Nettle: 1. Heb. haral, "pricking" or "burning,"
(Proverbs 24:30,31) (R.V.
marg., "wild vetches");
(Job 30:7; Zephaniah 2:9) Many have supposed
that some thorny or prickly plant is intended by this word, such
as the bramble, the thistle, the wild plum, the cactus or
prickly pear, etc. It may probably be a species of mustard, the
Sinapis arvensis, which is a pernicious weed abounding in
corn-fields. Tristram thinks that this word "designates the
prickly acanthus (Acanthus spinosus), a very common and
troublesome weed in the plains of Palestine."
2. Heb. qimmosh,
(Isaiah 34:13; Hosea 9:6; Proverbs 24:31) (in both versions,
"thorns"). This word has been regarded as denoting thorns,
thistles, wild camomile; but probably it is correctly rendered
"nettle," the Urtica pilulifera, "a tall and vigorous plant,
often 6 feet high, the sting of which is much more severe and
irritating than that of our common nettle."
