9. A palanquin, &c. As the train draws nearer, a third person recognizes it as the newly-made palanquin, of which he gives a circumstantial description. Palanquins were and are still used in the East by great personages. They are like a couch, sufficiently long for the rider to recline, covered with a canopy resting on pillars at the four corners, hung round with curtains to exclude the sun; they have a door, sometimes of lattice-work, on each side. They are borne by four or more men, by means of strong poles, like those of our sedan-chairs; and in travelling great distances, there are always several sets of men to relieve each other. The materials of which these palanquins are made, and the style of their construction, depend upon the rank and wealth of the owners. The word ‏אַפִּרְיֹון‎ is most probably derived from ‏פָּרָה‎, to run, to be borne quickly. Comp. τρόχος, from τρέχειν, φορεῖον, from φέρω, currus from currendo, ferculum from fero. The form ‏אַפִּרְיּוֹן‎ is, according to the analogy of ‏דִּמְיוֹן‎, likeness (Ps. xvii. 12), and ‏פִּדְיֹון‎, ransom (Exod. xxi. 30); comp. Gesen. § 84, 15; Ewald, § 163 c. with a prosthetic ‏א‎ (Gesen. § 19, 4; Ewald, § 162 c,) followed by a Dagesh forte like ‏אַפֶּדֶן‎, a palace, Dan. xi. 45; see Fürst, Lexicon. Ewald, however, derives it from ‏פרה‎ = ‏ברה‎, to work out, to build, to form, hence ‏אֲפִּרְיוֹן‎, ein Prachtstück. Kimchi derives it from ‏פָּרָה‎, to be fruitful, and says it is called ‏אַפִּרְיוֹן‎, because ‏שפרין ורבין עליה‎, people increase and multiply therein. But this is contrary to the description here given of the procession. Besides, a bridal bed has no (‏מֶרְכָּבָה‎) seat. ‏עָשַׂה‎, to make, means also to have made, to order to be made. A person is frequently described in Scripture idiom as doing that which he orders to be done. 2 Sam. xv. 1; Gal. ii. 5, 6. The ‏מִן‎ in ‏מַעַצַי‎ denotes the material of which the frame-work was made. Ps. xlv. 4. The wood of Lebanon, i.e. cedars and cypresses, Zech. xi. 1, 2; 1 Chron. ii. 8.