Ourd
Smith's Bible Dictionary [1]
Gourd.
1. Kikayan occurs only in Jonah 4:6-10. The plant which is intended by this word, and which afforded shade to the prophet Jonah before Nineveh, is the Ricinus commnunis , or castor-oil plant, which, a native of Asia, is now naturalized in America, Africa and the south of Europe.
This plant varies considerably in size, being in India, a tree, but in England, seldom attaining a greater height than three or four feet. The leaves are large and palmate, with serrated lobes, and would form an excellent shelter for the sun-stroken prophet.
The seeds contain the oil so well known under the name of "castor oil," which has for ages been in high repute as a medicine. It is now thought by many that the plant meant is a vine of the cucumber family, a gemline gourd, which is much used for shade in the East.
2. The wild gourd of 2 Kings 4:39 which one of "the sons of the prophets" gathered ignorantly, supposing them to be good for food, is a poisonous gourd, supposed to be the colocynth , which bears a fruit of the color and size of an orange, with a hard, woody shell.
As several varieties of the same family, such as melons, pumpkins, etc., are favorite articles of refreshing food amongst the Orientals, we can easily understand the cause of the mistake.
Webster's Dictionary [2]
(1): ( n.) A false die. See Gord.
(2): ( n.) A dipper or other vessel made from the shell of a gourd; hence, a drinking vessel; a bottle.
(3): ( n.) A fleshy, three-celled, many-seeded fruit, as the melon, pumpkin, cucumber, etc., of the order Cucurbitaceae; and especially the bottle gourd (Lagenaria vulgaris) which occurs in a great variety of forms, and, when the interior part is removed, serves for bottles, dippers, cups, and other dishes.
(4): ( n.) Alt. of Gourde
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [3]
Jonah 4:6 (c) This is a type of some gracious provision of God which is temporary in character and is intended to serve only for a certain purpose. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and we should rejoice in both instances.
