Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An aromatic gum resin similar to myrrh, produced by certain Asian and African shrubs or trees of the genus Commiphora.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A name given to two aromatic gum-resins, similar to myrrh, but weaker. Indian bdellium is believed to be the product of Balsamodendron Mukul, and African bdellium of B. Africanum. They are used for the same purposes as myrrh, but chiefly as an ingredient in plasters and as a perfume. An Egyptian resin also called bdellium is obtained from the doum-palm, Hyphæne Thebaica, of Upper Egypt.
Wiktionary
- n. Probably an aromatic gum like balsam that was exuded from a tree, probably one of several species in the genus Commiphora.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An unidentified substance mentioned in the Bible (Gen. ii. 12, and Num. xi. 7), variously taken to be a gum, a precious stone, or pearls, or perhaps a kind of amber found in Arabia.
- n. A gum resin of reddish brown color, brought from India, Persia, and Africa.
WordNet 3.0
- n. aromatic gum resin; similar to myrrh
Etymologies
- From Latin bdellium, from Ancient Greek βδέλλιον (bdellion), itself perhaps from Hebrew בְּדֹלַח (bdólakh). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin, from Greek bdellion, variant of bdolkhon, of Semitic origin; akin to Akkadian budulḫu. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It may be noticed that the resemblance of the manna to coriander seed was not in the color, but in the size and figure; and from its comparison to bdellium, which is either a drop of white gum or”
“bdellium" mentioned by Moses in Genesis is a perfuming gum, resembling frankincense, if not identical with it.”
The Art of Perfumery And Methods of Obtaining the Odors of Plants
“Parivartan Sharma/Reuters Smoke from bdellium rose from a roadside stall in New Delhi, Tuesday.”
“(Soundbite of "Crazy ABC's") Mr. ROBERTSON: "A" is for aisle, B is bdellium, C is for czar, and if you see him would you mind telling him ...”
“In the Bible the word “bdellium” is used to describe the appearance of Manna.”
“And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.”
“They were brimful of myrobalan, bdellium, saffron, and violets.”
“The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Hav'ilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.”
“¶ And the manna was as coriander seed, and the color thereof as the color of bdellium.”
“-- Ed. [134] "There is bdellium and the onyx-stone.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘bdellium’.
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Even More 250 Spelling Words
Good for intermediate and advanced spellers and anybody who wants to use words with precision
maculature, mochila, twankay, hyson, isocryme, glasnost, ozaena, locavore, frazil, sclaff, chautauqua, bergamot and 238 more...
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RELI - Genesis
Protagonists and relevant words in the Book of Creation (Source: King James Bible)
Laban, circumcise, beget, Esau, Rebekah, speckle, Sodom, Pharaoh, Canaanite, Canaan, Jacob, Lot and 1286 more...
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Davenport
words looked up recently from reading Guy Davenport
flenite, sampan, provender, comitatus, cycladic, surd, scialytic, lignite, plangencies, fugal, zamindary, macaque and 112 more...
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Starts with a silent letter
...with grateful thanks to telofy (for "cnidarian"), and to the song "Crazy ABC's" by Barenaked Ladies.
cnidarian, mnemonic, chthonic, ptarmigan, psoriasis, psittacine, bdellium, aisle, czar, gnarly, gnat, gnaw and 82 more...
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Hard to Translate
Words which exceed the common problems one finds in translation.
radioustukacz, shlimazl, gezellig, saudade, selathirupavar, pochernuchka, klloshar, ilunga, filotimo, plenipotentiary, taarradhin, guanxi and 33 more...
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bilby's Words
pandemic, whirl, guffaw, ethereal, feisty, dunt, ephemeral, pule, flipergebet, prink, maunder, gammon and 1023 more...
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Lively Words
quick, quicksilver, cwic, quitch grass, cwice, vivify, viviparous, viper, weever, wyvern, viand, victual and 148 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, B
bloviate, bejesus, brouhaha, behoove, bodacious, bamboozle, banshee, bub, bolus, blob, bubbly, bleb and 414 more...
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Gaw
Words for things both tangible and anthropic. I'm in the process of spinning off hardware into ute, and people into oofy.
cum-twang, naumachia, yngling, juggernaught, bliss ninny, iliac crest, moistened bint, slumlord, spondoolies, classy lady, charnel house, electrodoméstico and 334 more...
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Just Plain Weird.
Something about these words doesn't look or feel right. And yet... they're strangely appealing.
pumpkin, platypus, atlatl, pterodactyl, octopus, veldt, asparagus, aspic, lacquer, mastiff, weevil, lapis and 156 more...
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Gums & Resins
Naturally occurring gums and resins.
amber, copal, dammar, mastic, sandarac, ammoniacum, gamboge, elemi, scammony, myrrh, turpentine, copaiba and 155 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for bdellium.
jaime_d From "A Field of Snow on a Slope of the Rosenberg" by Guy Davenport. Jan 19, 2010
pspealman It may be a gum. The word comes from the King James Bible where the corresponding word in Hebrew is בדלח (ḇəd�?lah) - but this is only used twice in the bible and occurs no where else but there.
The kicker is that bible scholars have offered arguments that it referrers to many things - but no one can say definitively what it is. Since the definition is lost but the word is still in use it is an ultimately unstranslatable word.
Dec 7, 2008