Cypress
CYPRESS
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.
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Cypress
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.
Fuente: Plants Animals Of Bible
Cypress
(, tirzah’, from its hardness; Sept. , 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 (). The oldest Latin version renders the Heb. word by ilex, the evergreen oak (Rosenmller, 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 , 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 () 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 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.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Cypress
(Heb. tirzah, “hardness”), mentioned only in Isa. 44:14 (R.V., “holm tree”). The oldest Latin version translates this word by ilex, i.e., the evergreen oak, which may possibly have been the tree intended; but there is great probability that our Authorized Version is correct in rendering it “cypress.” This tree grows abundantly on the mountains of Hermon. Its wood is hard and fragrant, and very durable. Its foliage is dark and gloomy. It is an evergreen (Cupressus sempervirens). “Throughout the East it is used as a funereal tree; and its dark, tall, waving plumes render it peculiarly appropriate among the tombs.”
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Cypress
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.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Cypress
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) teashshur (Isa 41:19 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ). Both AV [Note: Authorized Version.] and RV [Note: Revised Version.] have box tree (wh. see); (3) bersh (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.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Cypress
See Cluster
Fuente: The Poor Mans Concordance and Dictionary to the Sacred Scriptures
Cypress
spres. See HOLM-TREE.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Cypress
A species of oak which preserves its fragrance: it will not easily rot, nor is it eaten by worms. Isa 44:14.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Cypress
Isa 44:14; Son 1:14; Son 4:13
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Cypress
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.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Cypress
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.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Cypress
, Isa 44:14; and , 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.