Yale shield Hebrew words:
History of the Hebrew phrase "Urim V'Thummim" which is written across the open book pictured in the Yale shield. A banner below carries the Latin translation of this phrase, "Lux et Veritas" or "Light and Truth."
However, though the Yale shield has been in use since 1736, the phrase "Urim V'Thummim" has origins "that stretch back thousands of years to ancient rocks, minerals and gems in the time of Moses," writes Ague.
"According to the Book of Exodus, the Urim and Thummim were kept in an interior fold or compartment of the Breastplate of Judgment worn by the High Priest of the ancient Israelites," notes the Yale geologist. "The Breastplate was used to reveal divine answers to important questions facing the entire community, such as whether or not to go to war."
The geologist points out that Yale Professor Emeritus W.W. Hallo and others believe the Urim were light-colored rocks ("probably alabaster") and the Thummim were dark-colored stones ("probably made mostly of hematite").
"The High Priest would pose a question and then draw lots by pulling out Urim and Thummim from the Breastplate," says Ague. "The answer to the question would be given by color. For example, the light-colored Urim could have meant 'no' and the dark Thummim 'yes.'"
The breastplate itself was set with 12 precious stones, each engraved with one of the names of the 12 tribes of Israel, notes the Yale scholar, adding there is still debate over which kinds of stones were used.
http://www.yale.edu/opa/v31.n11/story10.html
WELL ON DECK
Student research: ""En Oino Xapma" Oino (translation: Grapevine) is the name of one of the daughters of Anios, son of Apollo, and is able to turn anything into wine. Her other two sisters are Elais ('Olive Tree') and Spermo ('Seed'). They can make oil and corn, respectively, with just a touch. Dionysus gave them their magical abilities. Looking at the picture of the fountain, this seems to make sense, as one of the babies (IÕm not sure if 'baby' is the right term...) is holding a goblet and there is a Grapevine weaving through the sculpture. However, the other side of the fountain depicts babies holding cymbals, a flute, and some type of stringed instrument. I donÕt know how these other babies fit into my theory of the illustration being about Dionysus' descendents. Either way, I have found many sites about Greek myths that translate Oino as 'wine.' The following website is where I initially found the word 'Oino'
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/DionysosFavour.html
Xapma
This is the word that proved extremely difficult to understand. I eventually found a book called The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited by John Matthews. The book discusses the Rosicrucian Movement, the people behind it, and the writings involved. Since I am just looking for the one word, I decided to not get caught up trying to understand the Rosicrucian Enlightenment. What I did find, though, was that John Matthews cites one of three Greek lines from Arcana Arcanissimo by a man who went by Michael Maier. John Matthews translates the phrase ÒHL IOS CARMA HMIÓ into ÒThe sun is my delight.,Ó which means XAPMA is Ôdelight.Õ
WoodhouseÕs English-Greek Dictionary also defines ÔdelightÕ as χάρμα (The lower-case form of XAPMA)
http://colet.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/chuck/woodhouse_pages.pl?page_num=208
From the research I did, I think that the translation of ÒEn Oino XampaÓ is ÔIn wine I delightÕ or something along those lines."