Gourd

1. Kikayan only in (Jonah 4:6-10) The plant which is intended by this word, and which afforded shade to the prophet Jonah before Nineveh, is the Ricinus commnunis , or castor-oil plant, which, a native of Asia, is now naturalized in America, Africa and the south of Europe. This plant varies considerably n size, being in India a tree, but in England seldom attaining a greater height than three or four feet. The leaves are large and palmate, with serrated lobes, and would form un excellent shelter for the sun-stroken prophet. The seeds contain the oil so well known under the name of "castor oil," which has for ages been in high repute as a medicine. It is now thought by many that the plant meant is a vine of the cucumber family, a gemline gourd, which is much used for shade in the East.
2. The wild gourd of (2 Kings 4:39) which one of "the sons of the prophets" gathered ignorantly, supposing them to be good for food, is a poisonous gourd, supposed to be the colocynth, which bears a fruit of the color and size of an orange, with a hard, woody shell. As several varieties of the same family, such as melons, pumpkins, etc., are favorite articles of refreshing food amongst the Orientals, we can easily understand the cause of the mistake.

Gourd

It has been supposed that Jonah's gourd was the Ricinus Communis, or castor-oil plant. It grows in the East to the height of eight to twelve feet, and one species much higher. Its leaves are large, and have six or seven divisions, whence its name of Palma Christi. Since, however, it is now known that in the vicinity of the ancient Nineveh, a plant of the gourd kind is commonly trained to run over structures of mud and brush, to form booths in which the gardeners may protect themselves from the terrible beams of he Asiatic sun, this goes far to show that this vine, called in the Arabic ker-a, is the true gourd of Jonah. If the expression, "which came up in a night," Jonah 4:10, is to be understood literally, it indicates that God "prepared" the gourd, Jonah 4:6, by miraculously quickening its natural growth.

The WILD GOURD is a poisonous plant, conjectured to mean the colocynth, which has a cucumber-like vine, with several branches, and bears a fruit of the size and color of an orange, with a hard, woody shell, within which is the white meat or pulp, exceedingly bitter, and a drastic purgative, 2 Kings 4:39. It was very inviting to the eye, and furnished a model for the carved "knops" of cedar in Solomon's temple, 1 Kings 6:18 7:24.

GOURD

gord, goord (qiqayon): The Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) has hedera ("ivy"), which is impossible. Philologically qiqayon appears to be connected with kiki, which was the Egyptian name for the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis). This grows plentifully all over the Orient, and under favorable conditions may reach a height of 10 to 15 ft.; its larger leaves afford a grateful shade. The requirements of the narrative in Jonah 4:6 are, however, much more suitably met by the "bottle gourd" (Cucurbita lagenaria), the Arab qar`ah. This is a creeping, vinelike plant which may frequently be seen trained over the rough temporary sun-shelters erected in fields or by the roadside in Palestine and Mesopotamia.

E. W. G. Masterman

GOURD, WILD

wild (paqqu`oth sadheh, 2 Kings 4:39): The root paqa`, means "to split" or "burst open," and on this ground these "wild gourds" have been identified with the fruit of the squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium). This little gourd, 1 1/2 to 2 inches long, when fully ripe falls suddenly when touched or shaken, the bitter, irritating juice is squirted to a considerable distance, and the seeds are thrown all around. It is exceedingly common in Palestine, and its familiar poisonous properties, as a drastic cathartic, made it unlikely that under any circumstances its fruit could be mistaken for any edible gourd; it is, too, in no way vinelike ("wild vine," 2 Kings 4:39) in appearance; the stem is stiff and upright, and there are no tendrils. The traditional plant, Cucumis prophetarium, which grows in the desert, and has very small "gourds," has nothing really to recommend it. By far the most probable plant is the Colocynth (Citrullus colocynthis), belonging like the last two, to Natural Order, Cucurbitaceae. This view has the support of the Septuagint and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) It is a vinelike plant which spreads over the ground or attaches itself by its spiral tendrils to other plants. The rounded "gourds" are 3 inches or more in diameter, and contain a pulp intensely bitter and, in any but minute quantities, extremely poisonous.

E. W. G. Masterman

(1.) Jonah's gourd (Jonah 4:6-10), bearing the Hebrew name kikayon (found only here), was probably the kiki of the Egyptians, the croton. This is the castor-oil plant, a species of ricinus, the palma Christi, so called from the palmate division of its leaves. Others with more probability regard it as the cucurbita the el-keroa of the Arabs, a kind of pumpkin peculiar to the East. "It is grown in great abundance on the alluvial banks of the Tigris and on the plain between the river and the ruins of Nineveh." At the present day it is trained to run over structures of mud and brush to form boots to protect the gardeners from the heat of the noon-day sun. It grows with extraordinary rapidity, and when cut or injured withers away also with great rapidity.

(2.) Wild gourds (2 Kings 4:38-40), Hebrews pakkuoth, belong to the family of the cucumber-like plants, some of which are poisonous. The species here referred to is probably the colocynth (Cucumis colocynthus). The LXX. render the word by "wild pumpkin." It abounds in the desert parts of Syria, Egypt, and Arabia. There is, however, another species, called the Cucumis prophetarum, from the idea that it afforded the gourd which "the sons of the prophets" shred by mistake into their pottage.

1. (n.) A melon, pumpkin, squash, or a drinking vessel cut out of its rind; a fleshy, three-celled, many-seeded fruit, as the melon, pumpkin, cucumber, etc., of the order Cucurbitaceae; and especially the bottle gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) which occurs in a great variety of forms, and, when the interior part is removed, serves for bottles, dippers, cups, and other dishes.

2. (n.) A dipper or other vessel made from the shell of a gourd; hence, a drinking vessel; a bottle.

3. (n.) A false die. See Gord.

4. (n.) Alt. of Gourde

6497. peqaim -- gourd (shaped) ornaments
... << 6496, 6497. peqaim. 6498 >>. gourd (shaped) ornaments. Transliteration: peqaim
Phonetic Spelling: (peh'-kah) Short Definition: gourds. ...
/hebrew/6497.htm - 6k

7021. qiqayon -- (a plant) perhaps castor-oil plant
... 5). gourd. Perhaps from qayah; the gourd (as nauseous) -- gourd. see HEBREW
qayah. << 7020, 7021. qiqayon. 7022 >>. Strong's Numbers.
/hebrew/7021.htm - 6k

6498. paqquoth -- gourds
... gourd. From the same as peqa'; the wild cucumber (from splitting open to shed its
seeds) -- gourd. see HEBREW peqa'. << 6497, 6498. paqquoth. 6499 >>. ...
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