I remember my junior school teachers told me that biblical sycomores
were different from the sycamores we were used to, so perhaps they
were using the same teaching manuals as Bill East's teacher.
Julia Barrow
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1999 09:17:24 GMT
Subject: Re: The Guy in the Tree
From: Bill East <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Reply-to: [log in to unmask]
>It looks like the Étampes Master had a bit of trouble conceiving a sycomore
>[that's "sickamore" in Indianer--or "sickymore" in Southern Indianer--btw]
>tree.
>
>
>Whilst I have you here on the _pons_,
>I note no reference to garments being cast on anything but the colt (19:35) in
>Luke's account.
>Is there a textual basis for the garment tosser?
You will find the tossers at Matthew 21:8.
Incidentally, a sycamore is something different in Europe from what it is in
America. What you call a sycamore, we call a Plane Tree. And what we call a
sycamore, you call a maple.
In any case, I remember being told by a teacher in my primary school (and
looking back, I realise she must have been very erudite) that what the
gospels called a sycamore was not our sycamore, but what we call a sycamine.
I note that this is actually a mulberry tree, 'Morus nigra', from Latin
'sycaminus' via Greek 'sukaminos', 'mulberry tree' from the Hebrew 'sikmah',
assimilated to Greek 'sukon', 'fig'.
My dictionary however tells me that the biblical sycamore was actually a fig
tree, 'ficus sycomorus', growing in Egypt, Syria etc.
If you go to Jericho, they will show you the very tree which Zacchaeus
climbed, but I cannot now remember what kind of tree it was. All the trees
I have mentioned are common in that part of the world (except perhaps the
sycamore tree).
So let's not be too hard on the Etampes master. He may have been trying to
cope with conflicting glosses.
The Supple Doctor.
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