Russian persten means literally "inger-thing." In the Lithuanian ziedas, the
z is pronounced like French j, or our z and azure. The Hungarian gyürü
sounds like dyü-rü; it means something rolled. The t in Hebrew, Arabic
and Syriac is an explosive t unknown in English; the letter rendered
by the sign is a deep, guttural and faucal exhalation. Irish fainne is pronounced fau-in-nye, and the Welsh bodrwy is sounded as bod-roo-ee. The word " ring," tabba-ath, appears
once in Genesis (xli : 42), the ring given by Pharaoh to Joseph ; six
times in Esther iii: 10, 12; viii:2, 8 (bis), 10, the ring of
Ahasuerus. In the New Testament the ring is mentioned once in Luke xv:
22, the ring given the Prodigal Son; and once in the Epistle of James,
ii: 2. The word " rings," as finger-rings, occurs in Exodus xxxv : 22,
of the offerings of the people of Israel in the desert; in Numbers
xxxi: 50; in Canticles v: 14 (this is probably to be rendered "rods"),9
and in Isaiah iii: 21. That rings should be so rarely alluded to in the
Old Testament might seem to prove that they were not as extensively
worn in the land of Israel as some have assumed. The finest ancient
Hebrew signet is said to be one of the time of Jeroboam II, King of
Israel (790-749 ? b.c.), found
at Megiddo. This is the seal of Shemai, the King's Minister of State.
It is of jasper and bears the finely engraved figure of a lion. The
form is oval and the seal measures 3.7 by 2.7 cm.10__________________________
9 The word used here and also in Num. xxxi : 50 is glüim. hotham means a seal-ring in Jeremiah xxii : 24.
10Mitteilungen and Nachrichten des deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 1904, pp. 1 sqq.
