Cassia

Cassia - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(1.) Hebrew kiddah', i.e., "split." One of the principal spices of the holy anointing oil (Ex. 30:24), and an article of commerce (Ezek. 27:19). It is the inner bark of a tree resembling the cinnamon (q.v.), the Cinnamomum cassia of botanists, and was probably imported from India.

(2.) Hebrew pl. ketzi'oth (Ps. 45:8). Mentioned in connection with myrrh and aloes as being used to scent garments. It was probably prepared from the peeled bark, as the Hebrew word suggests, of some kind of cinnamon.

Cassia - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

CASSIA, n. A genus of plants of many species, among which are the fistula, or purging cassia, and the senna. The former is a native of Egypt and both Indies; the latter is a native of Persia, Syria and Arabia. The latter is a shrubby plant, the leaves of which are much used in medicine. The purging cassia is the pulp of the pods, and is a gentle laxative.

Cassia is also the name of a species of Laurus, the bark of which usually passes under the name of cinnamon, differing from real cinnamon chiefly in the strength of its qualities. From a plant of this kind was extracted an aromatic oil, used as a perfume by the Jews.

kash'-a: Two Hebrew words,

(1) qiddah, which is mentioned, along with myrrh, cinnamon, calamus and olive oil, as one of the ingredients of the "holy anointing oil" (Ex 30:24); it was, too, one of the wares in which Vedan and Javan traded with Tyre (Eze 27:19); it is identified in the Peshitta and the Targum with (2).

(2) qetsi`oth (plural only, probably referring to the strips of bark), a word from which is derived the Greek kasia, and hence, cassia (Ps 45:8).

It is probable that both (1) and (2) refer to Cassia lignea, the inner bark of Cinnamomum cassia, a plant growing in eastern Asia closely allied to that which yields the cinnamon of commerce. It is a fragrant, aromatic bark and was probably used in a powdered form. Both as an ingredient in unguents and as one of the perfumes at funerals, cassia, like cinnamon, was much used by the Romans. The cassia of Scripture must be clearly distinguished from the entirely distinct Cassia lanceolata and C. obovata which yield the familiar senna. The proper name KEZIAH (which see) is the singular form of ketsi`oth.

E. W. G. Masterman