| 词汇 | manna from heaven |
| 词源 | manna from heaven. By extension, this expression means any unexpected, providential benefit, a windfall. Until the 19th century, the phrase meant only the miraculous manna from heaven mentioned in the Bible: “a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground . . . like coriander seed, white: and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey (Exodus 16).” It was this manna that Moses told the children of Israel the Lord had provided for them to eat in the wilderness in their journey out of Egypt. The etymology of manna is unclear. It is popularly said to derive from the manna that is the secretion of the tamarisk; or possibly from the Hebrew man, the exhuda- tion of a plant louse that hardens at night and can be eaten in the morning. |
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