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Bible Dictionaries
Fitches
Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
or or VETCHES, a kind of tare. There are two words in Hebrew which our translators have rendered fitches, קצח and בסמת : the first occurs only in Isaiah 28:25; Isaiah 28:27 , and must be the name of some kind of seed; but the interpreters differ much in explaining it. Jerom, Maimonides, R. David Kimchi, and the rabbins understand it of the gith; and rabbi Obdias de Bartenora expressly says that its barbarous or vulgar name is ניילי . The gith was called by the Greeks μελανθιον , and by the Latins nigella; and is thus described by Ballester: "It is a plant commonly met with in gardens, and grows to a cubit in height, and sometimes more, according to the richness of the soil. The leaves are small like those of fennel, the flower blue, which disappearing, the ovary shows itself on the top, like that of a poppy, furnished with little horns, oblong, divided by membranes into several partitions, or cells, in which are enclosed seeds of a very black colour, not unlike those of the leek, but of a very fragrant smell." And Ausonius observes, that its pungency is equal to that of pepper:—
Est inter fruges morsu piper aequiparens git.
Pliny says it is of use in bakehouses, pistrinis, and that it affords a grateful seasoning to the bread. The Jewish rabbins also mention the seeds among condiments, and mixed with bread. For this purpose it was probably used in the time of Isaiah; since the inhabitants of those countries, to this day, have a variety of rusks and biscuits, most of which are strewed on the top with the seeds of sesamum, coriander, and wild garden saffron.
The other word rendered fitches in our translation of Ezekiel 4:9 , is בסמת ; but in Exodus 9:32 , and Isaiah 28:25 , "rye." In the latter place the Septuagint has ξεα , and in the two former ολυρα ; and the Vulgate in Exodus, far, and in Isaiah and Ezekiel, vicia. Saadias, likewise, took it to be something of the leguminous kind, גלנאן , cicircula, (misprinted circula in the Polyglott version,) or, "a chickling." Aquila has ζεα , and Theodotion, ολυρα . Onkelos and Targum have בונתיא , and Syriac, בונחא , which are supposed to be the millet, or a species of it called panicum; Persian, בורבגדם , the spelt; and this seems to be the most probable meaning of the Hebrew word; at least it has the greatest number of interpreters from Jerom to Celsius. There are not, however, wanting, who think it was rye; among whom R. D. Kimchi, followed by Luther, and our English translators: Dr. Geddes, too, has retained it, though he says that he is inclined to think that the spelt is preferable.
Dr. Shaw thinks that this word may signify rice. Hasselquist, on the contrary, affirms that rice was brought into cultivation in Egypt under the Caliphs. This, however, may be doubted. One would think from the intercourse of ancient Egypt with Babylon and with India, that this country could not be ignorant of a grain so well suited to its climate.
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Watson, Richard. Entry for 'Fitches'. Richard Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/wtd/f/fitches.html. 1831-2.
