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מר

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Etymology and origin of the Biblical Hebrew word מר

מר1 bitter

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Hebrew Bible

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: mar, pausal mār[1][2]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: mar, mirra, plural marrəm[3][2]

Forms

מַר (mar) adjective[1] Pausal מָר; feminine מָרָה, once מָרָא (Ruth 1:20), construct מָרַת; plural מָרִים, construct מָרֵי.[2][4]

Etymology

The adjective belongs to the root of מָרַר (mārar, “to be bitter”) and has the same form in Akkadian marru (“bitter”)[5][6][7] and Ugaritic mr (“bitter”), which DULAT lists in “bitter almonds”.[8] Other Semitic languages have it too: Arabic مُرّ (murr, “bitter”),[2][9] Classical Syriac ܡܪܝܪܐ (marīrā, “bitter”)[9][2], and HALOT and DULAT cite a Ge'ez adjective of the same meaning.[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first use in the canon is Esau's cry when he learns that Jacob has taken his blessing: way-yiṣʿaq ṣəʿāqâ gəḏōlâ û-mārâ ʿaḏ-məʾōḏ, “he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry” (Genesis 27:34).[1] The literal taste comes in Exodus 15:23, at Marah, where the people could not drink the water kî mārîm hēm, “for it was bitter”.[1][2]

Semantic evolution

HALOT moves from taste to feeling.[2] Literally bitter are water, wormwood and food, the opposite of מָתוֹק (māṯôq, “sweet”) (Isaiah 5:20, Proverbs 27:7), and the ordeal of the suspected wife uses mê ham-mārîm, “the water of bitterness” (Numbers 5:18–27).[2][4] Bitter in experience are death (1 Samuel 15:32), a day of mourning (Amos 8:10) and a cry (Esther 4:1); used as an adverb, one weeps or cries bitterly (Isaiah 33:7, Ezekiel 27:30).[2] The phrase mar nep̄eš describes the grieving Hannah (1 Samuel 1:10) and also men who are provoked and dangerous, like a bear robbed of her cubs (2 Samuel 17:8).[2] Naomi tells the women of Bethlehem to call her mārāʾ, “bitter”, instead of Naomi (Ruth 1:20).[2][1] The Septuagint usually has Ancient Greek πικρός (pikrós);[1] in Numbers 5 it reads the bitter water as the water of ἐλεγμός (elegmós, “reproof”).[1] Modern Hebrew מַר (mar) keeps the adjective.[9]

Timeline

  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – Esau's bitter cry (Genesis 27:34) and the water of Marah (Exodus 15:23).[1][2]
  • Prophets and poetry – the bitter day (Amos 8:10) and the bitter soul (Job 7:11).[2]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it Ancient Greek πικρός (pikrós).[10][1]
  • 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – about 20 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.[11][12]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. bitter in taste: water, wormwood, food.[2][4]
  2. bitter in experience: painful, grievous;[2] (as adverb) bitterly.[2]
  3. embittered, distressed;[2] mārê nep̄eš angry, desperate men.[2]

Noun

  1. bitterness, grief: mar nap̄šî “the bitterness of my soul”.[2]

Descendants

  • Modern Hebrew מַר (mar)[9]

מר2 myrrh

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Hebrew Bible
Inherited from
Proto-Semitic *murr-
Ultimate origin
Proto-Semitic *murr-

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: mōr, construct mār[1][13]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: mar[13]

Forms

מֹר (mōr) noun, masculine[1][9] Written מֹר six times and מוֹר four times; construct מָר־ in mār-dərôr (Exodus 30:23).[13]

Etymology

Myrrh is inherited from Proto-Semitic *murr- (“bitterness; myrrh”), the Common Semitic noun of the root “to be bitter”;[14][13] HALOT explains the name by the resin's bitter taste.[13] The same noun is Ugaritic mr (“myrrh”),[15] Akkadian murru (“bitterness; myrrh”),[16][17] Jewish Aramaic מוֹרָא (mōrā), Classical Syriac ܡܘܪܐ (mūrā),[13] Arabic مُرّ (murr, “myrrh”) and Old South Arabian mrt.[13][15] From a Semitic source of this kind came Ancient Greek μύρρα (múrrha) and σμύρνα (smúrna),[13][18][19] and through Latin myrrha the English myrrh.[20]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Priestly instructions for the holy anointing oil the list of spices begins with mār-dərôr, “flowing myrrh”, 500 shekels of it (Exodus 30:23).[1][13]

Semantic evolution

HALOT identifies the resin as that of an Arabian tree, Commiphora, brought to Palestine by traders.[13] Nine of the twelve uses are in poetry, most in the Song of Songs: a bag of myrrh between the breasts (1:13), the “mountain of myrrh” (4:6), myrrh in liquid drops on the hands (5:5, 13).[1][13] It perfumes garments (Psalm 45:9) and a bed (Proverbs 7:17), and the women of the Persian court were massaged for six months with šemen ham-mōr, “oil of myrrh” (Esther 2:12).[13] Akkadian texts use myrrh as medicine, and an Amarna letter asks the king for some.[7] The Septuagint renders it Ancient Greek σμύρνα (smúrna).[1] Modern Hebrew מוֹר (mor) is still myrrh.[9]

Timeline

  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – the anointing oil of Exodus 30:23.[1][13]
  • Poetry – the Song of Songs, Psalm 45:9, Proverbs 7:17.[1][13]
  • Late Biblical Hebrew – the oil of myrrh in Esther 2:12.[13][1]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it Ancient Greek σμύρνα (smúrna).[10][1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. myrrh, the fragrant resin of an Arabian tree, used in perfume, anointing oil and cosmetics.[13][21]

Descendants

  • Modern Hebrew מוֹר (mor)[9]

Usage notes

Two other words are written מר once each.[1] The mar of Isaiah 40:15, gôyim kə-mar mid-dəlî, “the nations are like a drop from a bucket”, is translated “drop” by Gesenius–Buhl and the Septuagint (Ancient Greek σταγών (stagṓn)); HALOT assigns it to a root מרר “to go away, flow” and Klein leaves its origin open.[22][1][23][24] The mār of Isaiah 38:17 is a form of the verb מָרַר (mārar).[1][25] Modern Hebrew also has mar “Mr.”, from Aramaic מָרָא (mārāʾ, “master”).[24][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u 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 p q r s t 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. מַר I
  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 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. מַר³
  5. ^ 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. M/1 286
  6. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 612
  7. ^ a b Tawil, Hayim ben Yosef (2009), An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents, Jersey City: Ktav, p. 222
  8. ^ a b 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. mr II
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  10. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
  11. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
  12. ^ Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. מֹר
  14. ^ 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. mrr
  15. ^ a b 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. mr I
  16. ^ Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgate, Nicholas (2000), A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. s.v. murru
  17. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 676
  18. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. μύρρα
  19. ^ 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. μύρρα
  20. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com, p. s.v. myrrh
  21. ^ 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. מֹר
  22. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. מַר
  23. ^ 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. מַר II
  24. ^ 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. מַר
  25. ^ 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. מָרַר

Related etymologies

  • אבן · also from Proto-Semitic
  • כשר · also from Proto-Semitic
  • גן · also from Proto-Semitic
  • גוי · also from Proto-Semitic
  • יובל · also from Proto-Semitic
  • גמל · also from Proto-Semitic
  • שק · also from Proto-Semitic
  • אתון · also from Proto-Semitic
Cite this entry

“מר.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/hbo/%D7%9E%D7%A8. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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