Mandrakes

VIEW:12 DATA:01-04-2020
The Atropa mandragore, of the order Solanaceae, allied to the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna); a stupefying narcotic with broad dark green leaves, flowers purple, and green apples which become pale yellow when ripe, with a tuberous bifid (forked) root. Still found ripe in wheat harvest (May) on the lower parts of Lebanon and Hermon (Gen_30:14). The apples produce dizziness and exhilaration. The ancients believed them calculated to produce fecundity. Their Hebrew name, duwdaim, "love apples," agrees with their being used as aphrodisiacs to conciliate love; Rachel had this superstitious notion (Gen_30:14-17). The odor is too strong to be agreeable to Europeans, but Orientals value strong-smelling things; Dioscorides calls the apples "sweet-scented." Son_7:13, "the mandrakes give a smell." The root was fancied to resemble man, and to form a potent magical spell, and to emit a human groan on being torn from the ground!
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Mandrakes. (Hebrew, dudraim) Mandrakes are mentioned in Gen_30:14; Gen_30:16, and in Son_7:13. The mandrake, Atropa mandragora, is closely allied to the well-known deadly nightshade, Atropa bellndonna, and to the tomato, and belongs to the order Solanaceae, or potato family. It grows in Palestine and Mesopotamia.
(It grows low, like lettuce, which its leaves somewhat resemble, except that they are of a dark green. The flowers are purple, and the root is usually forked. Its fruit, when ripe, (early in May), is about the size of a small apple, 24 inches in diameter, ruddy or yellow, and of a most agreeable odor, (to Orientals more than to Europeans), and an equally agreeable taste.
The Arabs call it "devil's apple", from its power to excite voluptuousness. Dr. Richardson, ("Lectures on Alcohol," 1881), tried some experiments with wine made of the root of mandrake, and found it narcotic, causing sleep, so that the ancients used it as an anaesthetic. Used in small quantities like opium, it excites the nerves, and is a stimulant. — Editor).
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


man?drāks (דּוּדאים, dūdhā'ı̄m; μανδραγόπας, mandragóras (Gen_30:14 f; Son_7:13); the marginal reading ?love apples? is due to the supposed connection of dūdhā'ı̄m with דּודים, dōdhı̄m, ?love?): Mandrakes are the fruit of the Mandragora officinarum, a member of the Solanaceae or potato order, closely allied to the Atropa belladonna. It is a common plant all over Palestine, flourishing particularly in the spring and ripening about the time of the wheat harvest (Gen_30:14). The plant has a rosette of handsome dark leaves, dark purple flowers and orange, tomato-like fruit. The root is long and branched; to pull it up is still considered unlucky (compare Josephus, BJ, VII, vi, 3). The fruit is called in Arabic baiḍ el-jinn, the ?eggs of the jinn?; they have a narcotic smell and sweetish taste, but are too poisonous to be used as food. They are still used in folklore medicine in Palestine. The plant was well known as an aphrodisiac by the ancients (Son_7:13).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.





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