RUNCINA, properly signifies a Joiner’s Plane1. Hermolaus Barbarus and Calepin are mistaken, taking this for a Saw to saw Timber with. The Latin Translator of Isaiah xliv. 13. makes use of the Word Runcina: Artifex lignarius extendit normam, & formavit lignum in runcina. The Hebrew Word Shared2 signifies rather the Line which the Carpenters rub with Red, White, or Black, to mark the Wood they intend to cut. The Septuagint make use of the Word Paragraphis, which, according to Martinius, signifies the Ruler with which Children rule their Paper. Isaiah therefore would say, that the Carpenter first takes a Piece of Wood without Shape, which he cuts; and to square it, he uses a colour’d String, to draw Right Lines upon it.
Read this article in its place on the printed pages