Well, I might as well come out of the intellectual closet and claim responsibility for the Shadal quote. I like what you did with it. Note that the Italian word "manipolo" (sheaf) is a direct descendant of the Latin "manipulus," which, as you noted, was the Vulgate's translation of "omer."
BTW, if any parshan knew his pasta, it was Shadal, and not just because he was Italian. During a particularly hard time in their lives, the Luzzatto family briefly ran a home operation making vermicelli. According to his account, as retold by biographer Morris Margolies, "his father and sister kneaded the dough," while "his job was to move a roller over a hole-punctured surface to force the wormlike formations of dough through them." Mamma mia!
Thanks again for your help, Dan!
This quote--
1917 J. CUSIMANO Econ. Ital. Cookbk. 7 Take two pints oysters..boil them ten minutes..into this add half pound No. 39 Orzo, boil twenty minutes.
That is from a book by a Jack Cusimano? Do you have the book? If so, is there any autobiographical information in it? I think it may have been written by my great uncle!
Sorry - I don't have the book, it was only referenced in the Oxford English Dictionary. But you might find it in some library!
Regarding the orzo question, in your cited work, Economical Italian Cook Book by Jack Cusimano, 1917 Los Angeles, there are two pages of pasta illustrations, including the rice shaped pasta, orzo, illustration #39.
Interestingly, in French the word for barley is orge (pronounced ohrzh). Looks a bit like orez to me. I don't know the etymology.
Right - the French word is related to the Italian- the source of orzo, which isn't related to "orez".
Commenting by HaloScan
