ritual
hat
At a glance
In short
Migbaas is the ordinary kohen's headdress and mitznefes the kohen gadol's turban. Kova is possibly a hard hat or helmet rather than a hat, since every one of its six appearances in Tanach is part of a warrior's dress. Rashi and Ramban maintain that migbaas and mitznefes were the same type of hat and are simply synonyms; the other authorities distinguish them.
Distinctions
The setting: the regular kohen wears four garments, pants, a belt, a hat and a tunic; the kohen gadol wears four more, a breastplate, an apron, a robe and a head-plate (Mishnah Yoma 7:5). Some explain that the kohen gadol's clothes differ from the regular kohen's in that they do not wear the same type of hat.
Migbaas (מגבעת)
Root ג-ב-ע.
- The Meiri ties migbaas to kova (roots ג-ב-ע and כ-ב-ע) because the ordinary kohen's hat is a plain one.
- The Vilna Gaon: a migbaas comes pre-sewn, ready to put on.
- Abarbanel connects the word to givah, a hill, because the hat carried two hill-like humps on top and tied under the chin.
- Rabbi Avigdor Miller: a hat means dignity. Migbaas is from givah, a hill, since it raises the head and makes a hill on top of it, and pa'arei hamigbaos speaks of the hat's beauty; kova is the same as govah, givah. So a hat makes a man taller, and wearing one shows dignity when speaking to Hashem.
- Rambam has the ordinary kohen's hat actually covering the head.
Mitznefes (מצנפת)
Root צ-נ-ף.
- The Meiri: an especially long cloth that the kohen gadol winds (tzonef) around his head, so the name records the wrapping. The Vilna Gaon says the same, against the pre-sewn migbaas.
- Others hold both were wrapped, and the mitznefes is distinguished by reaching down to the beard.
- Rambam has it encircling the perimeter of the head without covering it.
- Tosafos HaRosh (Yoma 71b) links mitznefes to tznif, which alludes to the honor of wearing a royal diadem.
Against all of these, Rashi and Ramban maintain that migbaas and mitznefes were both the same type of hat and are simply synonyms. Josephus writes that the regular kohen wore a "Masnaemphthes," a Greekized mitznefes, describing it as a cap that does not come to a point and does not encircle the whole head, a crown-like bonnet covering most of the head but not all of it. On that view, Rabbi Klein suggests, one may argue that even if migbaas and mitznefes name the same hat they recall different elements of it: migbaas denotes the hat-like form of the thing, while mitznefes focuses on the honor that wearing it brings, in line with Tosafos HaRosh on tznif.
Kova (כובע)
Root כ-ב-ע. The everyday word for a hat in Modern Hebrew, but in Tanach it appears six times and always as part of a warrior's kit (Shmuel I 17:5, Yeshayahu 59:17, Yirmiyahu 46:4, Yechezkel 27:10 and 38:5, Divrei HaYamim II 26:14), so that it is possibly a "hard hat" or even a "helmet" rather than a "hat."
Where the authorities disagree
Whether migbaas and mitznefes are two hats.
- The Meiri and the Vilna Gaon: two hats. The ordinary kohen's migbaas is a plain hat (Meiri), pre-sewn (Vilna Gaon); the kohen gadol's mitznefes is a long cloth he winds around his head.
- Others: both were wrapped, and the mitznefes is distinguished by reaching down to the beard.
- Rambam: the kohen gadol's mitznefes encircles the perimeter of the head without covering it, while the ordinary kohen's hat actually covers the head.
- Rashi and Ramban: migbaas and mitznefes were the same type of hat, and the words are simply synonyms.
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ג-ב-ע
A hill, which is like a mountain but not as high; other senses are the hats set on the head for splendour, and the goblet, like a cup but made differently.
The hill
בְּגֶבַע בִּנְיָמִן (Shmuel I 13:16), in Geva of Binyamin, has a segol. With the feminine hei it is גִּבְעָה, a hill, and in construct גִּבְעַת שָׁאֽוּל (Shmuel I 15:34), the hill of Shaul, and גִּבְעַת הָֽעֲרָלֽוֹת (Yehoshua 5:3), the hill of the foreskins; in the plural הֶֽהָרִים וְהַגְּבָעוֹת (Yeshayahu 55:12), the mountains and the hills. A hill is like a mountain but is not as high as a mountain.
The hats
Another sense is וּמִגְבָּעוֹת תַּֽעֲשֶׂה לָהֶם (Shemos 28:40), and hats you shall make for them, the מגבעות being hats set on the head for splendour.
The goblet
Another sense again: וַיִּמָּצֵא הַגָּבִיעַ (Bereishis 44:12), and the goblet was found; וְאֶת־ גְּבִיעִי גְּבִיעַֽ הַכֶּסֶף (Bereishis 44:2), and my goblet, the silver goblet; הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר נִמְצָא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּיָדוֹ (Bereishis 44:17), the man in whose hand the goblet was found; שְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְשֻׁקָּדִים (Shemos 25:33), three goblets shaped like almonds; וּבַמְּנֹרָה אַרְבָּעָה גְבִעִים (Shemos 25:34), and in the menorah four goblets. It is like a cup but made on another pattern, and that is what it says, גְּבִעִים מְלֵאִים יַיִן וְכֹסוֹת (Yirmiyahu 35:5), goblets full of wine, and cups.
בְּגֶבַע בִּנְיָמִן (שמואל א' יג, טז), בסגול. ובה"א הנקבה גִּבְעָה ובסמוך גִּבְעַת שָׁאֽוּל (שמואל א' טו, לד), גִּבְעַת הָֽעֲרָלֽוֹת (יהושע ה, ג). והרבות הֶֽהָרִים וְהַגְּבָעוֹת (ישעיה נה, יב). וגבעה כמו הר אבל אינה גבוהה כמו ההר. וענין אחר וּמִגְבָּעוֹת תַּֽעֲשֶׂה לָהֶם (שמות כה, מ), הם הכובעים שמשימין על הראש לתפארת. וענין אחר וַיִּמָּצֵא הַגָּבִיעַ (בראשית מד, יב), וְאֶת־גְּבִיעִי גְּבִיעַֽ הַכֶּסֶף (בראשית מד, ב), שְׁלֹשָׁה גְבִעִים מְשֻׁקָּדִים (שמות כה, לג), וּבַמְּנֹרָה אַרְבָּעָה גְבִעִים (שמות כה, לד), הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר נִמְצָא הַגָּבִיעַ בְּיָדוֹ (בראשית מד, יז), והוא כמו כוס אבל הוא עשוי בתכונה אחרת, והוא שאמר גְּבִעִים מְלֵאִים יַיִן וְכֹסוֹת (ירמיה לה, ה).
כ-ב-ע
The helmet, the gear that shields the head.
The helmet
"And a helmet of salvation on His head" (Yeshayahu 59:17), "and a helmet of copper on his head" (Shmuel I 17:5), "shield and helmet they hung upon you" (Yechezkel 27:10), "all of them with shield and helmet" (Yechezkel 38:5), "and stand forth in helmets" (Yirmiyahu 46:4). It is gear that shields the head, capilo in the vernacular.
Where the stress falls
In "and a helmet of salvation on His head" (Yeshayahu 59:17) and "and a helmet of copper on his head" (Shmuel I 17:5) the stress is on the earlier syllable; in "shield and helmet they hung upon you" (Yechezkel 27:10) and the rest it falls on the last.
וְכוֹבַע יְשׁוּעָה בְּרֹאשׁוֹ (ישעיה נט, יז), וְכוֹבַע נְחשֶׁת עַל־רֹאשׁוֹ (שמואל א' יז, ה), מלעיל. ומלרע מָגֵן וְכוֹבַע תִּלּוּ־בָךְ (יחזקאל כז, י), כֻּלָּם מָגֵן וְכוֹבָֽע (יחזקאל לח, ה), וְהִֽתְיַצְּבוּ בְּכֹֽובָעִים (ירמיה מו, ד). הוא כלי מגן על הראש קופא [קפיל"ו בלע"ז].
צ-נ-ף
To wind round about, as a turban is wound; the מִצְנֶפֶת and the צָנִיף, turban and headwrap, which he says are known.
Winding round
"He will surely wind you round with a winding" (Yeshayahu 22:18) means He will overturn you and turn you round about, like the winding of a turban.
The turban and the headwrap
"And with a linen turban he shall be wound" (Vayikra 16:4), "remove the turban and lift off the crown" (Yechezkel 21:31), "turban and sash" (Shemos 28:4), "the pure turban" (Zecharyah 3:5), "like a robe and a turban" (Iyov 29:14), and in the feminine plural "and the headwraps and the veils" (Yeshayahu 3:23). He adds nothing further, saying only that the word is known.
צָנוֹף יִצְנָפְךָ צְנֵפָה (ישעיה כב, יח), פירוש יהפכך הפוך ויסבבך סביב כסבוב המצנפת. וּבְמִצְנֶפֶת בַּד יִצְנֹף (ויקרא טז, ד), הָסִיר הַמִּצְנֶפֶת וְהָרִים הָֽעֲטָרָה (יחזקאל כא, לא), מִצְנֶפֶת וְאַבְנֵט (שמות כח, ד). הַצָּנִיף הַטָּהוֹר (זכריה ג, ה), כִּמְעִיל וְצָנִיף (איוב כט, יד), והקבוץ בלשון נקבות וְהַצְּנִיפוֹת וְהָֽרְדִידִֽים (ישעיה ג, כג), ידוע.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Hats and Belts," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 25 March 2017.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Hats and Belts," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Mishnah Yoma 7:5; Yoma 71b with Tosafos HaRosh; Shemos 28:4, 28:40; Shmuel I 17:5, Yeshayahu 59:17, Yirmiyahu 46:4, Yechezkel 27:10 and 38:5, Divrei HaYamim II 26:14 for kova; the Meiri to Yoma 23a and 71b; the Vilna Gaon, Biur HaGra to Yeshayahu 3:23; Abarbanel; Rambam, Hilchos Klei HaMikdash 8:2, with the Raavad and Kesef Mishneh there; Rashi and Ramban; Josephus, Antiquities book 3, on the shape of the priestly cap; Rabbi Avigdor Miller.