Onycha (, ), along with equal parts of stacte, galbanum, and frankincense, was one of the components of the consecrated Ketoret (incense) which appears in the Torah book of Exodus (Ex.30:34-36) and was used in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. This formula was to be incorporated as an incense, and was not to be duplicated for non-sacred use.Exodus 30:33, 37-38. What the onycha of antiquity actually was cannot be determined with certainty. The original Hebrew word used for this component of the ketoret was שחלת, shecheleth, which means "to roar; as a lion (from his characteristic roar)" or “peeling off by concussion of sound."Strongs #7827 Shecheleth is related to the Syriac shehelta which is translated as “a tear, distillation, or exudation.”Onkelos Shemot 2:10 In Aramaic, the root SHCHL signifies “retrieve.” When the Torah was translated into Greek (the Septuagint version) the Greek word “onycha” ονυξ, which means "fingernail" or "claw," was substituted for shecheleth.
Contenders for the identity of onycha Operculum
Some writers believe that onycha was Unguis odoratus, the fingernail-like operculum, or trap door, of certain sea snails, such as Strombus lentiginosus, Murex anguliferus, and Onyx marinus. It may be the operculum of a snail-like mollusk found in the Red Sea.Onycha, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2008 This operculum is the trap door of a shell, called by the Latins Conchylium. These opercula may be of different sizes, but their overall shape is that of a claw, which is the origin of the name Unguis odoratus. The name Blatta Byzantina is occasioned by its having usually been imported from Constantinople, the ancient Byzantium. In antiquity the operculum was used as an ingredient in incense. The Babylonian Talmud recorded that onycha was rubbed with an alkali solution prepared from the bitter vetch to remove impurities,Rambam on Maaser Sheni 2:4 it was then soaked in the fermented berry juice of the Caper shrub,Babli, Keritut:6a or a strong white wine, in order to enhance its fragrance.
Although it was forgotten in the West after the fall of the Roman Empire, Murex opercula are still commonly used as an ingredient in traditional North African and Middle Eastern bakhoor (granulated incense), traditional Indian choya nakh attar (produced by dry distillation of Murex opercula ), and quite substantively in East Asian incense. From this perspective, some argue that this is the most likely source of onycha.
Labdanum
There is some doubt as to whether the onycha of the Hebrew Bible was the operculum of a sea snail.Encyclopedia of Bible Plants (F Nigel Hepper 1992) H. J. Abrahams says, "The widely held mollusk hypothesis becomes quite perplexing if one considers that the mollusk was counted among the unclean animals in the Bible (Leviticus 11:9 and 12)."Abrahams, H.J. - Onycha, Ingredient of the Ancient Jewish Incense: An attempt at identification, Econ. Bot. 33(2): 233-6 1979 Sea creatures such as the mollusk were an “abomination” and even their carcasses were to be considered an “abomination”Lev. 11:10-12 and anyone simply touching them became unclean.11:24 Bahya ben Asher (d. 1340) insisted that only kosher species may be used for the mishkan. The Gemara states that “only items that one may eat may be used for the work of Heaven.”Shabbos 28a Nachmanides, Torah scholar and famed Jewish theologian, emphasized that the commandment concerning unclean animals pertained also to temple services.Abrahams, HJ, Pg 234 James Strong and J. McClintoch write that “it seems improbable that any such substance could have been one of the constituent spices of the most holy perfume; not only because we know of none bearing any powerful and agreeable odor, but specially because all marine creatures that were not finned and scaled fishes were unclean, and as such could not have been touched by the priests or used in the sanctuary.”Cyclopaedia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, Volume 7, by James Strong John McClintockKumph, A mboinischeRaritdten-Kammer, cap. xvii, p. 48 (the German ed. Vienna, 1706); and comp. also Sprcngel, Comment, ad Dioscor. ii, 10; Forskal, Desc.Anim. p. 143 ("Unguis odoratus"); Phiios. Transactions, xvii, 641; Johnston, Introd. to ConchoL p. 77; Gesenius, Thesaur. p. 1388 Bahr states that “the odor of the burned shells is not pleasant.”Symbol, i, 422
Although the word onycha has been interpreted as meaning "nail", it is pointed out that nail or claw is an extended connotation of onyx, derived from the translucent and sometimes veined appearance of the gemstone onyx which antiquity often describes as a black stone.Abrahams, H.J. Coincidentally onycha is the Greek word which was chosen to replace the original Hebrew word which was shecheleth. One of the Hebrew words that shecheleth seems to be related to, שחלים, sh'chalim, refers to a large variety of plants.James L. Carroll, Elizabeth Siler, "Let My Prayer Be Set Before Thee: The Burning of Incense in the Temple Cult of Ancient Israel" An ancient Ugaritic text lists onycha among types of vegetables, implying that onycha was a vegetable also.James L. Carroll, Elizabeth Siler The Talmud specifically states that although onycha (shecheleth) is not from a tree, it does grow from the ground and that it is a plant (Kerithoth 6b).Abrahams, H.J. - Onycha, Ingredient of the ancient Jewish incense: An attempt at identification in Econ. Bot. 33(2): 233-6 1979 There is also some doubt that a mollusk would have been referred to as a "sweet spice" in Exodus 30, since it is the shell of a creature and not an aromatic or pungent vegetable substance.Exodus 30:34b Condor writes “Shecheleth, Exod. xxx. 34; [is] rendered by the Septuagint, onycha, and by the Arabic version, ladana . . . The root of the Hebrew word means to drop or distil, and shecheleth would seem, therefore, to mean some exudation.” Josiah Conder. The modern traveller (Volume 7) James Strong writes "the Syriac etymology of the word, namely, to run in drops, exude, distil, would lead to the idea of a resinous and odoriferous substance of the vegetable kingdom." Another writer says “the context and the etymology seem to require the gum of some aromatic plant, perhaps gum-ladanum. The Hebrew word would seem to mean something that exuded, having odorous qualities.”Hagensick, Carl, Beauties of the Truth, Volume 4, Number 2, May 1993 "Shecheleth" identifies with the Syriac "shehelta" which is translated as “a tear, distillation, or exudation."
According to Winifred Walker's All the Plants of the Bible, shecheleth is a form of rock rose (also known as the Rose of Sharon), Cistus ladaniferus var. Cistus creticus, which produces a resin called labdanum.Walker, Winifred, "All the Plants of the Bible,"Doubleday & Company (October 1979) This sweet spicy ingredient has been used in perfumes and incense for thousands of years and grows profusely in the Middle East, specifically in Israel and Palestine. The rock rose is a bush, not a tree (the Talmud states that onycha comes from a ground plant and not a tree) Kerithoth 6b which bears flowers widely noted for the markings upon its petals resembling human fingernails. Labdanum is the gray-black resin that exudes from the branches of the rock rose bush. Labdanum, after it matures, becomes black and is referred to as black amber or black balsam.Chemical abstracts, Volume 13, By American Chemical Society, Chemical Abstracts Service, pg.2104 Gill states that the word "shecheleth is certainly related to the Hebrew word shechor (black)," denoting the color of the shecheleth used in the ketoret formula.Gil Marks Onycha is a play on the word onyx which was a gem. The onyx most esteemed by the ancients was the black gem.Cyclopaedia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, James Strong, John McClintock The Hebrew word for onyx was shoham and “Braun traces shoham to the Arabic sachma,'blackness:' 'Of such a color,' says he, 'are the Arabian [onyxes], which have a black ground-color.' This agrees essentially with Charles William King's remarksAntique Gems, p. 9. 'The Arabian species,' he says, 'were formed of black or blue strata.”Cyclopaedia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, Volume 7, by James Strong, John McClintock The rock rose also has an inseparable identification with rocks because its existence depends upon its roots anchoring among them in areas where no other foliage is able to grow. After labdanum became hard it may have been put through another process causing it to emulate even more of the "beautiful"Jacobs, Louis, The Jewish religion: a companion. pg. 266 attributes of the onyx or to refine it, "that it be pleasant."Sutton, Rabbi Avraham, The Spiritual Significance of the Qetoret in Ancient Jewish Tradition When used in sacred rites resins were often steeped in wine to, among other things, increase their fragrance.Natural History 12.19.
A reference to onycha as an annual plant may be confusion with its annual yield. Rock rose usually produces labdanum annually, during the summer, to protect itself from the heat. A reference to onycha as a rootKI SISA - RASHI COMMENTARY, Shemos Book 2: Exodus may be due to the practice of boiling the twigs and roots for labdanum extractionAge-old Resins of the Mediterranean Region and Their Uses, FN Howes - Economic BotanyGray, Samuel Frederick, A Supplement to the Pharmacopœia and Treatise on Pharmacology in General, pg. 205 (Second paragraph) or the use of cistus roots as a medicine. The root of the Cistus plant is a Jordanian traditional medicine.A Survey of Plants Used in Jordanian Traditional Medicine, 1995, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 317-323, Suleiman Al-Khalil, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan The root is still used today by the Arabs for bronchitis and also as a pectorial, demulcent, tonic, and anti-diabetic.Palynological analyses of resinuous materials from the roman mummy of Grottarossa, second century A.D.: a new hypothesis about the site of mummification L. Ciuffarella, aDipartimento di Biologia Vegetale, Università degli Studi di Roma `La Sapienza', P.le A. Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy Then again the possibility exists that while the onycha of Exodus 30 was labdanum, the identity of onycha may have been lost some time during or after the Babylonian captivity, with the operculum becoming identified as onycha during the time of the second Temple. However, as the original onycha of the book of Exodus, Abrahams says that, more than any other substance, "labdanum fills the bill most convincingly."Abrahams, Onycha..., pg.236