Etymologically
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ישפה

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Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: yāšəp̄ēh[1]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: yašfe[2]

Forms

יָשְׁפֶה (yāšəp̄ēh) noun, masculine[1][3] Pointed יָשְׁפֵה, in some manuscripts יָשְׁפֶה.[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Akkadian yašpû (“jasper”).[4][6][7] The Akkadian word keeps an initial ⟨y⟩ in the Amarna letters and at Boghazköy, but is ašpû in Standard Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian.[8][9][10] Noonan and Ellenbogen trace it further back, to a Hurrian word that Noonan reconstructs as Hurrian *iaspe-: Tušratta of Mittani sent the stone to Amenophis III (Amarna letter 22), and Sargon II calls a mountain near Lake Van “the jasper mountain”.[8][11] Noonan finds the form of the Hebrew word un-Semitic, and Ellenbogen notes that it keeps the initial ⟨y⟩ of Tušratta's iašpu, so the stone and its name may have come to Canaan from the north rather than through Akkadian speakers.[8][11] Likewise Classical Syriac ܝܵܫܦܹܗ (yāšpē) is from Akkadian.[7] BDB took it instead from Persian یشم (yašm), through Arabic يَشْب (yašb), while HALOT runs the chain the other way, from Arabic to Persian.[5][4]

Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis) is usually taken as a loan from Semitic, by Klein and Beekes among others, but Noonan derives it from Hurrian through Anatolia, where the word is found in Hittite yašpu-, and points to the stem with ⟨-d-⟩ of its genitive, like other words that reached Greek from Anatolia.[6][12][8] Latin iaspis is from Greek, and English jasper from Latin through Old French.[8][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs three times, all in lists of precious stones.[1] In the Priestly account of the high priest's breastplate it is the last stone of the fourth row: taršîš wəšōham wəyāšəp̄ēh (Exodus 28:20, again in 39:13).[1][5][14] In Ezekiel's lament over the king of Tyre it is among the stones of his covering in Eden (Ezekiel 28:13).[8][1]

Semantic evolution

The ancient versions did not agree on the stone.[8] The Septuagint has Ancient Greek ὀνύχιον (onúkhion, “onyx”) in Exodus and ἴασπις (íaspis) only in Ezekiel, the Vulgate has berillus “beryl”, and the Targum a stone spotted like a panther.[8][1] Gesenius–Buhl reports the same split: onyx in the Septuagint and Josephus, beryl in the Vulgate, jasper in the others.[15] HALOT doubts that it was jasper in the modern sense and mentions nephrite.[4] The Dead Sea Scrolls have it three times, in 4Q17 and 4Q365.[16]

Timeline

  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – the breastplate of the high priest, Exodus 28:20 and 39:13, Priestly texts.[5][1]
  • Prophetic books – the stones of the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:13).[1][8]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it onyx in Exodus, Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis) in Ezekiel.[17][8]
  • 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – three occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.[18][16]

Meanings

Noun

  1. jasper or a similar hard stone, one of the precious stones of the high priest's breastplate.[4][5][8]

Usage notes

The name Yišpâ of a Benjaminite (1 Chronicles 8:16) has the same consonants but is a separate name, which HALOT derives from a root “bald”.[19][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
  2. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
  3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b c d e Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. יָשְׁפֵה
  5. ^ a b c d e Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1906), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. יָשְׁפֶה
  6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. יָשְׁפֵה
  7. ^ a b Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 586
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Noonan, Benjamin J. (2019), Non-Semitic Loanwords in the Hebrew Bible: A Lexicon of Language Contact, University Park: Eisenbrauns (Linguistic Studies in Ancient West Semitic 14), p. 113
  9. ^ Gelb, Ignace J., et al., eds. (1956–2010), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 21 vols, Chicago: Oriental Institute, p. I/J 328
  10. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 413
  11. ^ a b Ellenbogen, Maximilian (1962), Foreign Words in the Old Testament: Their Origin and Etymology, London: Luzac, p. 81
  12. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. ἴασπις
  13. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  14. ^ Tawil, Hayim ben Yosef (2009), An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents, Jersey City: Ktav, p. 151
  15. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. יָשְׁפֶה
  16. ^ a b Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
  17. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
  18. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
  19. ^ Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob (1994–2000), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, transl. and ed. M. E. J. Richardson, 5 vols, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. יִשְׁפָּה