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History of Sage
The meaning of sage’s botanical (Latin) name, salvia, is to help or to save.
In Arabic, sage has the refined name “mariamiya,” derived from the name Miriam (Mary), the mother of Jesus.
According to Arab tradition, Mary and Jesus fled from Bethlehem, where he was born, because they feared the anger of King Herod’s soldiers.
It was during the summer. The mother and her child, tired and sweaty, searched for a little shade and a place where they could rest. In their flight, they encountered a three-lobed sage bush, with silvery leaves and a wonderful scent. Mary put her child down in the shade of the bush, picked the leaves, and used them to wipe her burning face.
The sweet intoxicating smell of the sage plant revived her and the tiny infant, and Mary blessed the bush. On that day, the sage plant received the name “blessed mariamiya.”
Sage also has a place in Jewish tradition.
Land of Israel nature researchers have linked the Hebrew name of the plant, Marva, with Mt. Moriah. Some claim that the form of the seven-branch menorah originally symbolized the shape of the sage plant that grows in the Land of Israel.
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