CRIMSON . The word tôlâ‘ , tr. [Note: translate or translation.] in Isaiah 1:18 ‘crimson’ and in Lamentations 4:5 ‘ scarlet ,’ is usually tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘ Worm ’ (wh. see), exactly as the Arab. [Note: Arabic.] dûdeh , the common word for ‘worm,’ is to-day also used in Palestine for the imported cochineal insect. The Palestine insect is the female Coccus ilicis of the same. Natural Order as the American C. cacti; it feeds on the holm-oak. E. W. G. Masterman.
Crimson.Three Hebrew words are so translated. 1. karmil, a colour prepared from an insect which inhabits a species of oak: it is crimson or deep scarlet. 2 Chr. 2:7, 14; 2 Chr. 3:14. 2. shani, the word commonly translated 'scarlet.' Jer. 4:30. 3. tola, name of a worm, thought to be a dye of a bluish tint. This word occurs in the memorable passage in Isaiah's prophecy, that though Israel's sins should be red like crimson, they should be as wool. Isa. 1:18. The same word is translated scarlet in Lam. 4:5.