Meaning of Kykayon in Ancient Greek Texts
The Hebrew קִיקָיוֺן (qiqayon) appears five times in Jonah 4, designating the plant that God appointed to shade the prophet outside Nineveh [1]. Brown-Driver-Briggs identifies the term as cognate with the Assyrian Kukkânîtum, a garden-plant, and notes the parallel with the Greek κίκι (kiki), an Egyptian term for the castor-oil tree [1]. This Greek connection anchors the word in a broader Mediterranean botanical vocabulary, though the precise species remains contested across translation traditions.
Lexical Range and Ancient Identifications
The Septuagint renders qiqayon as κολόκυνθα (kolokyntha), meaning bottle-gourd or Cucurbita lagenaria, a vine known for rapid growth and equally swift decay [1]. This translation emphasizes the plant's ephemeral nature, fitting Jonah's narrative arc. Yet other ancient sources favor the ricinus identification: Dioscorides equates κίκι with κρότων (kroton), the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis), and Talmudic sources refer to קִיק שֶׁמֶן, "kik oil," explicitly linking it to Jonah's plant [1]. Jerome, writing in the fourth century, identified the qiqayon with the Syriac Elkeroa, describing it as a common Palestinian shrub with broad leaves that "shoots up to a considerable height in a very few days" [4]. This rapid vertical growth distinguishes it from vines requiring support, a detail John Gill uses to argue against the gourd or ivy interpretations, since neither "rise upwards without some props" [5].
Morphology and Semantic Field
The Hebrew root structure of qiqayon lacks clear cognates within the biblical corpus, making comparative Semitic evidence crucial. The Assyrian parallel suggests the term entered Hebrew through cultural contact, possibly during the Neo-Assyrian period when Jonah's ministry is traditionally dated [1]. Rabbinic commentary offers minimal morphological analysis but emphasizes function: Rashi defines the kikayon simply as "a plant that grows high with many branches and it affords shade" [2], prioritizing its narrative role over botanical precision. This functional definition aligns with the text's theological purpose—the plant exists to deliver Jonah "from his evil," meaning his discomfort or distress [4].
Distribution and Contextual Usage
All five occurrences cluster in Jonah 4:6–10, forming a tight semantic unit. The plant appears twice in verse 6 (its appointment and Jonah's joy), then in verses 7, 9, and 10 (its destruction and God's rebuke). No other biblical text employs qiqayon, making Jonah 4 the sole witness to its usage. This hapax legomenon status complicates lexical certainty, forcing interpreters to rely on ancient translations and cognate languages. Adam Clarke argues the verb forms should be understood as pluperfect—"the Lord had prepared this plant"—suggesting providential timing rather than miraculous instantaneous growth [3]. He interprets "came up in a night" and "perished in a night" as metaphorical expressions for rapid development, not literal twenty-four-hour cycles [6].
Translation History and Theological Implications
English versions reflect the ancient uncertainty: the King James follows the Septuagint with "gourd," while modern translations often adopt "plant" or transliterate "qiqayon" in footnotes. Keil and Delitzsch note Luther rendered it Kürbiss (gourd) after the Septuagint but described it in his commentary as vitis alba, revealing the Reformer's own ambivalence [4]. The botanical ambiguity serves the narrative's theological point: whether ricinus, gourd, or another species, the plant's rapid rise and fall mirror Nineveh's vulnerability and God's sovereign mercy. The text emphasizes divine appointment (the verb manah, "to appoint," governs both plant and worm) rather than botanical taxonomy, making the qiqayon a vehicle for covenant instruction rather than a subject of natural history.
The Greek κίκι connection, attested in Herodotus, Dioscorides, Strabo, and Pliny, situates the term within Hellenistic botanical discourse, where Egyptian castor-oil production was widely documented [5]. This Mediterranean context suggests the author expected readers familiar with trade goods and regional flora to recognize the plant, even if modern interpreters cannot achieve the same certainty.
Sources
- Brown-Driver-Briggs “[BDB H7021] qiqayon — H7021. qiqayon קִיקָיוֺן noun masculineJonah 4:6 a plant (compare Assyrian Kukkânîtum (כ) a garden-plant, DlHWB 327); — usually ricinus (R. communis, Linn. = castor-oil tree; compare Dioscoriv. 164 κίκι (Egypt) = κρότων [castor-oil tree]; Talmud קִיק שֶׁמֶן see especially Löwp. 353 f.); perhaps < bottle-gourd (ᵐ5 κολόκυνθα; i.e. cucurbita lagenaria, a vine growing and withering rapidly, Post in HastingsDB ii. 250); — 4:6 (twice in verse); 4:7, 9, 10. קִיקָלוֺן see קלל.”
- Sefaria (Jewish (Rabbinic)) “Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) on Jonah 4:6: kikayon —A plant that grows high with many branches and it affords shade and that is its name.”
- Jonah (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Jonah 4:6: And the Lord God prepared a gourd - I believe this should be rendered in the preterpluperfect tense. The Lord Had prepared this plant, קיקיון kikayon. It had in the course of God's providence been planted and grown up in that place, though perhaps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him, and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon? The best judges say the ricinus or palma Christi, from which we get what is vulgarly called castor oil, is meant.”
- Jonah (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Jonah 4:6: Jehovah-God appointed a Qiqayon, which grew up over Jonah, to give him shade over his head, "to deliver him from his evil." The Qiqayon, which Luther renders gourd (Krbiss) after the lxx, but describes in his commentary on the book of Jonah as the vitis alba, is, according to Jerome, the shrub called Elkeroa in Syriac, a very common shrub in Palestine, which grows in sandy places, having broad leaves that throw a pleasant shadow, and which shoots up to a considerable height in a very few days. (Note: Jerome describes it thus: "A kind of bush or shrub, having broa”
- Jonah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Jonah 4:6: And the Lord God prepared a gourd,.... So the Septuagint render the word; but some say that a worm will not touch that; Jerom renders it an ivy; but neither the gourd nor that rise upwards without some props to support them. The Hebrew word is "kikaion", the same with the "kiki", or "cici", of Herodotus (c), Dioscorides (d), Strabo (e), and Pliny (f); a plant frequent in Egypt, of which the Egyptians made an oil; hence the Talmudists (g) make mention of the oil of "kik", which Reshlakish says is the "kikaion" of Jonah; and which is the same that the Arabians call "alche”
- Jonah (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Jonah 4:10: Which came up in a night - St. Jerome, speaking of this plant, the kikayon, assigns to it an extraordinary rapidity of growth. It delights in a sandy soil, and in a few days what was a plant grows into a large shrub. But he does not appear to have meant the ricinus; this however is the most likely. The expressions coming up in a night and perishing in a night are only metaphorical to express speedy growth and speedy decay; and so, as we have seen, the Chaldee interprets it, די בליליא הדי הוה ובליליא אוחרנא אבד "which existed this night but in the next night perished;”