Cypress

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תדזה , Isa 44:14; and κυπαρισσοσ, Sir 24:13; Sir 50:10; a large evergreen tree. The wood is fragrant, very compact, and heavy. It scarcely ever rots, decays, or is worm-eaten; for which reason the ancients used to make the statues of their gods with it. The unperishable chests which contain the Egyptian mummies were of cypress. The gates of St. Peter’s church at Rome, which had lasted from the time of Constantine to that of Pope Eugene IV, that is to say, eleven hundred years, were of cypress, and had in that time suffered no decay. But Celsius thinks that Isaiah speaks of the ilex, a kind of oak; and Bishop Lowth, that the pine is intended. The cypress, however, was more frequently used, and more fit for the purpose which the prophet mentions, than either of these trees.

An evergreen tree, resembling in form and size the Lombardy poplar. Its wood is exceedingly durable, and seems to have been used for making idols, Isa 44:14 . The cypress is thought to be intended in some of the passages where "fir-tree" occurs, 2Sa 6:5, etc.\par

Cypress. (Hebrew, tirzah). The Hebrew word is found only in Isa 44:14. We are quite unable to assign any definite rendering to it. The true cypress is a native of the Taurus. The Hebrew word points to some tree with a hard grain, and this is all that can be positively said of it.

Isa 44:14; tirzah, from taaraz "to be hard." Sir 24:13; Sir 1:1-21. A large, coniferous, evergreen tree; the wood very durable, hard, and fragrant. The cypress, which is a native of Taurus, is now only found in lower levels of Syria. Since it seldom rots, it was used for idol statues. The juniper is found 7,000 ft. up Lebanon, but not at the top, which is 10,500 ft. high.

(תִּרְזָה, tirzah’, from its hardness; Sept. ἀγριοβάλανος, but most copies omit; Vulg. ilex) is mentioned only in Isa 44:14: “He (i.e. the carpenter, Isa 44:13) heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress,” for the purpose of making an idol. There is no doubt that the wood must have been of a texture fit to be worked, as well as to retain the shape given to it. Though translated “cypress,” we have no proof that this tree was intended, but it is well suited for the purpose indicated. See FIR. The Greek translators, Aquila and Theodotion, have employed a word which denotes the wild or forest oak (ἀγριοβάλανος). The oldest Latin version renders the Heb. word by ilex, “the evergreen oak” (Rosenmüller, p. 317). As the wood of this species is well fitted for being worked into images, and was so employed by the ancients, it is possible that it may be that intended, though we have no satisfactory proof of its being so. Celsius (Hierob. 2:269, 70) defends the rendering of the Vulg. in Isa 44:14, but the etymology of the word from תָּרִז, to be hard (as in Latin we get robur, an oak), equally well suits the cypress, and there is great probability that the tree mentioned by Isaiah with the cedar and the oak is identical with the “cypress” (κυπάρισσος) of the Apocrypha. In Sir 24:13, it is described as growing upon the mountains of Hermon; and it has been observed by Kitto (Phys. Hist. of Palest. p. 224) that if this be understood of the great Hermon, it is illustrated by Pococke, who tells us that it is the only tree which grows towards the summit of Lebanon. In Sirach 1, 10, the high-priest is compared to a “cypress towering to the cloud,” on account of his tall and noble figure. It is usually supposed that the words translated “fir,” “gopher-wood,” and “thyine-wood,” in our version of the Bible indicate varieties of the juniper or cypress. (See each in its alphabetical order.)

Cypress, the κυπάρισσος of the Greeks and the suroo of the Arabs, called also by them shujrut-alhyat, or tree of life, is the Cupressus sempervirens, or the evergreen cypress of botanists. This tree is well known as being tapering in form, in consequence of its branches growing upright and close to the stem, and also that in its general appearance it resembles the Lombardy poplar, so that the one is often mistaken for the other when seen in Oriental drawings. In southern latitudes it usually grows to a height of fifty or sixty feet. Its branches are closely covered with very small imbricated leaves, which remain on the trees five or six years. Du Hamel states that he has observed on the bark of young cypresses small particles of a substance resembling gum tragacanth, and that he has seen bees taking great pains to detach these particles, probably to supply some of the matter required for forming their combs. This cypress is a native of the Grecian Archipelago, particularly of Candia (the ancient Crete) and Cyprus, and also of Asia Minor, Syria, and Persia. It may be seen on the coast of Palestine, as well as in the interior, as the Mohammedans plant it in their cemeteries. That it is found on the mountains of Syria is evident from the quotations by Celsius (Hierobot . 1:133), from Cyril of Alexandria (in Esaiam, p. 848), Jerome (Comment. in Hos 14:6), and others. SEE CEDAR.

The wood of the cypress is hard, fragrant, and of a remarkably fine close grain, very durable, and of a beautiful reddish hue, which Pliny says it never loses (Hist. Nat. 16:33). As to the opinion respecting the durability of the cypress-wood entertained by the ancients, it may be sufficient to adduce the authority of Pliny, who says that “the statue of Jupiter, in the Capitol, which was formed of cypress, had existed above 600 years without showing the slightest symptom of decay, and that the doors of the temple of Diana at Ephesus, which were also of cypress, and were 400 years old, had the appearance of being quite new.” This wood was used for a variety of purposes, as for wine-presses, poles, rafters, and joists, and was an especial favorite for funereal grounds. Horace says (Carm. ii. 14, 23) that whatever was thought worthy of being handed down to remote posterity was preserved in cypress or cedar wood; and Virgil refers to it in similar terms (Georg. 2:442; AEn. v. 64). (See Penny Cycloepedia, s.v. Cupressus.) SEE BOTANY.

Cypress. R. V. holm tree. Isa 44:14. The Hebrew word indicates a tree with hard-grained wood, not the cypress, but probably the Syrian juniper which grows wild upon Lebanon, is meant, as the cypress never does in the Holy Land. The latter tree is a tall evergreen, the wood of which is heavy, aromatic, and remarkably durable. Its foliage is dark and gloomy, its form close and pyramidal, and it is usually planted in the cemeteries of the East. Coffins were made of it in the East, and the mummy-cases of Egypt are found at this day of the cypress wood. The timber has been known to suffer no decay by the lapse of 1100 years.

A species of oak which preserves its fragrance: it will not easily rot, nor is it eaten by worms. Isa 44:14.

By: Emil G. Hirsch

Generally, the tree known to botanists as Cupressus sempervirens, and common to southern Europe and western Asia. In modern Palestine the cypress is frequently found in the neighborhood of towns, and is often planted in cemeteries. There is some confusion as to which Hebrew word connotes the tree so named. In the A. V. the word "tirzah" (Isa. xliv. 14) is rendered "cypress," the context showing that a hardwood-tree is intended. The R. V., however, has abandoned this translation and adopted "holm-tree." On the other hand, a marginal note to Isa. xli. 19 (comp. lx. 13) suggests "cypress-tree" as a better equivalent than the usual "box-tree" for the Hebrew "te'ashshur" (), while in II Sam. vi. 5 it is proposed to read "cypress" instead of "fir" for the Hebrew "berot."

The older tradition, which favors the identification of the te'ashshur with the cypress, is fairly reasonable. The Arabs distinguish two classes of cypress-trees. One they call "sharbin," also known as the "tar-tree," because tar is derived from it; it is distinguished by broad branches that spread out on both sides of the trunk. The other class is called "sarw" ("sarwah"), and is of a very straight growth. Both names are derived from a root meaning, according to Fleischer, "to loom up high." Corresponding to "sharbin" is the Assyrian "surwan," also "shurmenu," which is the Syriac "shurbina" (written also "sharwina") and the Targumic "shurbana"; it is the tree known in the Talmud as "turanita." While some of the ancient authorities assume that this species is the cedar, or the Juniperus oxycedrus, others render it by the Greek κυπάρισσος. The "sarw" ("sarwah"), for which the Syriac has the same name as for the "sharbin," is the Cupressus sempervirens, known also as C. fastigiata, or, according to Linnæus, C. pyramidalis. Though the original distinction has not been clearly maintained in the cognate languages, it is proper to base upon it the difference between the tree designated in Hebrew by "te'ashshur" and that known as "berosh." The te'ashshur is the variety called in Arabic "sarw"—i.e., the straight-growing—while the berosh is the tree known in Arabic as "sharbin," with branches spreading out. The "tirzah," also, is probably a tree of this family. The wood of the cypress was highly valued, and was used in the construction of ships (Ezek. xxvii. 5), of floors and doors, as well as for lances. Even musical instruments were made of this wood (II Sam. vi. 5). As in the Bible, so also in Assyrian inscriptions, the cypress is frequently mentioned in connection with other trees, but most generally with the cedar.

If the exact value of the Biblical names be in doubt, the accurate determination of the meanings of the terms occurring in the Mishnah and Talmud in designation of trees of the evergreen class is involved in still greater uncertainty. Etymological equivalents of these Biblical names can be found, and other words have been added, but which of them indicates the cypress, or either of the two kinds named, can not be definitely determined. "Berosh," in Tan. to Terumah ix., is explained as the pine; in other passages (B. B. 80b; Giṭ. 57a; R. H. 23a) the cypress is named "toranita," which, again, in the catalogue of the fourteen or twenty-four kinds of evergreen trees (Ket. vii. 31c), is held to be the acacia ("shiṭṭah").

A curious custom may be mentioned in this connection: In Bethar, when a boy was born a cedar-tree was planted; when a girl a cypress (Rashi, "pine"; Giṭ. 57a). A new name for the cypress seems to be "ashuḥa," the "female" cedar or the cypress. It is plain, however, that the Rabbis understood by the various names which designated the cypress-tree, a tree of great endurance and hardness. An old saw illustrates this: "Why was this stone placed near the cypress?" (Peah viii. 20d); the meaning being, Why put one hard substance near another? or Why ask puzzling questions?

Bibliography:

Riehm, Handwörterbuch, 2d ed., pp.243, 283;

Löw, Aramäische Pflanzennamen, pp. 59, 387;

Fleischer, in Levy, Targum Wörterb. ii. 580.

CYPRESS.—(1) tirzah (Isa 44:14, RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘holm oak’) stands for some tree with very hard wood, the meaning of the root (in Arabic) being to be hard. ‘Holm oak’ is the rendering of the oldest Latin translation. This is the Quercus ilex, a tree now rare W. of the Jordan, but still found in Gilead and Bashan; (2) te’ashshur (Isa 41:19 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). Both AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] have ‘box tree’ (wh. see); (3) berôsh (2Sa 6:5 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). Both AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] have ‘fir wood’ (see also Isa 55:13). In Palestine to-day cypresses are extensively planted, especially in cemeteries.

E. W. G. Masterman.

sı̄´pres. See HOLM-TREE.

Cypress. A tall evergreen tree of hard and durable wood. Cypress wood was suitable for building, and was used to fashion idols ( Isa 44:14). The word rendered gopherwood by the NKJV, KJV, RSV, and NASB in ( Gen 6:14) is thought to be cypress. This was the wood which Noah used to build his ark. The word for cypress is also rendered as camelthorn ( Isa 55:13) and ilex ( Isa 44:14) by the NEB.

The cypress tree is known for its dark leaves and symmetrical shape. It was used in Solomon's temple (1 Kings 5:8).

The cypress (Cupressus sempervirens horizontalis) is a massive, tall-growing evergreen tree with small, scale-like leaves. It grows widely in the mountainous regions of Israel and the surrounding areas. On Mount Lebanon and Mount Hermon, it grows together with cedar and oak trees. Cypress trees usually grow 15.2 to 18.3 meters (50 to 60 feet) tall, but can grow up to 24.2 meters (80 feet) tall.

The Phoenicians, Cretans, and Greeks are said to have used cypress wood extensively in building ships. Most scholars agree that the "gopher wood" mentioned in Genesis 6:14 is cypress because the wood lasts a very long time without rotting. Noah used this wood to build the an extremely large boat (the ark).

Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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