the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Sieve
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
(כְּבָרָה, kebarah, Amos 9:9; נָפָה, naphdh, a winnowing fan, Isaiah 30:28; to "sift" is נוּעִ, nua, or נוּ, to wave [as often rendered], or throw up into the air for winnowing; σινίαζω, Luke 22:31). Among the ancient Egyptians sieves were often made of string, but some of an inferior quality, and for coarse work, were constructed of small thin rushes or reeds (very similar to those used by the Egyptians for writing, and frequently found in the tablets of the scribes); a specimen of which kind of sieve is in the Paris Museum. The paintings also represent them made of the same materials; and the first they used were evidently of this humble quality, since the hieroglyphic indicating a sieve is borrowed from them. Horse-hair sieves are ascribed by Pliny to the Gauls; the Spaniards, he says, made them of string, and the Egyptians of papyrus stalks and rushes. See Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. ii, 95.
These files are public domain.
McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Sieve'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​tce/​s/sieve.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.