Category:Cinnamon

Cin"na*mon, n. Etym: [Heb. qinnamon; cf. Gr. cinnamomum, cinnamon. The Heb. word itself seems to have been borrowed from some other language; cf. Malay kaju manis sweet wood.] (a) The inner bark of the shoots of Cinnamomum Zeylanicum, a tree growing in Ceylon. It is aromatic, of a moderately pungent taste, and is one of the best cordial, carminative, and restorative spices. (b) Cassia. Cinnamon stone (Min.), a variety of garnet, of a cinnamon or hyacinth red color, sometimes used in jewelry. -- Oil of cinnamon, a colorless aromatic oil obtained from cinnamon and cassia, and consisting essentially of cinnamic aldehyde, C6H5.C2H2.CHO. -- Wild cinnamon. See Canella.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Cinnamon - Heb. kinamon, the Cinnamomum zeylanicum of botanists, a tree of the Laurel family, which grows only in India on the Malabar coast, in Ceylon, and China. There is no trace of it in Egypt, and it was unknown in Syria. The inner rind when dried and rolled into cylinders forms the cinnamon of commerce. The fruit and coarser pieces of bark when boiled yield a fragrant oil. It was one of the principal ingredients in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23). It is mentioned elsewhere only in Proverbs 7:17; Song of Songs 4:14; Revelation 18:13. The mention of it indicates a very early and extensive commerce carried on between Palestine and the East.