אחו, occurs Gen. xli, 2, 18; Job viii, 11; and סוף, _weeds_, Exod.
ii, 3, 5; Isa. xix, 6; John ii, 5. The word _achu_ in the first two
instances is translated “meadows,” and in the latter, “flag.” It
probably denotes the sedge, or long grass, which grows in the meadows of
the Nile, very grateful to the cattle. It is retained in the Septuagint
in Genesis, ἐν τῷ ἄχει; and is used by the son of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus
xl, 16, ἄχι and ἄχει; for the copies vary.
“We have no radix,” says the learned Chapelow, “for אחו, unless we
derive it, as Schultens does, from the Arabic _achi_, ‘to bind or join
together.’” Thus, Parkhurst defines it “a species of plant, sedge, or
reed, so called from its fitness for making ropes, or the like, to
connect or join things together; as the Latin _juncus_, a ‘bulrush,’ _a
jungendo_, from ‘joining,’ for the same reason;” and he supposes that it
is the plant, or reed, growing near the Nile, which Hasselquist
describes as having numerous narrow leaves, and growing about eleven
feet high, of the leaves of which the Egyptians make ropes.
The word סוף is called by Eben Ezra, “a reed growing on the borders of
the river.” Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and
Tremellius, render it by _juncus_, _carex_, or _alga_; and Celsius
thinks it the _fucus_ or _alga_, “sea weed.” Dr. Geddes says there is
little doubt of its being the sedge called _sari_, which, as we learn
from Theophrastus and Pliny, grows on the marshy banks of the Nile, and
rises to the height of almost two cubits. This, indeed, agrees very well
with Exod. ii, 3, 5, and the thickets of arundinaceous plants, at some
small distances from the Red Sea, observed by Dr. Shaw; but the place in
Jonah seems to require some submarine plant.
ii, 3, 5; Isa. xix, 6; John ii, 5. The word _achu_ in the first two
instances is translated “meadows,” and in the latter, “flag.” It
probably denotes the sedge, or long grass, which grows in the meadows of
the Nile, very grateful to the cattle. It is retained in the Septuagint
in Genesis, ἐν τῷ ἄχει; and is used by the son of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus
xl, 16, ἄχι and ἄχει; for the copies vary.
“We have no radix,” says the learned Chapelow, “for אחו, unless we
derive it, as Schultens does, from the Arabic _achi_, ‘to bind or join
together.’” Thus, Parkhurst defines it “a species of plant, sedge, or
reed, so called from its fitness for making ropes, or the like, to
connect or join things together; as the Latin _juncus_, a ‘bulrush,’ _a
jungendo_, from ‘joining,’ for the same reason;” and he supposes that it
is the plant, or reed, growing near the Nile, which Hasselquist
describes as having numerous narrow leaves, and growing about eleven
feet high, of the leaves of which the Egyptians make ropes.
The word סוף is called by Eben Ezra, “a reed growing on the borders of
the river.” Bochart, Fuller, Rivetus, Ludolphus, and Junius and
Tremellius, render it by _juncus_, _carex_, or _alga_; and Celsius
thinks it the _fucus_ or _alga_, “sea weed.” Dr. Geddes says there is
little doubt of its being the sedge called _sari_, which, as we learn
from Theophrastus and Pliny, grows on the marshy banks of the Nile, and
rises to the height of almost two cubits. This, indeed, agrees very well
with Exod. ii, 3, 5, and the thickets of arundinaceous plants, at some
small distances from the Red Sea, observed by Dr. Shaw; but the place in
Jonah seems to require some submarine plant.