Dill

Dill the marginal and correct rendering at Mt 23:23, for ἄνηθον, where in the text our translators have "anise" — misled, perhaps, by the similarity of anethum and anise. Pliny, however (19:52), carefully distinguishes between anethum and anisum (comp. Theophr. Plantt. 7:1; Dioscor. 3, 461). The Anethum graveolens, or, as it is other wise called, Anethum segetuni, on the assumption that there are two species, is a native of the warmer regions of the south, and is sometimes cultivated in English gardens under the name of "dill." It belongs to that very common natural family the Umbelliferae, which abounds with genera and species that are warmed by a savor of aromatic pungency. The seeds are the parts that are used, whether it be for the purpose of soothing the alimentary system with a warm medicine, or of pleasing the palate with an agreeable condiment. Among the Cossacks, and in other parts of the Russian dominions, the plant is cultivated for the same use as the caraway is among us. Dill, caraway, coriander, and cummin belong to the same natural assemblage of plants, and though the seeds differ in form, and a little in flavor, yet they are employed for the same purposes, and possess virtues very nearly allied to each other. The flowers are yellow, like those of the parsnip; the leaves decompounded into hair-like divisions. The Talmudists describe the plant שָׁבָת, shabath', as "called in the Roman language anethums," and add that it was tithed whether gathered green or ripe. It was tithed also both as to the seed and the herb itself. That the herb was tithed implies that it was eaten as well as the seeds, and, indeed, this is expressly said; and we are told that it was to be eaten raw, after meat, and not boiled (Kitto, Pict. Bible, note in loc.). SEE ANISE.

⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.