nature
purple
At a glance
In short
Classical Hebrew has no word for purple. Argaman is not a color word at all: all commentators agree it is wool dyed a certain color, and the traditional sources describe that color as a red, whether crimson, orange, or a yellowish red. Rambam makes it one red; Raavad makes it two or three colors woven together, though Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein writes that Raavad too, without saying so, seems to mean shades of red. None of these sources makes it a mixture of red with blue or green. One academic, Professor Athalya Brenner-Idan, does stretch the term to take in shades running from pink as far as violet. The English word "purple" once meant any shade of red. Segol and lilach are Modern Hebrew flower-names pressed into service as color words, with no standing in Tanach.
Distinctions
Argaman (ארגמן) and argavan (ארגון)
Thirty-eight appearances in Tanach. Argavan in Divrei HaYamim II 2:6 and argavana in Daniel 5:7 are alternate forms of the same word, on the interchangeability of mem and vav, and argavana is also how Targum renders argaman. One point holds across every view: argaman names dyed wool, not a color.
Two passages make it fairly clear that argaman is not purple.
- Rashi (to Shir HaShirim 7:6) implies argaman is a color sometimes found in women's hair; as Professor Athalya Brenner-Idan first pointed out, taking argaman as purple there is dissatisfactory, since no natural hair is purple, and she supposes that in that instance argaman may not name a specific color at all but stand in for anything expensive or rare.
- And Targum Onkelos with Rashi (to Bereishis 49:11) write that argaman resembles the color of wine, which again seemingly precludes purple.
Brenner-Idan herself, it should be said, reads argaman as a general term taking in shades of red that run from pink all the way to violet or dark purple; she supports this from the Temple Scroll among the Dead Sea Scrolls, which uses the expression argaman adom, "red argaman," implying that argaman on its own can also cover shades not strictly red.
Rav Hirsch (on Terumah) also identifies argaman as a darker shade of red, which Rabbi Klein understood as burgundy, standing for man, and tolaas shani as a lighter red, standing for animals.
Why the conventional translation says purple at all: the Septuagint consistently renders argaman as the Greek porphyra, the antecedent of the Latin purpura and ultimately of the Old English purpure, from which Modern English purple derives. That English word did not always mean the red-blue combination it means now. In several languages "purple" means red, and what we call purple is "violet"; the same was true in English until relatively recently, the Oxford English Dictionary giving as an alternate definition "Formerly: of any generally red shade; (now) of a deep, rich shade intermediate between crimson and violet." So argaman translated "purple" may be a generic sort of red rather than our purple. Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4 calls argaman the most esteemed of the fabrics of the Mishkan and Mikdash because it represents the garments of royalty, and midrashic Hebrew uses purpira for royal clothing, as of Mordechai in Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 50; various Greco-Roman historians likewise record that Tyrian purple was a controlled commodity generally reserved to the royal family. That the Greek word is a cognate of English purple does not mean the clothes in question were the color we call purple.
Segol (סגול)
In 1894 Yechiel Michel Pines introduced segol as a new word for purple; it seems to have been influenced by the English "violet," originally the name of a purple-colored flower and later the word for the color itself. The Gemara (Berachos 43b, Shabbos 50b) mentions a plant called siglei, which Rashi (there) explains as the three-petaled violet. Rabbi Dr. Ernest Klein suggests that siglei derives from the Aramaic sigla, a cluster of grapes, probably because the formation and color of grapes on a cluster resemble those of the violet flower; Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein would further argue that sigla may itself come from eshkol, shin interchanging with samech and kaf with gimmel, noting that Targum Yerushalmi regularly renders eshkol as sigla. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (Meturgeman) notes that sigla also names the vowel segol, three dots in a cluster.
Lilach (לילך)
The same move again: the lilac flower's name extended to its color. The Academy of the Hebrew Language recognizes the modern words for lavender and mauve alongside it. All of these are Modern Hebrew color vocabulary and have no standing in Tanach or Chazal.
Where the authorities disagree
Is argaman one color or many?
- One shade of red. Rambam (Klei HaMikdash 8:13): argaman is wool dyed red. In his commentary to the Mishnah (Kilayim 9:1) he defines it with the Arabic laca, the red resin behind the English shellac and lacquer, and Bartenura (there) uses the same word and states outright that it was wool dyed red. Rabbi Avraham Maimuni (to Shemos 25:4), Rabbi Tanchum HaYerushalmi (to Daniel 5:7), and Toras HaMinchah (Tetzaveh) follow. Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (Aruch HaShulchan HaAsid, Klei HaMikdash 28:12) proves Rambam's view from the Midrash that argaman resembled the gold of the kapores (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:16, Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4), which had a reddish cast (Yoma 45a).
- Several colors woven together. Raavad, Rambam's famed interlocutor, disagrees: argaman is something made of two or three colors woven (arug) together. Rabbi Yosef Kurkis and Rabbi Yosef Karo clarify that he read the word as a portmanteau of א-ר-ג, weaving, as in arigah, with min, species, so the word reflects a panoply of colors rather than one. The Zohar (Idra Rabbah 141b, and see Zohar Terumah 139a) seems likewise to take it as a hue of red that includes other shades as well.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein does not treat these as flatly opposed on the color. Even though Raavad, Rashi and the others do not explicitly identify argaman as red, it does, he writes, still seem to be their understanding; they seem to hold that argaman takes in multiple shades of red. Rambam's approach is echoed by the later authorities named above.
Which red.
- Radak (Sefer HaShorashim) first writes crimson red, then cites Rasag that tola'as shani is the crimson red, and concludes that argaman must be a different shade of red; after that he mentions those who explain argaman as lac.
- Several midrashim assert that argaman resembles fire, which points toward orange (Sifrei Zuta, Midrash HaGadol, and Yalkut Midrashei Teiman to Bamidbar 4:13; Midrash Agur ch. 14), and several Yemenite sources (Midrash Chefetz, Meor HaAfeilah to Shemos 25:4) make argaman a yellowish red against the strong red of tola'as shani.
So perhaps, Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein suggests, Radak would agree that argaman was orange-colored: explaining it as red does not preclude explaining it as orange, orange being essentially a shade of red mixed with yellow. What is clear is that none of these sources sees argaman as a mixture of red with blue or green, and that omission seems to obviate the notion that it is what we call purple.
Where the root sits. The root seems to comprise five letters, א-ר-ג-מ-ן. Ibn Ezra asserts that such four- and five-letter roots are either compound roots fused together or loanwords borrowed from another language.
- Scholars including Rabbi Dr. Ernest Klein and Dr. Chaim Tawil take the Hebrew argaman as borrowed from the Akkadian argamannu; the American archaeologist William Foxwell Albright argued that it cognates with Hittite and Ugaritic words meaning "tribute" or "offering," which would evoke argaman as an expensive dyed cloth often paid as tribute.
- Rashi (to Tehillim 68:28), basing himself on Machberes Menachem, seems to explain argaman from the triliteral ר-ג-ם, which usually means gathering, or stoning a person to death, and which is in turn related to ר-ק-ם, embroidery, possibly through the interchangeability of kuf and gimmel. Rashi does not say so himself, but Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein observes that the common denominator across those meanings is gathering things together, stones to kill or threads to make needlework, and that this perhaps suggests Rashi follows Raavad's panoply of shades.
- Ibn Ezra (to Mishlei 26:8) also seems to take argaman from ר-ג-ם, but explains that root as exalted things, so that argaman seemingly names an exalted sort of dyed fabric.
- Ohalei Yehudah offers a portmanteau of oreg (weaving) and manah (a respectable portion), argaman being an important garment in the ancient world; alternatively, and this he prefers, argavan comprises א-ו-ר (light) with ג-ו-ן (color or appearance), for the bright color it denotes. Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein adds a proposal of his own, that argavan could be seen as a contraction of א-ר-ג with ג-ו-ן, the middle gimmel belonging to both etymons.
- The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4) reads argaman homiletically as the sun, which prepares, literally weaves (oreg), different forms of sustenance (man), or as Hashem, who weaves the world together so that each thing brings out its own species (min) and one species does not mix with another.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
א-ר-ג
To weave; and the noun אֶרֶג, the weaver's implement.
Weaving
אִם־תַּאַרְגִי אֶת־שֶׁבַע מַחְלְפוֹת רֹאשִׁי (Shoftim 16:13), if you weave the seven locks of my head, and מַעֲשֵׂה אֹרֵג (Shemos 28:32), the work of a weaver. The sense, he says, is known.
The weaver's tool
אֶת־הַיְתַד הָאֶרֶג (Shoftim 16:14), the pin of the אֶרֶג, names the implement on which the weaver folds the cloth before him as he weaves. The two words stand as a construct with the governing noun left out, the pin, the pin of the implement; or else as a construct that keeps the definite article, as in הַלִּשְׁכוֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ (Yechezkel 46:19), the chambers of the holy. So Yonasan renders it, as the weavers' implement, and he renders כִּמְנוֹר אֹרְגִים (Shmuel II 21:19), like a weavers' beam, the same way.
Swifter than the weaver's implement
יָמַי קַלּוּ מִנִּי־אָרֶג (Iyov 7:6), my days are swifter than the אָרֶג. That is the implement that carries the weft thread, and the comparison holds because the weaver drives it at a run from one edge of the cloth to the other.
אִם־תַּאַרְגִי אֶת־שֶׁבַע מַחְלְפוֹת רֹאשִׁי (שופטים טז, יג), מַֽעֲשֵׂה אֹרֵג (שמות כח, לב), ענינו ידוע. ושׁם כלי האורג שמקפל בו הבגד לפניו בארגו אֶת־הַיְתַד הָאֶרֶג (שופטים טז, יד), והוא בשש נקדות וחסר הנסמך, רצונו לומר היתד יתד הארג, או בא בסמיכות עם ה"א הידיעה כמו הַלִּֽשְׁכוֹת הַקֹּדֶשׁ (יחזקאל מו, יט), והדומים לו. וכן תרגמו יונתן יָת אַכְסָן דְגַרְדָאִין, וכן תרגם כִּמְנוֹר אֹֽרְגִֽים (שמואל ב' כא, יט). יָמַי קַלּוּ מִנִּי־אָרֶג (איוב ז, ו), הוא אותו הכלי שבו חוט הערב ואמר קַלּוּ מִנִּי־אָרֶג לפי שמעבירו האורג במרוצה בארגו מקצה אל קצה.
ס-ג-ל
The setting apart of silver and gold and precious stones in a treasury.
Set apart in a treasury
וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה (Shemos 19:5), and you shall be to Me a treasure set apart, and וּסְגֻלַּת מְלָכִים (Koheles 2:8), and the set-apart treasure of kings. The sense, he says, is the setting apart of silver and gold and precious stones in a treasury.
וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה (שמות יט, ה), וּסְגֻלַּת מְלָכִים (קהלת ב, ח). ענין יחוד הכסף והזהב ואבנים טובות באוצר.
ר-ג-ם
To stone. מַרְגֵּמָה is a gathering of stones, or, as his father reads it, purple; רִגְמָתָם is their assembly, or, some say, their princes.
The stoning
וְרָֽגְמוּ אֹתוֹ כָּל־הָֽעֵדָֽה (Vayikra 24:14), the whole congregation shall stone him, and יִרְגְּמֻהוּ בָאָֽבֶן (Vayikra 20:2), they shall stone him with the stone.
Honour given to a fool
In כִּצְרוֹר אֶבֶן בְּמַרְגֵּמָה (Mishlei 26:8), like binding a stone in a מַרְגֵּמָה, the מַרְגֵּמָה is a gathering of stones together, and the אבן is a precious stone. His father writes that בְּמַרְגֵּמָה is like אַרְגָּמָן, purple; and on that reading, as one binds a stone from the stones of the street in a purple garment, so is one who gives honour to a fool.
An assembly, or two men's names
שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה רִגְמָתָם (Tehillim 68:28), the princes of Yehudah, their assembly: רִגְמָתָם is their assembly, and some explain it as princes. Targum Yonasan does not render ורגם מלך in וְרֶגֶם מֶלֶךְ וַֽאֲנָשָׁיו (Zecharyah 7:2), and Regem Melech and his men; perhaps, Radak says, these were two men so named, Sar'etzer and Regem Melech, and that is the correct reading.
וְרָֽגְמוּ אֹתוֹ כָּל־הָֽעֵדָֽה (ויקרא כד, יד), וַיִּרְגְּמוּ אֹתוֹ אָבֶן (ויקרא כד, כג), וְרָֽגְמוּ עֲלֵיהֶן אֶבֶן (יחזקאל כג, מז), רָגוֹם יִרְגְּמוּ־בוֹ (ויקרא כד, טז), יִרְגְּמֻהוּ בָאָֽבֶן (ויקרא כ, ב). כִּצְרוֹר אֶבֶן בְּמַרְגֵּמָה (משלי כו, ח), קבוצת אבנים ביחד קלפיי"ר בלע"ז, ופירוש אבן, אבן טובה. ואדוני אבי ז"ל כתב בְּמַרְגֵּמָה כמו אַרְגָּמָן, ופירוש כִּצְרוֹר אבן מאבני החוצות בבגד ארגמן כן הנותן לכסיל כבוד. וְרֶגֶם מֶלֶךְ וַֽאֲנָשָׁיו (זכריה ז ,ב), בשש נקודות. שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה רִגְמָתָם (תהלים סח, כח), פירוש קהלם. ויש מפרשים שרים. ויונתן לא תרגם ורגם מלך. אולי שני אנשים היו שמם כך ש?אצר ורגם מלך. והוא הנכון.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Color Purple," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 12 February 2022.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Color Purple," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 49:11 with Targum Onkelos and Rashi; Shemos 25:4 with Rabbi Avraham Maimuni, Midrash Chefetz and Meor HaAfeilah; Bamidbar 4:13 with Sifrei Zuta, Midrash HaGadol and Yalkut Midrashei Teiman; Tehillim 68:28 with Rashi; Mishlei 26:8 with Ibn Ezra; Shir HaShirim 7:6 with Rashi; Daniel 5:7 with Rabbi Tanchum HaYerushalmi; Divrei HaYamim II 2:6; Yoma 45a; Berachos 43b and Shabbos 50b with Rashi; Mishnah Kilayim 9:1 with Rambam's commentary and Bartenura; Rambam, Klei HaMikdash 8:13; Raavad; Rabbi Yosef Kurkis; Rabbi Yosef Karo; Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:16; Bamidbar Rabbah 12:4; Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer ch. 50; Midrash Agur ch. 14; Zohar Idra Rabbah 141b and Terumah 139a; Toras HaMinchah, Tetzaveh; Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, Aruch HaShulchan HaAsid, Klei HaMikdash 28:12; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, citing Rasag; Ibn Ezra; Machberes Menachem; Ohalei Yehudah; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur, Meturgeman; Targum Yerushalmi; the Septuagint; the Temple Scroll; Rabbi Dr. Ernest Klein; Dr. Chaim Tawil; William Foxwell Albright; Professor Athalya Brenner-Idan; Yechiel Michel Pines; the Oxford English Dictionary s.v. purple; Rabbi Yisrael Rosenberg, Kuntres Merkavo Argaman; Rav Hirsch, Terumah.