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1] a ground plot or threshing floor, i.e. a place in the field made hard
after the harvest by a roller, where grain was threshed out
derivation:
probably from the base of (1507)
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=257&version=kjv (1507)
1] to roll up or together
derivation: a prolonged form of a primary but defective verb heilo (of the same
meaning)
http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=1507&version=kjv
Additional information:
Threshing:
After grain is reaped, it is threshed, thereby separating the kernels from
the plant. In threshing, the ear is broken from the straw, the dead and dried
stem. The ears are also rolled or beaten to separate the chaff--the glumes,
lemmata, and paleae--from the grains.
Threshing floor:
In ancient times, the threshing was done on a "floor" which was
preferably a bare, flat,
smooth expanse of bedrock, outdoors so the wind could blow across it.
Procedure:
The sheaves of harvested grain were laid on their sides in a circle on the
threshing floor. A team of oxen pulled the threshing sledge over the circle of
sheaves. The sledge needed to be weighted with stones in order to break the ears
of grain off their stems and break the ears out of their husks (the glumes,
lemmata, and paleae) by slightly crushing and rolling them. Men followed the
circling threshing sledge, scooped up shovelfuls of the slightly crushed mixture
(of ears, seeds, stems and empty husks), and tossed them into the wind. The wind
blew the chaff (the empty husks and the dead dried stems)
away from the central area of the threshing floor. (Hence the term "winnowing".)
The unbroken ears and separated seeds fall nearly straight down, back onto the
central area of the threshing floor. The stems which still have the
ears of grain attached will also fall back on the threshing floor. The threshing sledge will pass over the mixture again
and again in order to eventually break all of the ears of grain off of their
stems and break all of the ears out of their husks into separate seeds or
kernels. The men will also throw the mixture into the wind, again and again,
until only the separated seeds remain on the threshing floor.
Substitutes for oxen and sledge:
If oxen and a threshing sledge were not available, men beat the mixture with
whips or flails to break the ears off the stems and to break the ears out of
their husks into separate seeds.
Substitute for winnowing shovel:
In the early stage of the threshing process, a fork was sometimes used instead
of a shovel. The advantage of a fork in the early stage is that it will pick up
more straw (the dead stems) than ears or seeds which tend to fall through the
tines. The advantage of a shovel in the later stage is that it will pick up the
empty husks (part of the chaff) along with the seeds so that the wind can also
blow the husks away. A winnowing fork or a winnowing shovel was called a "fan".
Final step:
The cleaned seeds were gathered and stored. The chaff (husks and straw) were gathered
and burned.
Text acknowledgement for this page:
The definition of "threshing" on this page was quoted from:
http://www.killerplants.com/weird-plants/20031009.asp
Related topics: chaff,
tribulation
A link to each occurrence of this word in the homepage:
1] floor
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