כרכום

Forms

כַּרְכֹּם (karkōm) noun, masculine^[3] Usually written defectively כַּרְכֹּם; some manuscripts of Song of Songs 4:14 read כרכס.^[2]

Etymology

It is a culture word of unclear path.^[4] The word is found as Aramaic כּוּרְכְּמָא (kurkəmā), Classical Syriac ܟܘܼܪܟܡܵܐ (kurkmā), Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “saffron, turmeric”), Middle Persian kurkum and Akkadian kurkānu, and Ellenbogen notes that only Akkadian has ⟨n⟩ for ⟨m⟩.^{[2][5][6][4][7]} Several scholars derive it from Sanskrit कुङ्कुम (kuṅkuma), and Ellenbogen counts it among the Indian products traded to the west;^[4][7][8] Klein takes the Sanskrit to be a Semitic loan instead.^[4][7][8] Noonan objects that the Sanskrit word is late and its consonants do not fit, that an Old Iranian *kurkum- did not exist, and that Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos) differs too much for a direct loan.^[4] He traces all these words to an old culture word of the eastern Mediterranean, where the saffron crocus was first grown: a crocus sign is used in the Linear B tablets of Knossos, and saffron flowers are painted on Minoan and Cycladic frescoes.^[4] Beekes too finds the Greek word identical with the Semitic and Sanskrit ones without settling its origin.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is used once in the Bible, in a list of spices of the Song of Songs: nērd wəḵarkōm qāne wəqinnāmôn, “nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon” (Song of Songs 4:14).^[3][4] Noonan takes it as saffron, from the flower of Crocus sativus, used for incense, for flavouring food and as a golden-yellow dye.^[4] HALOT allows both saffron and turmeric.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Septuagint has Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos), the Vulgate crocus and the Peshitta the Syriac word, while the Targum gives a word for safflower.^[4][3] In Rabbinic Hebrew karkôm is one of the ingredients of the temple incense, and a shade of blood is compared to its colour.^[10] Post-biblical Hebrew forms a verb kirkēm “to dye with saffron”.^[2][5] Menahem describes the plant as one with a red top used for dyeing, and Kimhi identifies it with Arabic zaʿfarān.^[11][12] Modern Hebrew כרכום (karkóm) is “crocus”.^[13]

Timeline

• Biblical poetry – karkōm among the spices of Song of Songs 4:14.^[3]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it with Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos).^[14][3]
• Rabbinic Hebrew – an ingredient of the temple incense.^[10]
• Modern Hebrew – karkom “crocus”.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. saffron, from the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus); perhaps also turmeric.^[2][5][15]

Descendants

• Modern Hebrew כרכום (karkóm)^[13]

Related words

• Ancient Greek κρόκος (krókos)
• Latin crocus

References

1. ^ Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (2021), BHSA: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Amstelodamensis, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2021, github.com/ETCBC/bhsa
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. כַּרְכֹּם
3. ^ a b c d e Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. 132
5. ^ a b c 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. כַּרְכֹּם
6. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 655
7. ^ a b c Ellenbogen, Maximilian (1962), Foreign Words in the Old Testament: Their Origin and Etymology, London: Luzac, p. 93
8. ^ 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. כַּרְכֹּם
9. ^ 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. κρόκος
10. ^ a b Jastrow, Marcus (1886–1903), A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, London: Luzac; New York: Putnam, p. s.v. כַּרְכּוֹם I
11. ^ Menahem ben Saruq (10th c.), Maḥberet, ed. Herschell Filipowski (1854), London: Hebrew Antiquarian Society, p. כרכם
12. ^ Kimhi, David (13th c.), Sefer ha-Shorashim, ed. J. H. R. Biesenthal and F. Lebrecht (1847), Berlin: G. Bethge, p. s.v. כרכם
13. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
14. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
15. ^ de Blois, Reinier, ed. (2000–), Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, United Bible Societies, sdbh.org, p. s.v. כַּרְכֹּם