Manna

[man-uh] /ˈmæn ə/

noun
1.
the food miraculously supplied to the Israelites in the wilderness. Ex. 16:14–36.
2.
any sudden or unexpected help, advantage, or aid to success.
3.
divine or spiritual food.
4.
the exudation of the ash Fraxinus ornus and related plants: source of mannitol.
/ˈmænə/
noun
1.
(Old Testament) the miraculous food which sustained the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 16:14–36)
2.
any spiritual or divine nourishment
3.
a windfall; an unexpected gift (esp in the phrase manna from heaven)
4.
a sweet substance obtained from various plants, esp from an ash tree, Fraxinus ornus (manna or flowering ash) of S Europe, used as a mild laxative
n.

Old English borrowing from Late Latin manna, from Greek manna, from Hebrew man, probably literally “substance exuded by the tamarisk tree,” but used in Greek and Latin specifically with reference to the substance miraculously supplied to the Children of Israel during their wandering in the Wilderness (Ex. xvi:15). Meaning “spiritual nourishment” is attested from late 14c. Generalized sense of “something provided unexpectedly” is from 1590s.

Heb. man-hu, “What is that?” the name given by the Israelites to the food miraculously supplied to them during their wanderings in the wilderness (Ex. 16:15-35). The name is commonly taken as derived from _man_, an expression of surprise, “What is it?” but more probably it is derived from _manan_, meaning “to allot,” and hence denoting an “allotment” or a “gift.” This “gift” from God is described as “a small round thing,” like the “hoar-frost on the ground,” and “like coriander seed,” “of the colour of bdellium,” and in taste “like wafers made with honey.” It was capable of being baked and boiled, ground in mills, or beaten in a mortar (Ex. 16:23; Num. 11:7). If any was kept over till the following morning, it became corrupt with worms; but as on the Sabbath none fell, on the preceding day a double portion was given, and that could be kept over to supply the wants of the Sabbath without becoming corrupt. Directions concerning the gathering of it are fully given (Ex. 16:16-18, 33; Deut. 8:3, 16). It fell for the first time after the eighth encampment in the desert of Sin, and was daily furnished, except on the Sabbath, for all the years of the wanderings, till they encamped at Gilgal, after crossing the Jordan, when it suddenly ceased, and where they “did eat of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (Josh. 5:12). They now no longer needed the “bread of the wilderness.” This manna was evidently altogether a miraculous gift, wholly different from any natural product with which we are acquainted, and which bears this name. The manna of European commerce comes chiefly from Calabria and Sicily. It drops from the twigs of a species of ash during the months of June and July. At night it is fluid and resembles dew, but in the morning it begins to harden. The manna of the Sinaitic peninsula is an exudation from the “manna-tamarisk” tree (Tamarix mannifera), the el-tarfah of the Arabs. This tree is found at the present day in certain well-watered valleys in the peninsula of Sinai. The manna with which the people of Israel were fed for forty years differs in many particulars from all these natural products. Our Lord refers to the manna when he calls himself the “true bread from heaven” (John 6:31-35; 48-51). He is also the “hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17; comp. John 6:49,51).