ACE (derived through the

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• LAT

Lat. as, from the Tarentine

See also:

• FORM (Lat. forma)

form of the Gr. etc)  , the number one at dice, or the single point on a die or card; also a point in the score of racquets, lawn-tennis, tennis and other court games . . ACELDAMA (according to Acts i . 19, " the field of blood "), the name given to the field purchased by Judas Iscariot with the money he received for the betrayal of Jesus Christ . A different version is given in Matthew xxvii . 8, where Judas is said to have cast down the money in the Temple, and the priests who had paid it to have recovered the pieces, with which they bought " the potter's field, to bury strangers in." The MS. evidence is greatly in favour of a form Aceldamach . This would seem to mean " the field of thy blood," which is unsuitable . Since, however, we find elsewhere one name appearing as both Sirach and Sira (ch = se), Aceldamach may be another form of an original Aceldama (e+ ' San), the " field of blood." A . Klostermann, however, takes the ch to be part of the Aramaic root demach, " to sleep "; the word would then mean " field of sleep " or cemetery (Probleme ins Aposteltexte, 1-8, 1883), an explanation which fits in well with the account in Matthew xxvii . The traditional site (now Hak el-Dum), S. of Jerusalem on the N.E. slope of the "Hill of Evil Counsel" (Jebel Deir Abu Tor), was used as a burial-place for Christian pilgrims from the 6th century A.D. till as late, apparently, as 1697, and especially in the time of the Crusades . Near it there is a very ancient charnel-house, partly rock-cut, partly of masonry, said to be the work of Crusaders .