champaign
n 1: extensive tract of level open land; "they emerged from the
woods onto a vast open plain"; "he longed for the fields of
his youth" [syn: plain, field, champaign]
2: a university town in east central Illinois adjoining Urbana
champaign nounEtymology: Middle English champaine, from Anglo-French
champaigne, from Late Latin campania — more at campaignDate: 15th century 1. an expanse of level open country
;plain2.archaicbattlefield • champaignadjective
Champaign \Cham*paign"\, n. [OF. champaigne; same word as
campagne.]
A flat, open country.
Fair champaign, with less rivers interveined. --Milton.
Through Apline vale or champaign wide. --Wordsworth.
CHAMPAIGN
sham-pan', sham'-pan (`arabhah, biq`ah): A champaign is a flat open country,
and the word occurs in De 11:30 the King James Version (the Revised
Version (British and American) "the Arabah") as a translation of `arabhah,
for which the King James Version has in most places "the plain," and the
Revised Version (British and American) "the Arabah," when it is used with
the article and denotes a definite region, i.e. the valley of the Jordan
from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea (De 2:8; 3:17; 4:4:9; Jos 3:16;
8:14; 11:16; 12:1,3,1; 2Sa 2:29; 4:7; 2Ki 14:25; 25:4; Jer 39:4;
52:7), and also the valley running southward from the Dead Sea to
the Gulf of Akabah (De 1:1). Eze 47:8 has for ha-`arabhah
"the desert," the King James Version margin "plain," the Revised Version
(British and American) "the Arabah." The plural is used in Jos 5:10; 2Ki
25:5, "the plains of Jericho," and in Nu 22:1; 26:3, "the plains
of Moab." Elsewhere `arabhah is rendered in English Versions of the Bible
"desert" or "wilderness" (Job 24:5; 39:6; Isa 33:9; 35:1,6; 40:3; 41:19;
51:3; Jer 2:6; 17:6; 50:12). At the present day, the Jordan va lley is
called the Ghaur (compare Hebrew `ur, "to dig," me`arah, "cave," and Arabic
magharah, "cave"). This name is also applied to the deltas of streams flowing
into the Dead Sea from the East, which are clothed with thickets of thorny
trees and shrubs, i.e. Ghaur-ul-Mezra`ah, at the mouths of Wadi-Kerak and
Wadi-Beni-Chammad, Ghaur-uc-Cafiyeh, at the mouth of Wadi-ul-Hisa. The name
"Arabah" (Arabic al-`Arabah) is now confined to the valley running southward
from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah, separating the mountains of Edom
from Sinai and the plateau of at-Tih.
See ARABAH.
Eze 37:2 the King James Version margin has "champaign" for biq`ah,
which is elsewhere rendered "vale" or "valley." Biq`ah seems to be applied
to wide, open valleys, as: "the valley of Jericho" (De 34:3), "the
valley of Megiddo" (2Ch 35:22; Zec 12:11), "the valley of Lebanon"
(Jos 11:17). If Baal-Gad be Ba`albeq and "the valley of Lebanon" be
Coele-syria, the present name of Coele-syria, al-Biqa` (plural of buq`ah,
"a low, wet place or meadow"), may be regarded as a survival of the Hebre
w biq`ah.
Alfred Ely Day
Champaign, IL (city, FIPS 12385)
Location: 40.11300 N, 88.26495 W
Population (1990): 63502 (25996 housing units)
Area: 33.5 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 61820
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