Melons
Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897) · International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
THE DICTIONARY — Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)
only in Numbers 11:5, the translation of the Hebrew abattihim, the LXX. and Vulgate pepones, Arabic britikh. Of this plant there are various kinds, the Egyptian melon, the Cucumus chate, which has been called “the queen of cucumbers;” the water melon, the Cucurbita citrullus; and the common or flesh melon, the Cucumus melo. “A traveller in the East who recollects the intense gratitude which a gift of a slice of melon inspired while journeying over the hot and dry plains, will readily comprehend the regret with which the Hebrews in the Arabian desert looked back upon the melons of Egypt” (Kitto).
THE FULL ARTICLE — from the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), general editor James Orr — public domain, printed whole.
mel'-unz (`abhattichim; compare Arabic battikh, the "water melon"; pepones): In Nu 11:5, the melon is referred to as common in Egypt, and there can be no doubt that the variety indicated is the watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris) which is indigenous in tropical Africa. It has been cultivated in Egypt since the earliest times.