omer

Etymology

It is borrowed from Biblical Hebrew עומר (ʿōmer, “sheaf”),^{[2][1][3][4][5]} first taken into the biblical text by the Geneva Bible (1560).^[2] It replaced the older gomer, which goes back through Late Latin gomor of the Vulgate and Koine Greek γομόρ (gomór) of the Septuagint to the same Hebrew word; the Septuagint sometimes rendered the Hebrew ʿ with g, while 16th-century versions left it out.^[2] The Judaic sense of the period between Passover and Shavuot comes from the offering of a sheaf, or an omer of grain, on the second day of Passover;^[6][5] Wiktionary takes it as short for the phrase Sefirat Ha'Omer.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In ancient Israel, a dry measure equal to a tenth of an ephah: 1560, in the Geneva Bible, Exodus 16:18.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to the 1610s,^[3] the Shorter Oxford and Collins to the early 17th century.^[8][5]

Semantic evolution

Johnson (1755), following Bailey, gave the measure as about three and a half English pints;^[9] the OED reckons it at about 2.3 litres (5 pints),^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged at about half a peck.^[7] The OED also records it for a pot or vessel holding that amount.^[2] In Jewish usage, with the and a capital, Omer names the 49 days from the second day of Passover to Shavuot (Pentecost), and the counting of the Omer is the ritual numbering of each day, recorded from 1731;^[2][8] Collins notes that the period is kept as one of partial mourning.^[5] The sense of the sheaf of barley itself, presented as the first of the harvest on the second day of Passover, is dated by the Shorter Oxford to the mid 19th century^[8] and by the OED to 1913, in Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1560 – an ancient Hebrew dry measure, a tenth of an ephah.^[2][7]
• 1731 – the Omer, the 49 days from Passover to Shavuot, and the counting of the Omer.^[2]
• 1913 – the sheaf offered on the second day of Passover.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to the mid 19th century.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure, one tenth of an ephah, about 2.3 litres.^[7][5][2]
2. (Judaism, usually Omer) The period of 49 days from the second day of Passover to Shavuot, kept with partial mourning: They began the counting of the Omer after the seder.^[5][2][8]
3. (Judaism) A sheaf of barley, or an omer of grain, offered in the Temple on the second day of Passover as the first of the harvest.^[7][2][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.