כשר

Forms

כָּשֵׁר (kāšēr) verb^[3] Qal perfect כָּשֵׁר, imperfect יִכְשַׁר; hiphil infinitive הַכְשֵׁיר.^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Semitic *kṯr (“to succeed, be suitable”), a Semitic root whose /ṯ/ became /š/ in Hebrew.^[5][4] Its cognates are Aramaic כשר (kəšar, “to be fitting, useful”), Classical Syriac ܟܫܪ (kšar, “to be upright, fitting; to increase”), and Ugaritic kṯr (“skilful”), the name also of the craftsman god Kothar.^[4][6][7][8] Klein and von Soden also compare Akkadian kašāru (“to restore, replace”).^[9][10]

Because Aramaic has /š/ here where its own reflex of /ṯ/ would be /t/, HALOT reports Kutscher's view that Aramaic took the root from Canaanite or Akkadian; it also notes, with a question mark, that Wagner counted the Hebrew verb among the Aramaisms.^[4] All its biblical uses are in Esther and Qohelet, books in which Sáenz-Badillos finds Aramaisms relatively abundant.^[1][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is used three times, all in late books.^[1] Esther asks the king that he write to annul Haman's letters wəḵāšēr haddāḇār lip̄nê hammeleḵ “if the thing seems right to the king” (Esther 8:5).^[1][3] Qohelet says that you do not know ʾê zeh yiḵšar “which will succeed”, this or that (Qohelet 11:6), and Qohelet 10:10 has the hiphil, of the advantage of wisdom.^[3][4] Sáenz-Badillos places Qohelet probably in the second half of the 3rd century BC.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In the Bible the verb means “to be proper, pleasing” and “to succeed”;^[13] HALOT renders the hiphil of Qohelet 10:10 “to use properly”, with a question mark.^[4][3] Ben Sira 13:4 uses the qal with lə-, and the Dead Sea Scrolls have the noun kōšer five times, in non-biblical texts.^[4][13]

Rabbinic Hebrew made it a legal term.^[14] The verb means to be fit, and the hiphil hiḵšîr is to declare fit or permitted; the adjective kāšēr is “fit, valid” and especially “ritually fit”, said of food, and kašrûṯ is ritual fitness.^[14][15][16] Through Yiddish this kāšēr became English kosher, recorded from 1850, which by 1896 also meant “correct, legitimate”.^[17][5] In Modern Hebrew כשר (kashér) means fit, proper and kosher, and the noun kōšer also ability.^[18][16]

Timeline

• Late Biblical Hebrew – three times, in Esther 8:5 and Qohelet 10:10 and 11:6.^[1][3]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – the noun kōšer five times in non-biblical Dead Sea Scrolls.^[19][13]
• Rabbinic Hebrew – kāšēr “fit, ritually fit”, hiḵšîr “to declare fit”.^[14][15]
• 1850 – English kosher, through Yiddish.^[17]

Meanings

Verb

1. qal: with lip̄nê, to be proper or pleasing in someone's view.^[4][3]
2. qal: to succeed, prosper.^[4][3]
3. hiphil: to give success, or to use properly (Qohelet 10:10; uncertain).^[4][3][20]

Descendants

• Modern Hebrew כשר (kashér)^[18]
• English kosher, through Yiddish^[17]

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ Eep Talstra Centre for Bible and Computer (2021), BHSA: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Amstelodamensis, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2021, github.com/ETCBC/bhsa
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. כָּשֵׁר
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. כשׁר
5. ^ a b Huehnergard, John (2011), "Proto-Semitic Language and Culture" and "Semitic Roots", in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu
7. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 659
8. ^ del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition, 3rd ed., transl. W. G. E. Watson, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. kṯr
9. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. כשׁר
10. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 461
11. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 128
12. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 137
13. ^ a b c Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
14. ^ a b c 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. כָּשֵׁר
15. ^ 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. כָּשֵׁר
16. ^ 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. כֹּשֶׁר
17. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
19. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
20. ^ Holladay, William L. (1971), A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. כָּשֵׁר