of the Canticle 499 hnvwv final message of Hosea — the fulfilment of the promise of the Lord — the restoration of life and the renewal of the love of Israel towards her God. Israel makes a commitment to regain the love of the Lord towards her. In Egypt long centuries before, hnvwv was a common symbol to present such a noble reciprocal love which vivifies, renews and grows. Such a vital power of hnvwv will become proverbial for the girl of the Song from her own introduction on the scene, 2,1. Her beloved can not do less than quickly affirm her attraction praising her transforming power, 2,2. In 7,3 again her vivifying ability seems to recall her fertility via µynvwv around her belly. The live-giving strength of the girl’s breasts is reinforced by µynvwv in 4,5. In 2,16; 6,2-3 µynvwv is not a plain literary device but the powerful expression in her mouth where she wants to seal the certainty of their reciprocal relationship. µynvwv in 5,13 has became chief test case against the translation “lilies”. The inner context of the Song witnesses that hnvwv imagery works not on the basis of its particularities but rather on that of the connotations connected with its conventional use in the love motifs. The extra-biblical evidence of the Egyptian love songs and iconography indicates that behind the lexeme hnvwv stands “lotus”, once a sacred flower of ancient Egypt. 3. hnvwv in the Psalms The use and the meaning of µynvwv/ˆvWv in the superscriptions of 4 psalms: 45,1; 60,1; 69,1; 80,1 is completely obscure. KBL3 (91) proposes 4 meanings: 1) an instrument which reflects a tone; 2) the flowers which were set in front of the arch as a decoration or as an offering, in some way with the same object of obtaining an answer from God; 3) the superscription in 45,1 would be an indication, that it is a love song; 4) based on Akk. πuππu the meaning could be on the arithmetic “one sixth”. This last proposal would be first to be discarded, yet even KBL3 does not give a satisfactory clarification about the use of this term in the Psalms. The third proposal finds support in the same Psalm 45,1. This suggestion agrees with the above exposed interpretation of the use of µynvwv in the Song. H.-J. Kraus admitted the great difficulty of grasping the meaning of this lexeme correctly (92). Even though E.S. (91) KBL3 IV, 1455. (92) H.-J. KRAUS, Psalmen (BKAT 15/1; Neukirchen-Vluyn 51978) I, 26.