fitches

2 definitions found

fitches - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Fitch \Fitch\ (?; 224), n.; pl. Fitches. [See Vetch.]
     1. (Bot.) A vetch. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. pl. (Bot.) A word found in the Authorized Version of the
        Bible, representing different Hebrew originals. In Isaiah
        xxviii. 25, 27, it means the black aromatic seeds of
        Nigella sativa, still used as a flavoring in the East.
        In Ezekiel iv. 9, the Revised Version now reads spelt.
        [1913 Webster]

fitches - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  Fitches
  (Isa. 28:25, 27), the rendering of the Hebrew _ketsah_, "without
  doubt the Nigella sativa, a small annual of the order
  Ranunculacece, which grows wild in the Mediterranean countries,
  and is cultivated in Egypt and Syria for its seed." It is
  rendered in margin of the Revised Version "black cummin." The
  seeds are used as a condiment.
  
    In Ezek. 4:9 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew
  _kussemeth_ (incorrectly rendered "rye" in the Authorized
  Version of Ex. 9:32 and Isa. 28:25, but "spelt" in the Revised
  Version). The reading "fitches" here is an error; it should be
  "spelt."