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שרץ

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Etymology and origin of the Biblical Hebrew word שרץ

שרץ1 swarming creatures

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Hebrew Bible
Ultimate origin
Biblical Hebrew שרץ

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: šereṣ, pausal šāreṣ[1][2]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: šērəṣ[3]

Forms

שֶׁרֶץ (šereṣ) noun, masculine, collective[1][2] Construct שֶׁרֶץ (שֶׁרֶץ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ הָעוֹף), pausal שָׁרֶץ; used as a collective.[4][2]

Etymology

The swarming creatures are a noun of the /qeṭel/ pattern from Biblical Hebrew שָׁרַץ (šāraṣ, “to swarm”).[4][5][6] The noun is shared with Aramaic: Jewish Aramaic שִׁרְצָא (širṣā, “reptile”) and Classical Syriac ܫܸܪܨܵܐ (šerṣā, “reptile, creeping animal”).[4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

All 15 biblical occurrences are in the Pentateuch, in the Priestly and Holiness passages and Deuteronomy.[1][2] The first in the canon is the creation story: yišrəṣû hammayim šereṣ nep̄eš ḥayyâ “let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures” (Genesis 1:20).[1][4]

Semantic evolution

HALOT defines šereṣ as a mass of small animals that occur in great numbers: those of the water (Genesis 1:20, Leviticus 11:10), those that move on the ground, among them the weasel, the mouse and the lizard (Leviticus 11:29), and šereṣ hāʿôp̄ “the winged swarming things”, insects that go on four legs (Leviticus 11:20–23, Deuteronomy 14:19).[4][2] In the purity laws they are unclean, except the winged insects that hop.[9] The Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν (herpetón, “creeping thing, reptile”).[1]

In Rabbinic Hebrew šereṣ is above all an unclean creeping animal; the Tosefta speaks of a man who bathes while holding a šereṣ in his hand and so cannot become clean.[10] Modern Hebrew שרץ (shérets) is a creeping thing or reptile.[11]

Timeline

  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – all 15 occurrences, in Genesis, Leviticus and Deuteronomy.[1][2]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν (herpetón).[12][1]
  • 2nd century BC – 2nd century AD – 34 occurrences in the Dead Sea Scrolls.[13][14]
  • Rabbinic Hebrew – an unclean creeping animal.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (collective) swarming creatures, small animals that occur in great numbers.[4][2]
  2. šereṣ hammayim: small water creatures.[4]
  3. creatures that move on the ground: reptiles, rodents and the like.[4][2]
  4. šereṣ hāʿôp̄: winged insects.[4][2]

Descendants

  • Modern Hebrew שרץ (shérets)[11]

שרץ2 to swarm, teem

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
Hebrew Bible

Pronunciation

  • Tiberian: šāraṣ[15]
  • Samaritan reading tradition: šā̊råṣ, participle šūrəṣ[3]

Forms

שָׁרַץ (šāraṣ) verb[15] Qal only: perfect שָׁרַץ, שָׁרְצוּ; imperfect יִשְׁרֹץ, וַיִּשְׁרְצוּ; imperative שִׁרְצוּ; participle שֹׁרֵץ, feminine שֹׁרֶצֶת.[16][15]

Etymology

The verb to swarm has cognates in Aramaic and Ethiopic: Classical Syriac ܫܪܨ (šraṣ, “to creep”) and Ge'ez ሠረጸ (śaraṣa, “to germinate, sprout”).[16][15][7] HALOT adds Akkadian šarāṣu (“to clutch, clasp”) with a question mark.[16] Klein proposed that the Aramaic forms, and so the root, are a causative /š-/ stem of רוּץ (rûṣ, “to run”), “to run to and fro”.[17]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is a word of the Pentateuch, mostly of the Priestly writer: 12 of its 14 occurrences are in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus.[1][15] Its first use in the canon is the creation story, where the waters yišrəṣû “swarm” with living creatures (Genesis 1:20).[1][16]

Semantic evolution

HALOT points out a peculiarity of the verb: in Genesis 1:20–21, Exodus 7:28 and Psalm 105:30 the subject is not the creatures but the place they fill, so the Nile “swarms with frogs” (Exodus 7:28).[16] Elsewhere the subject is the swarming creatures themselves (Leviticus 11:29, 41–46, Ezekiel 47:9), and in Genesis 9:7 and Exodus 1:7 the verb is used of people, with פָּרָה (pārâ, “to be fruitful”) and רָבָה (rāḇâ, “to multiply”): the Israelites “were fruitful and teemed”.[16][15][18] The Septuagint uses Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō, “to creep”) and Ancient Greek ἐξάγω (exágō, “to bring forth”).[1] Rabbinic Hebrew has a hiphil hišrîṣ “to breed”.[19]

Timeline

  • Classical Biblical Hebrew – 12 of the 14 occurrences, in Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus.[1][15]
  • 3rd–2nd century BC – the Septuagint renders it by Ancient Greek ἕρπω (hérpō) and Ancient Greek ἐξάγω (exágō).[12][1]
  • Rabbinic Hebrew – hiphil hišrîṣ “to breed”.[19]

Meanings

Verb

  1. qal: of creatures, to swarm, to move about in great numbers.[16][15]
  2. qal: of water or land, to teem with creatures.[16][15]
  3. qal: of people and animals, to multiply greatly.[16][18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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. שֶׁרֶץ
  3. ^ a b 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 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. שֶׁרֶץ
  5. ^ Gesenius, Wilhelm; Buhl, Frants (1915), Hebräisches und aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 17th ed., Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, p. s.v. שֶׁרֶץ
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. שֶׁרֶץ
  7. ^ a b Sokoloff, Michael (2009), A Syriac Lexicon, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns; Piscataway: Gorgias Press, p. 1611
  8. ^ Kaufman, Stephen A., ed., Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College, cal.huc.edu
  9. ^ de Blois, Reinier, ed. (2000–), Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew, United Bible Societies, sdbh.org, p. s.v. שֶׁרֶץ
  10. ^ 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. שֶׁרֶץ
  11. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  12. ^ a b Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 93
  13. ^ Sáenz-Badillos, Angel (1993), A History of the Hebrew Language, transl. John Elwolde, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 143
  14. ^ Abegg, Martin G.; Jacobs, Jarod; Roorda, Dirk (2022), The Dead Sea Scrolls, Text-Fabric dataset, version 2.0.2, github.com/ETCBC/dss
  15. ^ 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. שָׁרַץ
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. שׁרץ
  17. ^ Klein, Ernest (1987), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta; Haifa: University of Haifa, p. s.v. שׁרץ
  18. ^ 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. שׁרץ
  19. ^ 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. שָׁרַץ

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“שרץ.” Etymologically, 1 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/hbo/%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%A5. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

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