balm of Gileadnoun · 16th century
ProbableThe North American balm of Gilead is a poplar bud, not the Levantine resin.
Gilead is a highland region east of the Jordan, in what is now northwestern Jordan, famous in antiquity for an aromatic balsam that English Bibles made proverbial. Which plant the original resin came from is still argued, and settlers later moved the name onto the sticky buds of the North American balsam poplar.
Named through a historical place-nameRead →