שממית
Hebrew
| Root |
|---|
| שׂ־מ־ם (ś-m-m) |
Noun
שְׂמָמִית • (smamít) f (plural indefinite שממיות, singular construct שממיות־)
- (Modern Hebrew) A gecko: any lizard of family Gekkonidae.
- (Biblical Hebrew, hapax) The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
- Proverbs 30:28
- שְׂמָמִית בְּיָדַיִם תְּתַפֵּשׂ וְהִיא בְּהֵיכְלֵי מֶלֶךְ׃
- The smamít with hands [graps; can be grasped], yet it is in palaces of kings.
- (most likely) A lizard, possibly a gecko or stellion.[1]
- A spider.[2][3]
- (doubtful) A humanlike animal (monkey or ape).[4]
- (doubtful) A swallow.
- Proverbs 30:28
Usage notes
For discussion of the biblical meaning, see Delitzsch and Forti.
Derived terms
- שְׂמָמִיתִיִּים (smamitiyím, “Gekkonidae”)
References
- Septuagint, 300–200 BC, Proverbs 30:28
- Rashi (c. 1100) Rashi on Sanhedrin, 103b:10
- The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 1611, OCLC 964384981, Proverbs 30:28.
- Moses Kimchi [historically attributed to Abraham ibn Ezra] (c. 1160) Ibn Ezra on Proverbs, 30:28
Further reading
שממיתיים on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia he- H8079 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
- Franz Delitzsch (1875), M. G. Easton, transl., Biblical commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, volume 2, Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, OCLC 1041624846, pages 303–305
- Tova Forti (2008) Animal Imagery in the Book of Proverbs (Supplements to Vetus Testamentum; 118), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 116
- Klein, Ernest (1987), “שְׂמָמִית”, in A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language for Readers of English, Jerusalem: Carta, →ISBN, page 666c
- “שממית” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language