riper fruit, when an oily body floats on the surface, which, on cooling, concretes into a dirty-whitish, rather hard, fatty matter. As this oil burns with a delightful fragrance, when receiving ambassadors and on high state occasions, the kings of Candy used to have lamps of it burning in their audience-chamber. The wood itself is pervaded by the same grateful perfume, and walking-sticks of cinnamon-wood are highly prized, as well as little articles of cabinet-work. Some camphor may be procured from the roots. Cassia bark, as we have seen, was distinguished with difficulty from cinnamon by the ancients. In the present day it is often sold for cinnamon; indeed, unless a purchaser specify true cinnamon, he will probably be supplied with nothing but cassia. It is made up into similar bundles with cinnamon, has the same general appearance, smell, and taste; but its substance is thicker and coarser, its color darker, its flavor much less sweet and fine than that of Ceylon cinnamon, while it is more pungent, and is followed by a bitter taste; it is also less closely quilled, and breaks shorter than genuine cinnamon. Its decoction gives a blue color when treated with tincture of iodine which the true cinnamon does not. “The great consumers of cinnamon are the chocolate-makers of Spain, Italy, France, and Mexico, and by them the difference in the flavor between cinnamon and cassia is readily detected. An extensive dealer in cinnamon informs me that the Germans, Turks, and Russians prefer cassia, and will not purchase cinnamon, the delicate flavor of which is not strong enough for them.

In illustration of this, I was told that some cinnamon (valued at 3s. 6d. per lb.), having been by mistake sent to Constantinople, was unsalable there at any price, while cassia lignea (worth about 6d per lb.) was in great request” (Pereira’s Materia Medica, p. 1306). From the various sources, independently of the different qualities, it is evident, as in the case of cinnamon, that the ancients might have been, as no doubt they were, acquainted with several varieties of cassia. These, we have no doubt, are yielded by more than one species. Besides cassia bark, there is also a cassia oil and cassia buds, supposed to be produced by the same tree. There can be no reasonable doubt, as cinnamon and cassia were known to the Greeks, that they must have been known to the Hebrews also, as the commerce with India can be proved to have been much more ancient than is generally supposed. (See the Penny Cyclopedia, s.v. Cinnamon; Celsii Hierobot. 2:350 sq.; Bodsei a Stapel, Comm. in Theophr. p. 984; Knox, Travels in Ceylon, p. 32; also Ritter, Erdk. VI, 4, pt. 2, p. 123 sq.; Geiger, Pharmac. Botan. 1:330’ sq.; especially Nees v. Esenbeck, De Cinnanzomo [Bonn, 1823], and Blume in Wiegmann’s Archiv fur Naturgesch. 1831, 1:116 sq.; Martius, Pharmakogn. p. 132, 141; Smith’s Dict. of Class. Antiq., Amer. ed., s.v. Cinnamomum.) SEE CASSIA.

The bark of the Cinnamon tree, a well-known aromatic product, which formed one of the ingredients of the holy anointing oil. It was a valuable article of merchandise. Exo 30:23; Pro 7:17; Son 4:14; Rev 18:13.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Gerson B. Levi

The bark of the Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, a plant so called botanically because growing best in Ceylon. A variety often substituted for it, cassia, comes from China. Cinnamon was known in early times to the Hebrews. It was used in making the anointing-oil (Ex. xxx. 23), and,further, as a mere perfume (Prov. vii. 17). In the Song of Solomon (iv. 14) it is mentioned along with other fragrant woods. Gesenius and Lagarde consider the Hebrew ("ḳinnamon") to be a loan-word from the Greek (κιννάμωμον), although Herodotus (iii. 111) states that the Greeks themselves borrowed it from the Phenicians. It seems that both Hebrew and Greek took it from the Phenician.

CINNAMON (Exo 30:23, Pro 7:17, Son 4:14, Rev 18:13).—Almost without doubt the product of Cinnamomum zeylanicum of Ceylon. The inner bark is the part chiefly used, but oil is also obtained from the fruit. Cinnamon is still a favourite perfume and flavouring substance in Palestine.

E. W. G. Masterman.

sin´a-mun (קנּמון, ḳinnāmōn; κιννάμωμον, kinnámōmon): Mentioned, like cassia, as a perfume. In Exo 30:23 it is one of the ingredients of the “holy anointing oil”; in Pro 7:17 it is, along with myrrh and aloes, a perfume for a bed; in Son 4:14 it is a very precious spice. Cinnamon is (Rev 18:13) part of the merchandise of “Babylon the great.”

Cinnamon is the product of Cinnamomum zeylanicum, a laurel-like plant widely cultivated in Ceylon and Java. It has a profuse white blossom, succeeded by a nut from which the fragrant oil is obtained. The wood is the inner bark from branches which have reached a diameter of from 2 to 3 inches; the epidermis and pulpy matter are carefully scraped off before drying. In commerce the cheaper Cassia ligra of China is sometimes substituted for true cinnamon, and it is thought by some authorities that this was the true cinnamon of the ancients. See, however, CASSIA.

(êéííÜìùíïí from ÷ִðְîåֹï)

Cinnamon is mentioned in Rev_18:13 among the merchandise of ‘Babylon,’ i.e. of Imperial Rome. The name probably came with the thing from the remote east; Rödiger (Gesenius, Thes. Add., 1829, p. 111) compares it with the Malay kainamanis. It was known to the Hebrews (Exo_30:23, Pro_7:17, Son_4:14); and Hero dotus (iii. 111) speaks of ‘those rolls of bark (ôáῦôá ôὰ êÜñöåá) which we, learning from the Phœnicians, call cinnamon.’ The finest cinnamon of commerce is now obtained from Ceylon; it is the fragrant and aromatic inner rind of the stem and boughs of a tree which grows to a height of 30ft. Oil of cinnamon, which is used in the composition of incense, is got from the boiled fruit of the tree. But the cinnamon of the ancients was probably the cassia lignea of S. China.

James Strahan.

Exo 30:23 (c) This is typical of the delightful fragrance of the life of CHRIST before His Father.

Pro 7:17 (c) This is typical of the enticements and allurements of sin.

Cinnamon. A member of the laurel family, the cinnamon tree grew to be more than 9 meters (30 feet) tall with white flowers and wide-spreading branches. A native of Ceylon, the cinnamon tree produced bark and oil which was used for the anointing oil ( Exo 30:23) and as perfume ( Pro 7:17; Rev 18:13).

A spice made from the dried inner bark of several trees that come from tropical Asia. The bark has a pleasant smell. It can be ground and used as a spice. The cinnamon mentioned in Exodus 30:23, Proverbs 7:17, Song of Songs 4:14, and Revelation 18:13 is certainly from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree.

The cinnamon tree is relatively small, never growing taller than 9.1 meters (30 feet). It has smooth, ash-colored bark, wide-spreading branches, and white flowers. Its shiny, beautifully veined evergreen leaves grow about 22.9 centimeters (9 inches) long and 5.1 centimeters (2 inches) wide.

The Jewish people considered cinnamon a deliciously fragrant substance and valued it highly both as a spice and a perfume. It was one of the main ingredients used to make the precious ointment, or "holy oil," that Moses was commanded to use in the tabernacle. This oil was used for anointing the holy vessels and the priests who served there. Cinnamon was certainly very expensive and highly treasured.

See Food and Food Preparation.

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