What is “Gopher Wood”?
The Hebrew word "gopher" is used only once in the Bible, in Genesis 6:14. God told Noah to "make yourself an ark of gopher wood." Because no one knows for certain what "gopher" means in this context, the King James Version and the New King James Version simply leave the word untranslated and say "gopher" wood.
Most modern English versions of the Bible translate it as "cypress." This is probably incorrect and is really only a guess supported by very weak evidence. Why cypress? In trying to solve the identity of "gopher wood," some guessed that a transliteration might be involved ("kupar" into "gopher"). Adam Clarke's Commentary says, "supposing the Greek word kuparissov, cypress, was formed from the Hebrew rpg, gopher; for take away the termination issov, and then gopher and kupar will have a near resemblance." Another supposed evidence for "cypress" is based on the fact that cypress trees are large and strong, and in the post-Flood earth, at least, once grew abundantly in Chaldea and Armenia. Armenia is where the ark is believed to have landed, in the mountains of Ararat.
Cypress is far from the only guess made by translators. Other trees and plants include pine, cedar, fir, ebony (Bockart), wicker (Geddes), juniper (Castellus), acacia (Religious Tract Society), boxwood, or slimed bulrushes (Dawson).
Geez, and all this time I thought it was made out of wooden gophers.
It’s “go for wood”, not “gopher wood”. :) (Somebody here once said they thought their name was “git wood” till they were about 8 or 9.)