Psalm 1/Notes/Lexical.v. 3.113894

The noun tree (עֵץ) may refer to a “tree” (sg) or collectively to “trees” (pl), or to the material that comes from trees, i.e. “wood.” When referring to a “tree” or to “trees,” עֵץ “emphasizes only the genus, while individual species of trees (e.g., אֶרָז ‘cedar,’ אֵצֶל ‘tamerisk,’ בְּרוֹשׁ ‘cypress,’ גֶּפֶן ‘grapevine,’ זַיִת ‘olive tree,’ לוּז ‘almond tree,’ שִׁקְמָה ‘sycamore,’ תְּאֵנָה ‘fig tree,’ תָּמָר ‘date palm’) or tree shapes (e.g., סְבַךְ/סְבֹךְ ‘bush’ or the word group אַלָּה/אַלּוֹן אֵלָה/אֵלוֹן ‘large tree,’ usually understood as ‘oak/terebinth’) acquire specific designations.” The particular species of tree is unspecified, though we might envision an olive tree (cf. Ps 52:10), a palm tree or cedar (cf. Ps 92:14). In light of the image of a garden and the echoes of Eden, the Targum translates "tree" as "tree of life" (כאילן חיי).