Crimson

Crimson [PURPLE]

2Ch 2:7-14 3:14. See PURPLE.\par

שָׁנַי, shani’ (Jer 4:30; elsewhere “scarlet;” fully תּוֹלִעִת שָׁנַי, crimson-worm, Exo 25:4, or שְׁנַי תוֹלִעִת, worm crimson, Lev 14:4, or simply תּוֹלִע, the worm itself, Isa 1:15, all rendered, except in this last passage, likewise:’ scarlet”), later כִּרְמַיל, kar’il’ (invariably “crimson,” 2Ch 2:7; 2Ch 2:14; 2Ch 3:14; on this Hebrews term, see Lorsbach, Archiv fur morgenlind. Literatur, 2:305; Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 714), a well-known red color (Pliny, 21:22), of a deep hue bordering on purple (q.v.), and in this respect differing from the brighter scarlet (q.v.), yet of a brilliant color (Isa 1:18; comp. Pliny, 33:40; hence χρῶμα ὀξύ; so in Mat 27:28, χλάμυς κοκκίνη = ἐσθὴς λαμπρά in Luk 23:11). highly prized among the ancients for garments and tapestry (Horace, Sat. 2:6, 102), as articles of luxury with the nobility (Jer 4:30; 2Sa 1:24; Pro 31:21; Lam 4:5; comp. Martial, 3, 2, 11; 2:39, 1; 43, 8; Patron. Sat. 32), and with the Romans for the robes of generals and princes (Pliny, 22:3; comp. Mat 27:28, where κοκκίνη ῟ πυρπύρα in Mar 15:17; Mar 15:20, and Joh 19:4), especially the emperors (Sueton. Domit. 4). Many of the fabrics of the tabernacle and sacerdotal paraphernalia were also woven (Exodus 38; Num 4:8) of threads of this dye (Gen 38:28; Jos 2:18), which was likewise employed for the curtain of Solomon’s Temple (2Ch 3:14; comp. Sueton. Nero, 30). The color again occurs in the Mosaic ritual (Lev 14:6; Num 19:6). As to its symbolical significance, Philo (Opp. 1:536; comp. 2:148) and Josephus (Ant. 3, 7, 7) think that it, like the two sacred colors (scarlet and purple), reps resents the element of fire; according to Bahr (Sync. bol. 1:333 sq.), it denotes life (i.e. fire and blood, which are both red); while others find in it other typical allusions. SEE DYE.

Crimson is obtained from the pulverized cochineal berries, i.e. the dead bodies and larve-nests (see Brandt and Ratzeburg’s Medicin. Zoologie, Berl. 1831 sq., 2, pl. 26, fig. 15) of a small parasitic insect, the female cochineal-worm (תּוֹלִעִת, tola’) or kermes (the Coccus ilicis of Linn., cl. 4, Tetragynia), which towards the end of April fastens itself, like little raisins, in the form of round reddish or violet-brown berries upon the twigs, less frequently on the leaves, of the palmoak (πρῖνος or ἡ κόκκος, Ilex aquifolia or coccifera; comp. Theophrastus, Plaut. 3, 16; Pliny, 16:12; Pausanias, 10:36, 1; see Kirby, Entomol. 1:351; Cuvier, Anim. King. 3, 604, 608). This shrubby tree, some two or three feet high, grows abundantly in Asia Minor and Hither Asia (certainly also in Palestine; see Belon, Observ. 2:88), as well as in Southern Europe, has oval, pointed, evergreen, thorny leaves, a grayish smooth bark, and bears round scarlet berries in clustered tufts (Dioscor. 4:48). Among the ancients, the Phoenicians generally supplied the rest of the world with crimson materials, and best under-stood the art of dyeing this color (2Ch 2:7; comp. Pliny, 9:65). (See Beckmann, Beitr. III, 1:1 sq.; Bochart, Hieroz. 3, 524 sq.; Braun, De vestitu sacerd. 1. i, c. 15, p. 215 sq.; Hartmann, Hebr. 1:388 sq.; 3, 135 sq.; Penny Cyclopaedia, s.v. Cochineal.) SEE COLOR.

Crimson. Jer 4:30. See Colors.

Three Hebrew words are so translated.

1. karmil , a colour prepared from an insect which inhabits a species of oak: it is crimson or deep scarlet. 2Ch 2:7; 2Ch 2:14; 2Ch 3:14.

2. shani , the word commonly translated ’scarlet.’ Jer 4:30.

3. tola , name of a worm, thought to be a dye of a bluish tint. This word occurs in the memorable passage in Isaiah’s prophecy, that though Israel’s sins should be red like crimson, they should be as wool. Isa 1:18. The same word is translated scarlet in Lam 4:5.

CRIMSON.—The word tôlâ‘, tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in Isa 1:18 ‘crimson’ and in Lam 4:5 ‘scarlet,’ is usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘Worm’ (wh. see), exactly as the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] dûdeh, the common word for ‘worm,’ is to-day also used in Palestine for the imported cochineal insect. The Palestine insect is the female Coccus ilicis of the same. Natural Order as the American C. cacti; it feeds on the holm-oak.

E. W. G. Masterman.

krim´z’n. See COLORS.

Isa 1:18 (b) This is a type of the extremely permanent effect of sin upon the soul. The word really means "a double dye," or "a repeated dipping in dye" until the substance is thoroughly and fully dyed. Thus the Lord is telling us that no matter how deep the sinner may be dyed in his sins, the Lord is able to blot them out, and to make him white and clean.