Spoon

(כִּŠ, kaph, a hand, as elsewhere), a hollow dish or pan used as a censer for the Tabernacle and Temple (Ex 25:29; Nu 4:7; Nu 7:14 sq.; 1Ki 7:50; 2Ki 25:14; 2Ch 24:14; Jer 52:18-19). The Orientals generally eat with the fingers, and so have no occasion for knives, forks, etc. SEE EATING. Among the ancient Egyptians spoons were introduced when required for soup or other liquids; and perhaps even a knife was employed on some occasions, to facilitate the carving of a large joint, which is sometimes done in the East at the present day. The Egyptian spoons were of various forms and sizes. They were principally of ivory, bone, wood, or bronze, and other metals; and in some the handle terminated in a hook, by which, if required, they were suspended to a nail. Many were ornamented with the lotus flower; the handles of others were made to represent an animal or a human figure; some were of very arbitrary shape; and a smaller kind, of round form, probably intended for taking ointment out of a vase and transferring it to a shell or cup for immediate use, are occasionally discovered in the tombs. (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 1, 183 sq.). SEE DISH.