קטר

Forms

קָטַר (qāṭar) verb, only in the derived stems^[1][4] Piel perfect קִטְּרוּ, imperfect יְקַטֵּר, infinitive קַטֵּר, participle מְקַטְּרִים; pual participle מְקֻטֶּרֶת (Song of Songs 3:6); hiphil הִקְטִיר, יַקְטִיר, participle מַקְטִיר; hophal תָּקְטָר, participle מֻקְטָר (Malachi 1:11).^[1]

Etymology

The root is Semitic, with cognates that mean smoke: Akkadian qatāru (“to billow (of smoke)”)^[5][1] with qutru (“smoke”),^[6] Ugaritic qṭr (“smoke, incense”),^[7] Jewish Aramaic קִיטְרָא (qîṭrā, “thick smoke”),^[4] Arabic قَتَرَ (qatara, “to give off smoke or the smell of roasting”),^[4][8] Sabaean mqṭr (“censer”) and Ge'ez ቅታሬ (qətāre, “incense”).^[4][1] BDB and Gesenius–Buhl note that Akkadian and Arabic have ⟨t⟩ where Hebrew has ⟨ṭ⟩.^[4][9] Gesenius–Buhl also compares Classical Syriac ܥܛܪ (ʿəṭar, “to fume”), with a change of the first consonant.^[9][1]

Since the simple stem is not used in the Bible, BDB and Klein take the Hebrew verb to be formed on the noun קְטֹרֶת (qəṭōreṯ, “smoke of sacrifice, incense”), “to produce incense”;^[4][10][8] HALOT lists the noun as a derivative of the verbal root.^[1] Tawil compares the Akkadian intensive stem qutturu (“to offer incense”), used like the piel and hiphil of the verb here.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is not in the archaic poems; of its 114 occurrences, 65 are in the prose of Genesis to Kings.^[2] The hiphil is the term of the Priestly laws for burning the parts of an offering on the altar, as in wəhiqṭartā hammizbēḥâ, “and you shall burn them on the altar” (Exodus 29:13).^[2][1] The piel is used, with one exception, of worship outside the official cult; the exception is Amos 4:5: wəqaṭṭēr mēḥāmēṣ tôḏâ, “burn a thank-offering of leavened bread”.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

In the hiphil the verb covers the official sacrifices: burnt offerings, the fat, the grain offering and its memorial portion, and incense (Exodus 30:7).^[1] The piel, in Kings, Jeremiah and Hosea, describes offerings on the high places and the hills, to Baal, to the host of heaven and to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 44:17–25).^[1] What was burnt is debated: BDB defines the verb as making sacrifices go up in smoke, and Haran, cited by HALOT, takes the piel of a food offering accompanied by incense.^[4][10][1] The hophal means to be turned into smoke, and the pual participle means filled with fragrance (Song of Songs 3:6).^[1]

The Septuagint renders it with Ancient Greek θυμιάω (thumiáō, “to burn incense”), ἀναφέρω (anaphérō, “to offer up”) and ἐπιτίθημι (epitíthēmi, “to lay upon”).^[2] The Dead Sea Scrolls use it 84 times, 24 of them in the Temple Scroll (11Q19).^[12]

Timeline

• Classical Biblical Hebrew – 65 occurrences from Genesis to Kings; the hiphil in the Priestly laws (Exodus 29:13).^[2][1]
• Prophets – the piel of illegitimate offerings in Hosea, Jeremiah and Isaiah 65:3, 7.^[1]
• Late Biblical Hebrew – 16 occurrences, in Chronicles.^[2]
• 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint translates it with Ancient Greek θυμιάω (thumiáō).^[13][2]
• 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 84 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[14][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. piel to make (offerings) go up in smoke, to burn incense or sacrifices, chiefly in illegitimate cults.^[1][4]
2. pual participle: perfumed with incense.^[1]
3. hiphil to turn into smoke on the altar: to burn burnt offerings, fat, grain offerings, incense.^[1][4]
4. hiphil to offer sacrifices to other gods, on the high places.^[1]
5. hophal to be turned into smoke.^[1]

Word family

• קְטֹרֶת (qəṭōreṯ)
• מִקְטָר (miqṭār)

Usage notes

The noun qiṭṭēr (Jeremiah 44:21) occurs only once;^{[15][16][17][18]} BDB and Klein take it as “incense”, Gesenius–Buhl as “smoke of sacrifice”, and HALOT lists other proposals and the emendation to haqqəṭōreṯ.^{[15][16][17][18]} A root qṭr “to tie”, from which the Biblical Aramaic qiṭrê “joints, knots” of Daniel 5:6 comes, is separate;^[19][20] HALOT and BDB find it perhaps in the ḥăṣērôṯ qəṭurôṯ, “enclosed courts”, of Ezekiel 46:22.^[19][21][22]

References

1. ^ 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. קטר I
2. ^ 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
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 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. קטר
5. ^ von Soden, Wolfram (1965–1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. 907
6. ^ Black, Jeremy; George, Andrew; Postgate, Nicholas (2000), A Concise Dictionary of Akkadian, 2nd ed., Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, p. s.v. qutru
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. qṭr
8. ^ 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. קטר I
9. ^ a b Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. קטר
10. ^ a b 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. קָטַר
11. ^ Tawil, Hayim ben Yosef (2009), An Akkadian Lexical Companion for Biblical Hebrew: Etymological-Semantic and Idiomatic Equivalents, Jersey City: Ktav, p. 338
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
14. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
15. ^ a b 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. קִטֵּר
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. קִטֵּר
17. ^ a b Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. קִטֵּר
18. ^ a b 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. קִטֵּר
19. ^ a b 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. קטר II
20. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu
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. קָטַר²
22. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. קטר II