NARD, spikenard — an aromatic oil pressed from the root of a plant growing in the HIMALAYAS, carried to the Mediterranean by caravan and priced accordingly; Pliny gives it as one of the costliest perfumes in the Roman world. It is what the woman is wearing at the king's table (1:12) and what fills the garden of 4:13-14 — and it is the pound of pure nard poured over Jesus' feet in the Gospels, worth about a labourer's year. → first discussed at Song of Solomon 1:12