Talk:Balm of Gilead
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[edit] Stub
I'm not sure what the author put in the Template: Bible-stub in for, so I'm just leaving it for now until I know more about templates. Salanth 01:44, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Brand
Just as a point of discussion, does "Balm of Gilead" seem to others, as it seems to me, to be a kind of "brand"? According to the article, it was widely recognized (internationally?). Jackbox1971 02:58, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
- At the website of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov), I did a trademark search for "Balm of Gilead" just now and found that the "3 Arches USA" corporation filed for a trademark of "Balm of Gilead" on July 5, 2005. Wideangle 23:59, 13 July 2006 (UTC)
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- It's certainly a term in genuine medical/scientific use, historicaly (look at any old herbal or pharmacopea). I don't know why the USPTO would allow a trademark on it, but the trademark is for a line of lotions and such, not the resin documented in the article. In parts of North America (New England especially) the term refers principally to the Balsam Poplar (Populus candicans sive balsamifera). However, I am not aware of it being used to refer to Canada Balsam (derived from the Balsam Fir), as the article presently states. Does anyone else think that may be a mistake? -GSwift 22:07, 23 July 2006 (UTC) [edited for clarity -GSwift 05:08, 24 July 2006 (UTC)]
[edit] "Negro spiritual" vs. "African-American spiritual"
I changed "African-American spiritual" back to "Negro spiritual" again. Here are my arguments for doing so:
(1) Negro spirituals have been known by that name for a long time. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_%28music%29 for the history. And note that the phrase "Negro spiritual" occurs three times in that webpage, whereas "African-American spiritual" occurs only once.
(2) "Negro spiritual" is the preponderant choice in actual usage -- Googling "Negro spiritual" yields 233,000 hits, while "African-American spiritual" yields only 75,400 hits.
(3) Note that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negro says: "In current English language usage, 'Negro' generally is considered acceptable in a historical context or in the name of older organisations, as in the United Negro College Fund ..."
Although "African-American" is the preferred designation for persons formerly known as "Negroes", "Negro spiritual" is appropriate due to its historical context.
192.35.35.34 00:55, 25 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] C&P
I have moved this segment here from the article proper:
- "Balm of Gilead", often otherwise known as "Mecca Myrrh" is by priority from an historical and botanical point of view, Commiphora gileadensis (L. - most common synonymous:Commiphora opobalsamum Engl. (BURSERACEAE). The species is not native to the West Bank area of modern day Israel, where Gilead is understood to have been located, but owes its specific epithet (“Gilead”) to the importance of the trade of the resin - one of the chief treasures of Palestine in Roman times according to the contemporary historian Josephus (SEPASAL ).
- English, also: Balsam of Gilead, Opobalsamum, Mecca balsam. The dried fruit of this species formerly went by the name “carpobalsamum”; the dried branchlets “xylobalsamum”; and the exudation, as “opobalsamum” (Felter and Lloyd, 1898).
... as it needs to be edited in. Maikel (talk) 18:47, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
