noun
definition
A type of incense obtained from the Boswellia thurifera tree.
Examples of frankincense in a Sentence
Libanus, for frankincense, occurs only in the Vulgate.
King Antigonus is said to have had a branch of the true frankincense tree sent to him.
Bernhard von Breydenbach, 8 Ausonius, Florus and others, arguing, it would seem, from its Hebrew and Greek names, concluded that olibanum came from Mount Lebanon; and Chardin (Voyage en Perse, &c., 1711) makes the statement that the frankincense tree grows in the mountains of Persia, particularly Caramania.
Punt is identified with the Somali country, now known to be the native country of the trees that yield the bulk of the frankincense of commerce.
They also melt frankincense as a depilatory, and smear their hands with a paste into the composition of which frankincense enters, for the purpose of communicating to them an attractive perfume.
That which occurs in globular drops is, he says, termed " male frankincense "; the most esteemed, he further remarks, is in breast-shaped drops,.
In cold weather the Egyptians warm their rooms by placing in them a brazier, "chafing-dish," or "standing-dish," filled with charcoal, whereon incense is burnt; and in hot weather they refresh them by occasionally swinging a hand censer by a chain through them - frankincense, benzoin and aloe wood being.
It has been identified with benzoin, but was probably frankincense.
To obtain the frankincense a deep incision is made in the trunk of the tree, and below it a narrow strip of bark 5 in.
The coast of south Arabia is yearly visited by parties of Somalis, who pay the Arabs for the privilege of collecting frankincense.
Frankincense, or olibanum, occurs in commerce in semiopaque, round, ovate or oblong tears or irregular lumps, which are covered externally with a white dust, the result of their friction against one another.
For example, Abba Oil offers a selection of frankincense bath and body products, including lotion, bath salts, and shower gel.
These slopes are the home of aromatic flora which yields myrrh and frankincense.
The commonest incense in ancient India was probably frankincense.
Gold, with myrrh and frankincense were offered by the Persian Magi to the infant Jesus at his birth; and in Revelation viii.
The Gara coast was visited by the Bents, who went inland from Dhafar, one of the centres of the old frankincense trade, to the crest of the plateau.
The narrow coastal strip seems to be moderately fertile, and the hills which in places come down to the seashore are covered with trees, among which the frankincense and other gumbearing trees are found.
The Catabanes produce frankincense and Hadramut myrrh, and there is a trade in these and other spices with merchants who make the journey from Aelana (Elath, on the Gulf of `Akaba) to Minaea in seventy days; the Gabaeans (the Gaba'an of the inscriptions, Pliny's Gebanitae) take forty days to go to Hadramut.
A variety of spices - the wealth of the land - are named on these altars, as rand, ladanum, costus, tarum, &c. Frankincense appears as luban, and there are other names not yet understood.
On the Dhafar coast in1894-1895he visited ruins which he identified with the Abyssapolis of the frankincense merchants.
The hard transparent resins, such as the copals, dammars, mastic and sandarach, are principally used for varnishes and cement, while the softer odoriferous oleo-resins (frankincense, turpentine, copaiba) and gum-resins containing essential oils (ammoniacum, asafoetida, gamboge, myrrh, scammony) are more largely used for therapeutic purposes and incense.
Among the "harbours of incense" exploited by various Pharaohs during some twentyfive centuries it is impossible to believe that the island could be missed by the Egyptian galleys on their way to the "Land of Punt," identified by several writers with Somaliland; nor that, though the roadsteads of the African coast were perhaps oftener frequented, and for other freights besides myrrh and frankincense, the shores of Sokotra were neglected by such ardent explorers as those, for instance, of Queen Hatshepsut of the r8th dynasty.
P. Taeda, the " loblolly pine " of the backwoodsman, a tall tree with straight trunk and spreading top, covers great tracts of the " pine-barrens " of the southern states, but also frequently spreads over deserted arable lands that have been impoverished by long and bad farming; hence the woodsmen call it the " old-field " pine, while, from the fragrance of its abundant resin, it is also known as the frankincense pine.
Carterii, the " Yegaar," " Mohr Add," and " Mohr Madow " of the Somali country, in East Africa, the last species including a variety, the " Maghrayt d'Sheehaz " of Hadramaut, Arabia, all of which are sources of true frankincense or olibanum.
The idea held by several writers, including Niebuhr, that frankincense was a product of India, would seem to have originated in a confusion of that drug with benzoin and other odoriferous substances, and also in the sale of imported frankincense with the native products of India.
Miles (loc. cit., p. 64) states that the best kind of frankincense, known to the Somali as " bedwi " or " sheheri," comes from the trees.
Raymond Wellsted (Travels to the City of the Caliphs, p. 173, Lond., 1840) distinguishes two kinds of frankincense - " Meaty," selling at $4 per cwt., and an inferior article fetching 20% less.
In the Red Sea regions frankincense is valued not only for its sweet odour when burnt, but as a masticatory; and blazing lumps of it are not infrequently used for illumination instead of oil lamps.
In the East frankincense has been found efficacious as an external application in carbuncles, blind boils and gangrenous sores, and as an internal agent is given in gonorrhoea.
Common frankincense is an ingredient in some ointments and plasters, and on account of its pleasant odour when burned has been used in incense as a substitute for olibanum.
Philo explains that the offerings of frankincense laid on the golden altar in the Inner Temple were more holy than the blood offered outside.
Midwives used frankincense to relieve her anxiety, tension and stress after she came out of the birthing pool.
Were they bringing the frankincense and the incense to make Christ an even sweeter savor to the nostrils of His heavenly Father?
Take fragrant spices; gum mastic, aromatic shells, 4 galbanum; add pure frankincense to the spices in equal proportions.
The words which express our faith and piety are not definite; yet they are significant and fragrant like frankincense to superior natures.
The casket originally held biscuits; not gold, frankincense or myrrh.
Blended with essential oils of frankincense, rose geranium and lavender to calm, soothe and refresh body and mind.
Perpetua remembers the aromas of sweet rose otto, musky frankincense, myrrh, and even common lavender.
But, in use, while the meaning of the word "perfume" has been extended so as to include everything sweet in smell, from smoking incense to the invisible fresh fragrance of fruits and exquisite scent of flowers, that of the word "incense," in all the languages of modern Europe in which it occurs, has, by an opposite process of limitation, been gradually restricted almost exclusively to frankincense (see Frankincense).
Even the "ground frankincense" or "ground pine" (Ajuga chamaepitys) was known to the Romans as Tus terrae (Pliny), although they called some plant, from its smelling like frankincense, Libanotis, and a kind of Thasian wine, also from its fragrance, Libanios.
How important the consumption of frankincense in the worship of the gods became in Egypt is shown by two of its monuments, both of the greatest interest and value for the light they throw on the early history of the commerce of the Indian Ocean.
The kohl or black powder with which the modern, like the ancient, Egyptian ladies paint their languishing eyelids, is nothing but the smeeth of charred frankincense, or other odoriferous resin brought with frankincense, and phials of water, from the well of Zem-zem, by the pilgrims returning from Mecca.
There are, however, a good many instances recorded of what has been called a fumigatory use of frankincense in churches, by which it was sought to purify the air, in times of public sickness, or to dispel the foulness caused by large congregations, or poisonous gases arising from ill-constructed vaults under the church floor.
It was one of the gifts offered by the Magi, and a royal oblation of gold, frankincense and myrrh is still annually presented by the sovereign on the feast of Epiphany in the Chapel Royal in London, this custom having been in existence certainly as early as the reign of Edward L 1 True myrrh is the product of Balsamodendron (Commiphora) Myrrha, a small tree of the natural order Amyridaceae that grows in eastern Africa and Arabia, but the name is also applied to gum resins obtained from other species of Balsamodendron.
Aloes, dragon'sblood (Dracaena), myrrh, frankincense, pomegranate, and cucumber (Dendrocycios) trees are its most famous species.
Made with the aromatic frankincense resin, Frankincense Everyday Hand Cream has also been formulated with herbal and essential oils, aloe vera, and the flower lavender.
As the product's name suggests, a main ingredient in it is "frankincense," also known as olibanum.
For Beautiful Balms' frankincense hand cream, the natural antiseptic has been paired with lavender to create sweet-smelling nourishment for the skin.
Consider hand creams that feature frankincense if you're looking for a scented hand cream.
Though a shea butter cream with frankincense and myrrh (by Nubian Heritage) is available at pharmacies, a specialty shop will help you find a wider selection.