Identifying Pannag, an Ancient Product of Israel

The hapax legomenon (Greece text) pannag is mentioned in Ezekiel as an export of the land of Israel to the international market in Tyre (Ezek 27:17). It has been interpreted in wildly different ways, with the dominant view now being that it is a kind of baked good or flour. A few scholars have noted Greek πνακες»allheal« as an apparent cognate, but they have not realized its significance. It is argued here that Hebrew pannag and its Akkadian cognate pinigu both derive from Greek πνακες and denote a medicinal product of the Ferula (giant fennel) plant or of a related genus. Accordingly, pannag should be translated »allheal«.