גמל

גמל¹ camel

Pronunciation

• Tiberian: gāmāl, plural gəmallîm^[1][2]
• Samaritan reading tradition: gā̊mål, plural gā̊mā̊ləm^[3]

Forms

גָּמָל (gāmāl) noun, masculine, also feminine^[1][4] Plural גְּמַלִּים, construct plural גְּמַלֵּי, with suffix גְּמַלָּיו.^[2][4] Feminine in Genesis 32:16, “milch camels”.^[2]

Etymology

The camel is inherited from Proto-Semitic *gamal- (“camel”).^[5][6][7] The noun is common to the Semitic languages: Phoenician gml, Aramaic גמלא (gamlā), Classical Syriac ܓܡܠܐ (gamlā), Arabic جَمَل (jamal), Sabaean gml and Ge'ez ገመል (gamal).^{[2][8][9][6][4]} The Akkadian gammalu of Neo-Assyrian texts is a loan from West Semitic, found mostly in royal inscriptions among the tribute of Arabian kings.^[2][7][10] Militarev and Kogan note that in Old South Arabian the word is late and rare, and that in Hebrew it is very rare in poetry.^[6]

BDB calls the meaning of the root doubtful, and reports older attempts to connect the animal with גָּמַל (gāmal, “to repay”), as the beast that remembers an injury.^[4] The modern dictionaries give the noun no verbal origin.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The camel is absent from the archaic poems;^[1] its first appearance in the canon is in Abraham's herds, waḥămōrîm waʿăḇāḏîm ûšəp̄āḥōṯ waʾăṯōnōṯ ûḡəmallîm, “donkeys, menservants, maidservants, she-donkeys and camels” (Genesis 12:16).^[1] In the story of Rebekah, Abraham's servant takes “ten camels of his master's camels” (Genesis 24:10).^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

HALOT identifies the biblical animal as the one-humped dromedary.^[2] Its meat is unclean in the food laws (Leviticus 11:4, Deuteronomy 14:7), and camels appear in lists of livestock and wealth, in the journeys of Genesis and among royal gifts (1 Kings 10:2).^[2][4] Isaiah 30:6 speaks of treasures carried “on the humps of camels”, a phrase Tawil compares with Akkadian descriptions of two-humped camels.^[11]

The Septuagint renders it with Ancient Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos), itself a loan from a Semitic form like the Hebrew or Phoenician one.^[1][12][2] Through Greek and Latin camēlus it became English camel.^[12][13] Rabbinic and Modern Hebrew keep the word, גמל (gamál).^[5]

Timeline

• Classical Biblical Hebrew – 34 of the 54 uses are in Genesis–Kings, from Abraham's herds (Genesis 12:16) to the royal gifts of 1 Kings 10:2.^[1][2]
• Late Biblical Hebrew – seven uses in Ezra, Nehemiah and Chronicles, in counts of livestock.^[1][2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it as Ancient Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos).^[14][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 12 uses in the Dead Sea Scrolls, nearly all in biblical scrolls.^[15][16]

Meanings

Noun

1. a camel, the one-humped dromedary; unclean as food.^[2][4]
2. (collective, plural) camels as livestock and pack animals, a measure of wealth.^[2]

Descendants

• Ancient Greek κάμηλος (kámēlos)^[12]
• English camel^[13]
• Modern Hebrew גמל (gamál)^[5]

גמל² to deal with; to wean

Pronunciation

• Tiberian: gāmal^[1]

Forms

גָּמַל (gāmal) verb^[1] Qal perfect גָּמַל, imperfect יִגְמֹל, participle גֹּמֵל, passive participle גָּמוּל.^[17] Niphal imperfect יִגָּמֵל, infinitive הִגָּמֵל “to be weaned”.^[17]

Etymology

The verb is a Semitic root shared with Akkadian gamālu (“to do a favour, spare”), whose phrase gimilla gamālu (“to return a favour”) matches the Hebrew idiom.^[17][18][11] The Aramaic of the Targums, Egypt, Nabataea and Palmyra has it as “to requite”.^[17] Arabic جَمَلَ (jamala) means “to collect”, and with another vowel “to be beautiful”.^[17][19] HALOT and BDB compare גָּמַר (gāmar, “to end, complete”), and BDB suggests an original sense “to complete”.^[17][20] Klein separates the senses into two roots, one “to ripen, wean”, from “to be complete”, compared with كَمَلَ (kamala, “to be whole”) and gitmālu (“perfect”), and one “to repay”.^[21]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is in three archaic poems.^[22][1] The Song of Moses asks hă-layhwh tiḡməlû-zōʾṯ, “is this how you repay the LORD?” (Deuteronomy 32:6), and David's psalm says yiḡməlēnî yhwh kəṣiḏqāṯî, “the LORD rewarded me as my righteousness deserved” (2 Samuel 22:21 = Psalms 18:21).^[1][17]

Semantic evolution

HALOT puts first the sense “to bring to completion”: Aaron's rod produces ripe almonds (Numbers 17:23), and unripe grapes grow mellow (Isaiah 18:5).^[17][20] From this comes “to wean” a child, said of Hannah and Samuel (1 Samuel 1:23), with the niphal “to be weaned” at the feast for Isaac (Genesis 21:8).^[17] The commonest sense is “to do something to someone”, good or evil, “to repay”: God does not deal with us according to our sins (Psalms 103:10).^[17][1] The Septuagint has Ancient Greek ἀπογαλακτίζω (apogalaktízō, “to wean”) for one sense and ἀνταποδίδωμι (antapodídōmi, “to repay”) for the other.^[1] HALOT lists the nouns gəmûl, gəmûlâ and taḡmûl, “recompense”, among its derivatives.^[17]

Timeline

• Archaic Hebrew poetry – tiḡməlû “you repay” in the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:6) and yiḡməlēnî in David's psalm (2 Samuel 22:21).^[22][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – the weaning of Isaac (Genesis 21:8) and of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:23).^[1][17]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates “wean” by Ancient Greek ἀπογαλακτίζω (apogalaktízō).^[14][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 38 forms in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[15][16]

Meanings

Verb

1. (qal) to ripen, bring fruit to maturity.^[17][20]
2. (qal) to wean a child;^[23] (niphal) to be weaned.^[17]
3. (qal) to do good or evil to someone; to deal fully with.^[17][20]
4. (qal) to repay, requite.^[17][23]

Word family

• גְּמוּל (gəmûl)
• גְּמוּלָה (gəmûlâ)
• תַּגְמוּל (taḡmûl)