ערבון

Forms

עֵרָבוֹן (ʿērāḇôn) noun, masculine^[1][4]

Etymology

It is a noun from Biblical Hebrew עָרַב (ʿāraḇ, “to stand surety”) with the suffix /-ôn/.^[5][6][3] The verb has cognates in Ugaritic ʿrb (“to give a pledge”), Classical Syriac ܥܪܒ (ʿrab, “to be surety”), Arabic and Sabaean, and Huehnergard takes it from a root meaning “to enter”, as in Akkadian erēbu (“to enter”).^{[7][8][9][10]} The noun itself is shared with Aramaic: the Egyptian Aramaic form is ערבן (ʿrbn), and the later Jewish dialects Aramaic עַרְבּוֹנָא (ʿarbônā), with the Hebrew-like /ô/.^[3][11]

From the Semitic word come Arabic عَرَبُون (ʿarabūn) and Ancient Greek ἀρραβών (arrhabṓn), which passed into Latin arrhabō and its short form arrha.^[3][6][4] LSJ thinks the Greek word came most likely from Phoenician, and Huehnergard from an unattested Canaanite form;^[12][9][13] Beekes notes that its Semitic origin has been doubted.^[12][9][13]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs only in the story of Judah and Tamar.^[1][5] When Judah promises her a kid from his flock, she asks ʾim-tittēn ʿērāḇôn ʿaḏ šoləḥeḵā “if you will give a pledge until you send it” (Genesis 38:17), and he gives her his seal, cord and staff.^[1][14][5]

Semantic evolution

In Genesis 38 it is a security held until a promise is kept, and returned when it is.^[14][3] BDB and HALOT note the proposal to read ʿerḇōnî “my pledge” in Job 17:3 too.^[14][3] The Septuagint keeps the word as Ancient Greek ἀρραβών (arrhabṓn), which in Greek meant the earnest money a buyer paid down and lost if the sale fell through.^[1][12] In the Mishnah and Talmud it is also earnest money: a buyer's deposit, forfeited if he withdraws.^[15] Through Latin arrha it reached French arrhes, and Huehnergard traces the English word earnest “earnest money” to the Greek word.^[3][9] Today Modern Hebrew ערבון (eravón) is a pledge or deposit.^[4]

Timeline

• Classical Biblical Hebrew – three times in Genesis 38:17–20.^[1][14]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint keeps it as Ancient Greek ἀρραβών (arrhabṓn).^[16][1]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – three times in a reworked Pentateuch from Qumran (4Q364).^[17][18]

Meanings

Noun

1. a pledge, a security given until a promise is kept.^[3][14]
2. (post-biblical) earnest money, a deposit.^[5][15]

Word family

• עָרַב (ʿāraḇ)
• עֲרֻבָּה (ʿărubbâ)

Descendants

• ἀρραβών (arrhabṓn)^[19]
• arrhabō^[4]
• arrha^[4]
• عَرَبُون (ʿarabūn)^[6]
• Modern Hebrew ערבון (eravón)^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Clear Bible (2023–), MACULA Hebrew Linguistic Datasets (Westminster Leningrad Codex, with Greek alignment), github.com/Clear-Bible/macula-hebrew, CC BY 4.0
2. ^ Højgaard, Christian Canu; Naaijer, Martijn; Schorch, Stefan (2023), Text-Fabric Dataset of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Zenodo, doi:10.5281/zenodo.7734632
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. עֵרָבוֹן
4. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. עֵרָבוֹן
6. ^ a b c Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. עֵרָבוֹן
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. ʿ-r-b II
8. ^ Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 1133
9. ^ a b c d 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. ʿrb
10. ^ Kogan, Leonid (2015), Genealogical Classification of Semitic: The Lexical Isoglosses, Berlin: De Gruyter, p. 333
11. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu, p. s.v. ערבון
12. ^ a b c Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ἀρραβών
13. ^ a b 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. ἀρραβών
14. ^ a b c d e 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. עֵרָבוֹן
15. ^ 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. עֵרָבוֹן ²
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. ^ Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
19. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press