Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Frankincense
Summary
Frankincense (also known as olibanum) is an aromatic resin used in incense and perfumes, obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia in the family Burseraceae. The word is from Old French franc encens ('high-quality incense'). There are several species of Boswellia that produce true frankincense: Boswellia sacra (syn. B. bhaw-dajiana, syn. B. carteri), B. frereana, B. serrata (B. thurifera, Indian frankincense), and B. papyrifera. Resin from each is available in various grades, which depends on the time of harvesting. The resin is hand-sorted for quality.
The English word frankincense derives from the Old French expression franc encens, meaning 'high-quality incense'. The word franc in Old French meant 'noble, pure'. Although named frankincense, the name does not refer to the Franks. The name of frankincense in Koine Greek (the language of the New Testament): λίβανος (or λιβανωτός), is cognate with the name of Lebanon (Λίβανος); the same can be said with regard to Arabic, Phoenician, Hebrew, and lĭbănus. This is postulated to be because they both derive from the word for 'white' and that the spice route went via Mount Lebanon (Λίβανος).
olibanum derived from λίβανος or libanus. The leading "o" may have come from oleum, or from the Greek article o- or Arabic article al-. Other names include اللبان al-lubān, کندر Kondoor, ܒܣܡܐ bisma, לבונה levoˈna, লোবান/ ধুনো [löbān/Dhüno], Foox [fooħ], tūs,.
The trees start producing resin at about eight to 10 years old. Tapping is done two to three times per year with the final taps producing the best tears because of their higher aromatic terpene, sesquiterpene and diterpene content. Generally speaking, the more opaque resins are the best quality. Cheap resin is produced in the Horn of Africa, which is the Roman Catholic Church's major source.
The main species in trade are:
Boswellia sacra: South Arabia.
Boswellia bhaw-dajiana (older spelling Boswellia bhau-dajiana): Horn of Africa. It is a synonym of Boswellia sacra
Boswellia carteri (older spelling Boswellia carterii): Horn of Africa, Nubia.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.