Fitch n.; pl. Fitches
1. Bot. A vetch. [Obs.]
2. pl. Bot. A word found in the Authorized Version of the Bible, representing different Hebrew originals. In Isaiah xxviii. 25, 27, it means the black aromatic seeds of Nigella sativa, still used as a flavoring in the East. In Ezekiel iv. 9, the Revised Version now reads spelt.
Fitches
(Isa. 28:25, 27), the rendering of the Hebrew _ketsah_, "without
doubt the Nigella sativa, a small annual of the order
Ranunculacece, which grows wild in the Mediterranean countries,
and is cultivated in Egypt and Syria for its seed." It is
rendered in margin of the Revised Version "black cummin." The
seeds are used as a condiment.
In Ezek. 4:9 this word is the rendering of the Hebrew
_kussemeth_ (incorrectly rendered "rye" in the Authorized
Version of Ex. 9:32 and Isa. 28:25, but "spelt" in the Revised
Version). The reading "fitches" here is an error; it should be
"spelt."