Spikenard

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

spīk´nard (נרדּ, nērd; νάρδος, nárdos (Song Of Songs 1:12; Song Of Songs 4:14); נרדים, nerādhīm; νάρδοι, nárdoi (Song Of Songs 4:13), “spikenard plants”; νάρδος πιστική, nárdos pistikḗ (Mark 14:3; John 12:3), “pure nard,” margin “liquid nard”; the English word is for “spiked nard,” which comes from the Nardus spicatus of the Vulgate):

A much-valued perfume (Song Of Songs 1:12; Song Of Songs 4:13, Song Of Songs 4:14). It was “very precious”, i.e., very costly (Mark 14:3; John 12:3, John 12:5). It is the root of an Indian plant, the Nardostachys jatamansi, of the family of Valeriance, growing on the Himalaya mountains. It is distinguished by its having many hairy spikes shooting out from one root. It is called by the Arabs sunbul Hindi, “the Indian spike.” In the New Testament this word is the rendering of the Greek nardos pistike. The margin of the Revised Version in these passages has “pistic nard,” pistic being perhaps a local name. Some take it to mean genuine, and others liquid. The most probable opinion is that the word pistike designates the nard as genuine or faithfully prepared.

Spikenard is the plant Nardostachys jatamansi (Natural Order, Valerianaceae); in Arabic the name Sunbul hind, “Indian spike,” refers, like the English and Latin name, to the “snike”-like shape of the plant from which the perfume comes. The dried plant as sold consists of the “withered stalks and ribs of leaves cohering in a bundle of yellowish-brown capillary fibres and consisting of a spike about the size of a small finger” (Sir W. Jones, As. Res., II, 409); in appearance the whole plant is said to look like the tail of an ermine. It grows in the Himalayas. The extracted perfume is an oil, which was used by the Romans for anointing the head. Its great costliness is mentioned by Pliny.

With regard to the exact meaning of the πιστική, pistikḗ, in the New Testament, there is much difference of opinion: “pure” and “liquid” are both given in margin, but it has also been suggested among other things that this was a local name, that it comes from the Latin spicita or from pisitā́, the Sanskrit name of the spikenard plant. The question is an open one: either “genuine” or “pure” is favored by most commentators.