(κιννάμωνον from קִנְמוֹן)
Cinnamon is mentioned in Revelation 18:13 among the merchandise of ‘Babylon,’ i.e. of Imperial Rome. The name probably came with the thing from the remote east; Rödiger (Gesenius, Thes. Add., 1829, p. 111) compares it with the Malay kainamanis. It was known to the Hebrews (Exodus 30:23, Proverbs 7:17, Song of Solomon 4:14); and Hero dotus (iii. 111) speaks of ‘those rolls of bark (ταῦτα τὰ κάρφεα) which we, learning from the Phœnicians, call cinnamon.’ The finest cinnamon of commerce is now obtained from Ceylon; it is the fragrant and aromatic inner rind of the stem and boughs of a tree which grows to a height of 30ft. Oil of cinnamon, which is used in the composition of incense, is got from the boiled fruit of the tree. But the cinnamon of the ancients was probably the cassia lignea of S. China.
James Strahan.