עיר

עיר¹ city, town

Pronunciation

• Tiberian: ʿîr, plural ʿārîm^[1][2]
• Samaritan reading tradition: īr, plural ʿarrəm^[3][4]

Forms

עִיר (ʿîr) noun, feminine, plural עָרִים^[1][5] Feminine; with the ending of direction הָעִירָה; with suffixes עִירִי, עִירוֹ; plural עָרִים, construct עָרֵי, once עֲיָרִים (Judges 10:4).^[2][4] The inscriptions spell it with y (hʿyrh “to the city”).^[6]

Etymology

The origin of the word is uncertain.^[4][2][7] It has cognates in Ugaritic ʕr and in Sabaean ʿr (“mountain, fortress”), and perhaps in Phoenician.^[4][8] HALOT lists three explanations: a loan from Sumerian uru (“city”), which Gesenius–Buhl, Klein and Wiktionary also mention; a walled settlement, connected with קִיר (qîr, “wall”); or a protected place, from the root of Ugaritic ġr (“to protect”), which HALOT finds the most likely.^[4][7][8][5] HALOT sets up a Hebrew verb of this root meaning “to protect”, in Deuteronomy 32:11 and Job 8:6.^[9]

The usual plural (see Forms) is formed on a by-form עָר (ʿār), which is found in place names such as Ar of Moab (Numbers 21:28).^[5][7] The plural found once, in Judges 10:4, is a pun on the donkeys, עֲיָרִים (ʿăyārîm), that Jair's thirty sons ride.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest dated records are two ostraca of the 6th century BC:^[10] Lachish letter 4 has hʿyrh, “to the city”, meaning Jerusalem, and hʿyr is also found in an ostracon from Arad.^[4][11][12] In the Bible the noun is used 1,088 times.^[1] One of these is in the oracles of Balaam, which Sáenz-Badillos counts among the archaic poems: wəheʾĕḇîḏ śārîḏ mēʿîr, “and he will destroy the survivors of the city” (Numbers 24:19).^[1][13]

Semantic evolution

HALOT defines ʿîr as a permanent settlement of any size: Bethlehem is a ʿîr (Ruth 3:15).^[4] The Bible tells walled cities (ʿîr ḥômâ, Leviticus 25:29, or ʿārîm bəṣurôṯ, fortified cities) apart from open settlements (ʿārê happərāzî, Deuteronomy 3:5), as it does the villages, ḥăṣērîm, that belong to a city.^[4][2] The word can also name a part of a city, such as the “water city” of Rabbah (2 Samuel 12:27), and a citadel: Gesenius–Buhl takes the “city of David” (2 Samuel 5:7, 9) as the fortress with the rooms of its garrison.^[4][7] Among the cities of the Levites the law sets apart the ʿārê miqlāṭ, the cities of refuge (Numbers 35).^[4][2]

The Septuagint renders it almost everywhere with Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis).^[1] The Dead Sea Scrolls use it more than 500 times, 55 times in the Temple Scroll alone.^[14] Rabbinic Hebrew forms the plural ʿăyārôṯ.^[4] Modern Hebrew עיר (ir) is “city”, with the derivatives ʿăyārâ “small town” and ʿîriyyâ “municipality”, and a new verb “to urbanize”.^[5][8][15]

Timeline

• 6th century BC – hʿyrh “to the city” in Lachish letter 4, and hʿyr in an ostracon from Arad.^[10][11][4]
• Archaic Hebrew poetry – mēʿîr in the oracles of Balaam (Numbers 24:19).^[13][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – 490 of the biblical uses are in Genesis to Kings.^[1]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it with Ancient Greek πόλις (pólis).^[16][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – more than 500 uses in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[17][14]

Meanings

Noun

1. a city, a town: a permanent settlement, large or small.^[4][2]
2. a fortified city, a walled town.^[4][2]
3. a quarter or district of a city.^[4]
4. a citadel, a fortress (the city of David).^[7][4]

Descendants

• Modern Hebrew עיר (ir)^[5]

עיר² young donkey

Pronunciation

• Tiberian: ʿayir^[1][18]
• Samaritan reading tradition: īr, plural īrəm^[19][3]

Forms

עַיִר (ʿayir) noun, feminine, plural עָרִים^[1][5] Masculine; with suffix עִירֹה (Genesis 49:11); plural עֲיָרִים, also written עֲיָרִם.^[18][19]

Etymology

The donkey is inherited from Proto-West Semitic *ʕayr- (“donkey”).^[5][20] The same word is Ugaritic ʕr and Arabic عَيْر (ʿayr), a wild ass in Arabic, and Kogan adds Mehri.^{[20][19][21][22]} An early West Semitic form of the word is found in the Old Babylonian texts from Mari, and Akkadian ḫâru was borrowed from West Semitic.^[20][19][23]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is used eight times in the Bible.^[1] One of them is in an archaic poem, the Blessing of Jacob, where Judah is ʾōsərî laggep̄en ʿîrōh, “tying his donkey to the vine”, in parallel with “his she-ass's foal” (Genesis 49:11).^[1][18][13]

Semantic evolution

BDB defines it as a young and vigorous male ass, Gesenius–Buhl as a young donkey or foal that is also used of the grown animal.^[18][22] It is ridden by Jair's and Abdon's sons (Judges 10:4, 12:14), carries loads (Isaiah 30:6) and works the fields (Isaiah 30:24).^[18][22] In Zechariah 9:9 the king comes riding ʿal-ʿayir ben-ʾăṯōnôṯ, “on a donkey, the foal of a she-ass”, a phrase HALOT compares with the ḫâram mār atānim of a letter from Mari.^[19][1] Job 11:12 has ʿayir pereʾ, the colt of a wild ass.^[18][19] The Septuagint mostly translates it with Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos).^[1]

Timeline

• Archaic Hebrew poetry – ʿîrōh “his donkey” in the Blessing of Jacob (Genesis 49:11).^[13][1]
• Classical Biblical Hebrew – Jacob's gift to Esau includes ten ʿăyārîm (Genesis 32:16).^[1][18]
• Prophets – the king riding on a donkey's foal (Zechariah 9:9).^[19]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it with Ancient Greek πῶλος (pôlos).^[16][1]

Meanings

Noun

1. a young male donkey, a foal; a donkey for riding, carrying or ploughing.^[18][19][24]
2. ʿayir pereʾ: the colt of a wild ass.^[18]