Pine Tree

pin tre: (1) `ets shemen, translated the Revised Version (British and American) "wild olive," the King James Version "pine" (Ne 8:15); the Revised Version (British and American) "oil-tree," m "oleaster" (Isa 41:19); "olive-wood" (1Ki 6:23,31-33). See OIL TREE. (2) tidhhar (Isa 41:19, margin "plane"; Isa 60:13); peuke, "fir." Lagarde, from similarity of tidhhar to the Syriac deddar, usually the "elm," considers this the best translation. Symmachus also translated tidhhar (Isa 41:19) by ptelea, the "elm." The elm, Ulmus campestris, is rare in Palestine and the Lebanon, though it is found today N. of Aleppo. Post (HDB, III, 592-93) considers that (1) should be translated as "pine," which he describes as a "fat wood tree"; it is perhaps as probably a correct translation for (2), but great uncertainty remains. Two species of pine are plentiful in the Lebanon and flourish in most parts of Palestine when given a chance. These are the stone pine, Pinus pinea, and the Aleppo pine, P. halepensis; all the highlands looking toward the sea are suited to their growth.

E. W. G. Masterman