Myrrh is a fragrant gum used in perfume and incense. Gold, frankincense and myrrh, burn myrrh, the smell of myrrh.
It is the dried sap of a thorny tree of Arabia and East Africa, and it was worth its weight in gold in the ancient world, partly because it was used to embalm. In the gospel story it is the third gift, and it is the one that foreshadows a death.
1nounmyrrhA fragrant gum used in perfume and incense.
“In the Christmas story, the wise men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh.”
myrrh is a resin.
Greek myrrha comes from a Semitic word meaning bitter. Arabic murr is the same root.
Ancient Greek
μύρρα
Latin
myrrha
Old English
myrre
Middle English
mirre
English, today
myrrh
From Middle English mirre, from Old English myrre, from Latin myrrha, from Ancient Greek μύρρα, from sem. Compare Arabic مُرّ (“myrrh”) literally “bitterness”, Hebrew - מור. Compare מרור: maror.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA