Page:The history of silk, cotton, linen, wool, and other fibrous substances 2.djvu/420

 produced, i. e. to prove that [Greek: byssos] meant flax and not cotton, as those authors have supposed. Yet their evidence may be considered as going all for nothing, because they express not their own opinion formed by independent inquiry and investigation, but merely the opinion which they have adopted from Forster and Blumenbach.

There is, however, no reason to doubt, that Forster is right in considering [Greek: Byssos], or Byssus, as an Egyptian word with a Greek or Latin termination. In the Septuagint version it is always used as equivalent to the Hebrew (Shesh or Ses), which according to the Hebrew Rabbis was a kind of flax, that grew in Egypt only and was of the finest quality. Another term, used in the Pentateuch for linen cloth is (bad), which seems to be nearly the same as. The Egyptian term or (buts) is very seldom found in the Hebrew Scriptures, and not until the intercourse became frequent between the Jews and other oriental nations. But it is continually employed by the Arabic, Persic, and Chaldee Translators, as equivalent to the Hebrew terms and.

The distinction between [Greek: Byssos] and the Egyptian terms formerly explained is very obvious. [Greek: Phôsôn], [Greek: Othonê], and [Greek: Sindôn] denoted linen cloth; [Greek: Byssos] the plant, from which it was made. Hence we so commonly find the adjective form [Greek: Byssinos] or Byssinus, i. e. made of Byssus, as in [Greek: Sindôn byssinê, Othonê byssinê, Othonia byssina, Stolê byssinê], &c., and this is agreeable to the remark of the Patriarch Photius in his 192nd Epistle, [Greek: Phyton de ê byssos], "Byssus is a plant."

Herodotus (ii. 105.), pointing out resemblances between the Egyptians and the Colchians, says, they prepare their flax in the same manner, and in a manner which is practiced by no other nation. Xenophon directs, that nets should be made of flax from the Phasis, or from Carthage. Pollux (l. v. cap. 4. § 26.) says,