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Bible Encyclopedias
Wine
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
or No fewer than thirteen distinct Hebrew and Greek terms are rendered in our common version by the word 'wine.' Besides the pure juice of the grape, frequent mention is made in Scripture of a kind of boiled wine or syrup, the thickness of which rendered it necessary to mingle water with it previously to drinking (; ), and also of a mixed wine, made strong and inebriating by the addition of drugs, such as myrrh, mandragora, and opiates (; ). This custom has prevailed from the earliest ages, and is still extant in the East. We are not, however, to conclude that all mixed wine was pernicious or improper. There were two very opposite purposes sought by the mixture of drinks. While the wicked sought out a drugged mixture, and was 'mighty to mingle strong drink,' Wisdom, on the contrary, mingled her wine with water or with milk (; ) merely to dilute it and make it properly drinkable. Of the latter mixture Wisdom invites the people to drink freely, but on the use of the former an emphatic woe is pronounced. In , mention is made of 'wines on the lees.' The original signifies 'preserves' or 'jellies,' and is supposed to refer to the wine cakes which are esteemed a great delicacy in the East.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Wine'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/kbe/w/wine.html.
