frankincense

[frang-kin-sens] Origin

frank·in·cense

[frang-kin-sens]
noun
an aromatic gum resin from various Asian and African trees of the genus Boswellia, especially B. carteri, used chiefly for burning as incense in religious or ceremonial practices, in perfumery, and in pharmaceutical and fumigating preparations.
Also called olibanum.


Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English fraunk encense. See frank1, incense1
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Frankincense is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
Collins
World English Dictionary
frankincense (ˈfræŋkɪnˌsɛns)
 
n
Also called: olibanum an aromatic gum resin obtained from trees of the burseraceous genus Boswellia, which occur in Asia and Africa
 
[C14: from Old French franc free, pure + encens incense1; see frank]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

frankincense
late 14c., from O.Fr. franc "noble, true" (see frank), in this case probably signifying "of the highest quality" + encens "incense" (q.v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Easton
Bible Dictionary

Frankincense definition


(Heb. lebonah; Gr. libanos, i.e., "white"), an odorous resin imported from Arabia (Isa. 60:6; Jer. 6:20), yet also growing in Palestine (Cant. 4:14). It was one of the ingredients in the perfume of the sanctuary (Ex. 30:34), and was used as an accompaniment of the meat-offering (Lev. 2:1, 16; 6:15; 24:7). When burnt it emitted a fragrant odour, and hence the incense became a symbol of the Divine name (Mal. 1:11; Cant. 1:3) and an emblem of prayer (Ps. 141:2; Luke 1:10; Rev. 5:8; 8:3). This frankincense, or olibanum, used by the Jews in the temple services is not to be confounded with the frankincense of modern commerce, which is an exudation of the Norway spruce fir, the Pinus abies. It was probably a resin from the Indian tree known to botanists by the name of Boswellia serrata or thurifera, which grows to the height of forty feet.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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