CAPER BERRY

[Heb., ʼavi·yoh·nahʹ].

The fruit of the caper plant. Some translations of Ecclesiastes 12:5 render the Hebrew term ʼavi·yoh·nahʹ as “desire” so that the passage is made to read “and desire fails.” (RS; see also KJ; Ro.) However, many modern translators (AT; JB; JP; NW; NC [Spanish]) consider that the writer of Ecclesiastes, in this chapter describing the conditions of man in his old age, used a metaphor, as is the case throughout the description, and that ʼavi·yoh·nahʹ refers to the caper berry (as stimulating desire or appetite). This latter view finds support in the renderings of the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, and Arabic translations.

The caper plant (Capparis spinosa) may reach a height of 1 m (3 ft) but usually spreads over the ground in vinelike fashion. It is abundant in Israel, often growing from clefts in rocks or spreading over walls or ruins much like ivy. The spiny branches bear rich green oval leaves. The plant flowers in May with large white blossoms, purple filaments extending out from their centers.​—PICTURE, Vol. 1, p. 543.

The berries of the plant are not used as much as the small young buds. These are pickled and eaten as a condiment to stimulate appetite, a quality for which they have been known from ancient times. Thus the writer of Ecclesiastes apparently says that, when an old man’s sense of taste diminishes and his appetite weakens, even the stimulation of the caper berry is unable to awaken his desire for food.