Fitches

Fitches fich'-iz (the English word "fitch" is the same as "vetch"):

(1) qetsach (Isa 28:25, Isa 28:27; the Revised Version, margin has "black cummin" (Nigella sativa)). This is the "nutmeg flower," an annual herb (Natural Order, Ranunculaceae), the black seeds of which are sprinkled over some kinds of bread in Palestin. They were used as a condiment by the ancient Greeks and Romans. These seeds have a warm aromatic flavor and are carminative in their properties, assisting digestion. They, like all such plants which readily yield their seed, are still beaten out with rods. The contrast between the stouter staff for the "fitches" and the lighter rod for the cummin is all the more noticeable when the great similarity of the two seeds is noticed.

(2) kuccemim (pl.) (Eze 4:9) the Revised Version (British and American) "spelt" (which see).

E. W. G. Masterman