rye Summary and Overview

=Rie, (Heb. kussemeth), found in Ex. 9:32; Isa. 28:25, in all of which the margins of the Authorized and of the Revised Versions have "spelt." This Hebrew word also occurs in Ezek. 4:9, where the Authorized Version has "fitches' (q.v.) and the Revised Version "spelt." This, there can be no doubt, was the Triticum spelta, a species of hard, rough-grained wheat.

(Heb. cussemeth) occurs in #Ex 9:32; Isa 28:25| in the latter the margin reads "spelt." In #Eze 4:9| the text has "fitches" and the margin "rie." It is probable that by cussemeth "spelt" is intended. Spelt (Triticum spelta) is grown in some parts of the south of Germany; it differs but slightly from our common wheat (T. vulgare).

RYE . This word occurs in Ex 9:32 and Isa 28:25. The same Hebrew noun is translated "fitches" in Eze 4:9. Rye being a northern grain and rarely cultivated in the East even in our day, Celsius' view is universally accepted - that in all these passages the reference is to spelt (Triticum spelta), a grass closely resembling wheat and long cultivated in the Levant. Though the flour of its grain is inferior to that of the latter, it is mixed with it for bread. Spelt seems to have been sown later than wheat, on the border or headland of the field, to which there is reference in the word "place" of Isa 28:25. __________________________________________________________________ S.

Exodus 9:32. Hebrew kussemeth; Arabic chirsanat; rather "spelt," Triticum spelta. Ezekiel 4:9. Rye is a northern plant, whereas spelt was long cultivated in Egypt and the East (Herodotus ii. 36). Nutritious, hardy, like bearded wheat; but there is a smooth variety also. The root is casam, suiting the bearded form in in its meaning "to have hair," and the smooth bald variety in its meaning "to shear."