Maxlogistic at 18:24, 30 April 2026

2026-04-30T18:24:55Z

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{{Short description|Semi-transparent tree resin}}
[[File:Bdellium resin.jpg|thumb|right|Bdellium resin]]
'''Bdellium''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|l|i|əm}} (also '''bdellion''' or '''false myrrh'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pereira |first1=Jonathan |title=The Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, Volume 2 |date=1842 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9MfGnn1AkvwC&pg=PA1634}}</ref>) is a semi-transparent oleo-gum resin extracted from ''[[Commiphora wightii]]'' plants, and from ''[[Commiphora africana]]'' trees growing in [[sub-Saharan Africa]].{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} According to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] the best quality came from [[Bactria]]. Other named sources for the resin are India, [[Pakistan]], [[Arabia]], [[Media (region)|Media]], and [[Babylon]].<ref name=enc1906>{{cite web |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2683-bdellium |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref>

== Composition ==
Bdellium consists of a water-soluble [[Natural gum|gum]], a [[resin]], and an [[essential oil]]. The essential oil of ''Commiphora africana'' contains predominantly α-[[thujene]], α- and β-[[pinene]], and [[p-cymene]].<ref name="mcc">{{citation | author=Lumír O. Hanuš | title=Myrrh-Commiphora Chemistry | journal=Biomed. Papers | volume=149 | issue=1 | year=2005 | pages=3–23 | pmid=16170385 | doi=10.5507/bp.2005.001|display-authors=etal| doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Uses ==
Bdellium is used in [[perfumery]], as [[incense]], and in [[traditional medicine]].<ref>{{citation | author=James A. Duke | entry=African Myrrh | title=Duke's Handbook of Medicinal Plants of the Bible | publisher=CRC Press | year=2008 | pages=126–128}}</ref> It is an [[adulterant]] of the more costly [[myrrh]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2021}}

== Name ==
[[Middle English]],<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|bdellium|access-date=2025-05-22}}</ref> learnedly [[Loanword|borrowed]] from [[Latin language|Latin]] {{wikt-lang|grc|bdellium}}, itself borrowed from [[Ancient Greek language|Ancient Greek]] {{wikt-lang|grc|βδέλλιον}}, of unknown origin, possibly from [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] or a [[Pre-Greek substrate]]. Compare [[Hebrew]] {{wikt-lang|he|בְּדֹלַח}} (bdólakh).<ref name="y675">{{cite book | last1=Beekes | first1=Robert Stephen Paul | last2=Beek | first2=Lucien van | title=Etymological Dictionary of Greek | publisher=Brill | publication-place=Leiden | date=2010 | isbn=978-90-04-17420-7 | page=}}</ref>

''Commiphora africana'' resin is also known as ''African bdellium''.<ref name="mcc" />

== Origin ==


[[Theophrastus]] is perhaps the first European classical author to mention bdellium, if the report that came back from his informant in [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]'s expedition refers to ''[[Commiphora wightii]]'': "In the region called [[Aria (satrapy)|Aria]] there is a thorn tree which produces a tear of resin, resembling [[myrrh]] in appearance and odour. It liquefies when the sun shines upon it."<ref>Noted by Dalby 2002, ''ibid.''</ref>

[[File:Guggull.jpg|thumb|''Commiphora wightii'']]
[[Plautus]] in his play ''Curculio'' refers to it. [[Pliny the Elder]], in his ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' (12:36), describes the best bdellium coming from [[Bactria]] (identified as ''Commiphora wightii''{{efn|The identification was to ''Commiphora roxburghii'', a taxonomic synonym of ''C. wightii''.}}) as a "tree black in colour, and the size of the [[olive]] tree; its leaf resembles that of the [[oak]] and its fruit the wild [[ficus|fig]]", as well as bdellium coming from [[Nubia]] (identified as ''Commiphora africana''). However, his descriptions{{efn|"Next to [[Aria (satrapy)|Ariane]] is [[Bactria]]ne, which produces the most esteemed kind of bdellium. The tree is of a black colour and of the size of an olive-tree. Its leaf resembles that of the oak, and its fruit that of the wild fig-tree. Bdellium itself is of the nature of a gum. Some call it ''brochon'', others ''malacha'', others again ''maldacon'', but when it is black and rolled into a little ball it is known as ''hadrabolon''. This substance ought to be transparent like wax, odoriferous, unctuous when crumbled, and bitter to the taste but without being at all acid. When used in sacred rites it is steeped in wine to increase its fragrance. It grows in Arabia and India as well as in Media and Babylon. Some persons call the bdellium which is brought to us by way of Media, ''peratic''. It is more brittle than the other kinds, harder in the crust, and more bitter to the taste; the Indian kind is, on the other hand, moister and gummy, and is adulterated by means of the almond nut. The various other kinds are corrupted with the bark of scordastum, the tree of this name producing a gum which resembles bdellium. The adulterations of perfumes, let it be said once for all, are detected by their smell, by their colour, weight, taste, and by the action of fire. The Bactrian bdellium is dry and shining, and has numerous white spots, like finger-nails in shape. Besides, it should be of a certain weight than which it ought to be neither heavier nor lighter. The price of bdellium when quite pure is three denarii per pound." ([[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' 12.19).}} seem to cover a range of strongly perfumed resins. The [[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]], of the 2nd century CE, reports that ''bdella'' are exported from the port of [[Barbarikon|Barbarice]] at the mouth of the [[Indus]].<ref>Dalby 2000.</ref> The Bactrian variety is known among Arabs as {{Transliteration|ar|mokul}}.<ref name="ejb">{{cite encyclopedia | first=Jehuda |last=Feliks | title=Bdellium | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Judaica | edition=2nd | volume=3 | year=2007 | publisher=Thomson Gale | page=234| title-link=Encyclopaedia Judaica }}</ref>

The bdellium referred to by [[Dioscorides]] as "the bdellium imported from [[Petra]]" (''[[De Materia Medica (Dioscorides)|De Materia Medica]]'', 1:80) is probably the resin of ''[[Hyphaene thebaica]]'', a species of palm. The Arabs call it "Jewish bdellium".<ref name="ejb" />

In China, bdellium, known as ''ānxī xiāng'' ({{lang-zh|c=安息香}}) or "[[Arsacid]] aromatic", was among the varieties of incense that reached China either along the [[Silk Route]] from Central Asia, or by sea. Later ''ānxī xiāng'' was applied to an East Indian substitute, [[gum benzoin]] from Sumatra.<ref>Joseph Needham ''et al.'', ''Science and Civilisation in China'', vol. 5 (Cambridge University Press) 1974, §33. "Alchemy and Chemistry", p. 142f and note ''g''.</ref>

Bdellium was an ingredient in the prescriptions of ancient physicians from [[Galen]] to [[Paul of Aegina]], and in the ''[[Greater Kuphi]]''.<ref>Miller, ''Spice Trade'', p. 71.</ref>

[[Isidore of Seville]] reports in his {{lang|la|[[Etymologiae]]}} (XVII.viii.6) that bdellium comes from trees in India and Arabia, the Arabian variety being better as it is smooth, whitish and smells good; the Indian variety is a dirty black and very delicious.<ref>{{Cite book | title=The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville | url=https://archive.org/details/etymologiesisido00barn | url-access=limited | translator1-last=Barney |translator1-first=Stephen A. | translator2-last=Lewis |translator2-first=W. J. | translator3-last=Beach |translator3-first=J. A. | translator4-last=Berghof |translator4-first=O. | publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=2006 | edition=1st | isbn=978-0-511-21969-6 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/etymologiesisido00barn/page/n361 348]–349}}. Isidore's encyclopedia assembled facts from classical sources.</ref>

===In the Bible===
"Bdellium" is the common English translation in the [[Bible]] for the [[Hebrew (language)|Hebrew]] {{lang|he-Latn|bedolach}} ({{lang|he|בְּדֹלַח}}), which appears in [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 2:12 and [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 11:7. In Genesis, it is given as a product of [[Havilah]], where it is listed along with other precious items gold and [[onyx]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|2:12|KJV}}</ref> In Numbers, the reference to bdellium is in the context of the [[manna]] eaten by the Israelites in the wilderness, which is said to have "the color of bdellium".<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|11:7|KJV}}</ref> These are the only two uses in the Hebrew scripture, and there is no agreement about whether the term {{lang|he-Latn|bedolach}} actually referred to the resin.<ref name=enc1906 /><ref name=miert /> The [[Septuagint]] translates the word with {{lang|grc|ἄνθραξ}} (anthrax) in Genesis and with {{lang|grc|κρύσταλλος}} (crystal) in Numbers, thus interpreting it as the name of a precious stone,<ref name=enc1906 /><ref name=miert>{{cite book |last1=van Miert |first1=Dirk |title=The Emancipation of Biblical Philology in the Dutch Republic, 1590–1670 |date=21 June 2018 |page=44 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-252598-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=42hiDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref><ref name=williams>{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Isaac |title=The Beginning of the Book of Genesis, with Notes and Reflections |date=1861 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ujRHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA245 |accessdate=25 August 2019}}</ref> and [[Rashi]] describes it as "a precious stone, crystal".<ref name="ejb" />

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{ibid|section|date=January 2025}}
{{reflist|33em}}

[[Category:Incense material]]
[[Category:Perfume ingredients]]
[[Category:Resins]]

Bdellium - Revision history

Maxlogistic at 18:24, 30 April 2026