מלאך

Forms

מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ) noun, masculine, plural מַלְאָכִים^[1][4] Construct מַלְאַךְ, with suffix מַלְאָכִי, מַלְאָכוֹ, plural מַלְאָכִים, construct plural מַלְאֲכֵי.^[2][5]

Etymology

It is a noun with the prefix ⟨ma-⟩ from Proto-Semitic *lʔk (“to send”),^[4][5][6] a root that has no verb in Hebrew.^[4] HALOT explains it as first “mission”, then “messenger”.^[5] The verb is Ugaritic lảk (“to send a message”),^[7] Arabic لَأَكَ (laʾaka, “he sent”),^[8][4] Sabaean lʾk and Ge'ez ለአከ (laʾaka, “to send”).^[6][4] The noun matches Ugaritic mlảk (“messenger”),^[9] Phoenician mlʾk, Old Aramaic and Classical Syriac ܡܲܠܲܐܟܵܐ (malʾaḵā, “messenger, angel”).^[10][5][11] Klein holds the Ge'ez and Arabic words for “angel” to be loans from Aramaic, and Gesenius–Buhl thought the Aramaic, Syriac, Arabic and Ge'ez words might all come from Hebrew.^[10][12]

The same root gives מְלָאכָה (məlāʾḵâ, “work, business”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The only occurrence in the archaic poems is in the Song of Deborah: ʾôrû mērôz ʾāmar malʾaḵ YHWH, “Curse Meroz, said the angel of the LORD” (Judges 5:23).^[1][13][2] In the narratives the word mostly denotes a human messenger: Jacob sends malʾāḵîm to Esau (Genesis 32:4) and Moses to the king of Edom (Numbers 20:14).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The human sense remains frequent: messengers of kings and of Saul, malʾăḵê šālôm “envoys of peace” (Isaiah 33:7).^[5][2] A messenger of God can be a prophet (Haggai 1:13) or a priest (Malachi 2:7).^[5][2] The heavenly messenger is the angel: the angels on Jacob's ladder (Genesis 28:12), the angel who guards the faithful (Psalm 91:11) and destroys (2 Samuel 24:16).^[5][2] BDB singles out malʾaḵ YHWH, the angel of the LORD, whose appearances in Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Judges are hard to tell from God's own, and which is not named in Deuteronomy or the Priestly source.^[2] The late books, Zechariah 1–6 above all, give angels a larger part.^[2]

The Septuagint translates it almost everywhere as Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos), a few times as πρέσβεις (présbus) “envoys”.^[1] Biblical Aramaic has the same word twice, in Daniel.^[1][14] The Dead Sea Scrolls use it 233 times, often in the War Scroll.^[15] Modern Hebrew מלאך (mal'ákh) means “angel” and “messenger”.^[10][4]

Timeline

• Archaic Hebrew poetry – malʾaḵ YHWH “the angel of the LORD” in the Song of Deborah (Judges 5:23).^[13][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – Jacob's messengers to Esau (Genesis 32:4); 125 occurrences in Genesis to Kings.^[5][1]
• Biblical prophets – the prophet and the priest as messengers of God (Haggai 1:13, Malachi 2:7).^[5]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it as Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos).^[16][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 233 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[17][15]

Meanings

Noun

1. a messenger, one sent with a message; an envoy of a king.^[5][2]
2. a messenger of God: a prophet or a priest.^[5][2]
3. an angel, a heavenly messenger of God.^[5][2]
4. malʾaḵ YHWH the angel of the LORD, in whom God himself appears.^[2]
5. (figurative) messengers of death, of evil; the winds as God's messengers (Psalm 104:4).^[2][5]

Word family

• מְלָאכָה (məlāʾḵâ)
• מַלְאָכוּת (malʾăḵûṯ)

Descendants

• Yiddish מלאך (malekh)^[4]
• Modern Hebrew מלאך (mal'ákh)^[4]

Usage notes

The prophet's name Malachi, מַלְאָכִי, is malʾāḵî “my messenger”.^[18][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. מַלְאָךְ
3. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. מַלְאָךְ
6. ^ a b c Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 120
7. ^ 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. /l-ʔ-k/
8. ^ Lane, Edward William (1863–1893), An Arabic-English Lexicon, 8 parts, London: Williams and Norgate, p. 3007
9. ^ 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. mlảk
10. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. מַלְאָךְ
11. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 764
12. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. מַלְאָךְ
13. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 69
14. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu
15. ^ 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
16. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
17. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
18. ^ 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, p. s.v. lʾk