root צ-ב (splendor, desire, consent, army)
At a glance
Words from one root, not synonyms: each card is a meaning of its own.
In short
Tzvi carries three senses: splendor, glory, beauty; desire, what is wanted; and the animal, deer or gazelle. At Yeshayahu 4:2 Rashi reads it as beauty, and Radak as desire and glory. Tzivyon is consent for Rashi and Rabbeinu Gershom, and ideal form for the Ritva, following the Aruch. Tzava is a legion, which Rav Hirsch and Rabbi Chaim Friedlander explain as a body joined by one shared want. Eretz hatzvi is "the Desired Land" on the plain reading, and "the Land of the Deer" in the derashos of Chazal.
Distinctions
Tzvi (צבי)
The haftarah of Shemos has Yeshayahu mourning that the tzvi tiferes of the Kingdom of Israel has withered (Yeshayahu 28:1, 28:4), while Hashem remains an ateres tzvi for the righteous remnant (28:5). The Land bears three parallel titles of desire: eretz chefetz (Malachi 3:12), eretz chemdah (Yirmiyahu 3:19; Zecharyah 7:14; Tehillim 106:24), and eretz hatzvi (Daniel 11:16, 11:41). Since chefetz and chemdah are forms of desire, so is tzvi.
Tzvi as deer (צבי)
The kosher wild animal of Devarim 14:5.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim links it to desire: deer are ordinarily tame but among the most desirous of mammals, and can turn wild and dangerous in their mating season.
- Rabbi Klein offers his own suggestion: deer are known for running swiftly, so they are generally free to follow their heart's desires; and since tzvi is also related to beauty, the deer-comparison of Shir HaShirim (2:9, 2:17, 8:14) is a complimentary term of endearment, which likely refers to the deer's sleek physique along with its beautiful antlers, although usually only the males have antlers, except for reindeer.
- Rabbi Aharon Marcus (1843 to 1916) posits that the deer is called a tzvi, from the צ-ב root, because of its elegant, stately way of standing.
In the switch from Hebrew to Aramaic the tzadi commonly transforms into a tes, so tzvi becomes tvi; and the Semitic ט-ב root in Hebrew and Aramaic means "good," goodness being something both desirable and beautiful.
The two-letter root צ-ב
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim takes the root as "standing" (Bereishis 24:13; Shemos 2:4; Devarim 29:9). Yatziv stands on established bases; tzvi as desire is what remains in a man's thoughts as though constantly standing before him. He derives with these: matzeivah, a monument erected to mark a tomb or a cultic place of idolatry; tzava, a standing army ready to take orders, as against a more haphazard militia that has to be assembled; tzavah, the act of bloating (Bamidbar 5:21-22), since something swollen and distended is less likely to move from its place and will rather remain standing there; tzav, the turtle of Vayikra 11:29, whose large shell makes it appear bloated; and tzav, the covered wagon of Bamidbar 7:3 and Yeshayahu 66:20, whose shape resembles the turtle (see also Bamidbar Rabbah §12:17 on why the wagons are called tzav).
- The Aramaic tzva appears in Daniel in the sense of "wishes" or "wants"; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (1469 to 1549), also known as Elias Levita, writes in Meturgeman that tzva means emes v'yatziv, "true and well-grounded"; he also explains tamrukei, "cosmetics" (Esther 2:3-12), which Aramaic renders tzavhata, as an expression of beauty and glory.
- Tzava itself, colloquially "army," literally means "legion," a gathering of people. Rabbi Chaim Friedlander (1923 to 1986) and Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808 to 1888) connect it to wanting with the same idea: any body of people can be said to be joined together if and only if they share one want; unite for a common goal and they become one army, otherwise they are a hodgepodge of unrelated individuals.
- Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (Eim LaMikra to Shemos 12:41): Hashem is never called Hashem Tzevaos in the Chumash, because the tzava is the legions of Yisrael, and until Moshe's death they had not yet come together into one nation. He quotes Lanci, who seems to connect tzevaos with tzvi in the sense of love and desire.
The Arabic cognate and sababa
The modern Hebrew slang sababa, which Rabbi Klein calls untranslatable, is used to express enthusiasm, satisfaction or agreement, along the lines of "awesome" or "cool." It comes from Arabic tzababa, "great" or "excellent" in spoken Arabic, whose technical meaning is "yearning" or "strong love"; he holds this Arabic word to be related to the Hebrew and Aramaic words under discussion, so that sababa should really be pronounced tzababa, the way Baba Tzali became Baba Sali. Rabbi Klein concludes that tzvi carries a plethora of meanings: desire or wanting, deer or gazelle, beauty or glory, good, and delightful or awesome.
Where the authorities disagree
What tzvi means at its core.
- Rashi (to Yeshayahu 4:2): beauty.
- Radak (there, and to Yeshayahu 13:19): desire and glory, Bavel being the tzvi of kingdoms as the most desired place and the pride of the Chaldeans.
At Yechezkel 7:20, where the people took the "tzvi of Hashem's ornament," the Beis HaMikdash, and turned it into an abominable place of idolatry: Targum renders tzvi there as chedvah, "delight," and Radak as pe'er and yofi. At Yirmiyahu 3:19, the "heritage of tzvi," Targum again has "delight" and Radak an expression of desire.
Why Eretz Yisrael is eretz hatzvi. The Land is described as the most tzvi of all lands (Yechezkel 20:6).
- The Ritva, Rabbi Yom Tov of Seville (1260 to 1330): the most beautiful of lands.
- Radak, on the other hand: the most splendid and desirable, because it has the most perfect, balanced climate.
- Ibn Ezra (to Daniel 8:9): simply "the tzvi," most desirable of all.
- Ralbag there: desired by all people; Midrash Shocher Tov (to Tehillim 5): all the nations of the world desire it and want it.
- Rav Saadia Gaon (to Daniel 11:16): Hashem wants, that is chooses, that land to rest His Presence there.
- Against these, Chazal read tzvi as the deer (Kesubos 112a; Sifrei to Devarim 11:10): as a deer's hide will not stretch back over it once flayed, so the Land's produce exceeds what it could hold; or, as the deer is swift, so its produce ripens quickly (Shemos Rabbah §32:2).
What tzivyon means. Rosh Hashanah 11a and Chullin 60a: Hashem created each element of nature according to its tzivyon.
- Rashi and Rabbeinu Gershom: its will, having been asked and having consented.
- Alternatively, the Ritva follows Rabbi Nosson of Rome's Sefer HeAruch: an expression of beauty, each element of creation fashioned according to its most beautiful form.
(In Modern Hebrew tzivyon means a thing's "nature" or "character.")
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
צ-ב-א
The gathering of a host: to gather as a host against a place, and צָבָא, the host; in another sense an end and a set time, as a man's set time on earth.
Gathering a host
אֲשֶׁר צָבְאוּ עַל־יְרֽוּשָׁלָם (Zecharyah 14:12), who gathered as a host against Yerushalayim, and וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ עַל־מִדְיָן (Bamidbar 31:7), and they gathered as a host against Midyan. In לִצְבֹא צָבָא (Bamidbar 4:23), to gather into the host, the noun is added only to make it plainer, since לִצְבֹא alone would have been enough, as in וַתַּשְׁרֵשׁ שָׁרָשֶׁיהָ (Tehillim 80:10), it took root with its roots. The noun is כָּל־יֹצֵא צָבָא (Bamidbar 1:3), all who go out in the host. Where the verb takes an object, הַמַּצְבִּא אֶת־עַם הָאָרֶץ (Yirmiyahu 52:25), who gathered the people of the land into the host; and all of them are the gathering of a host.
The women who gathered at the Ohel Moed
בְּמַרְאֹת הַצֹּבְאֹת אֲשֶׁר צָֽבְאוּ פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵֽד (Shemos 38:8), with the mirrors of the women who gathered at the entrance of the Ohel Moed: the daughters of Yisrael would gather at the entrance of the Ohel Moed and bring in their hands even their own mirrors for the donation of the Mishkan.
Master over all the hosts
אֱלֹהֵי הַצְּבָאוֹת (Hoshea 12:6), the God of the hosts, meaning the hosts above and the hosts below. Though strength and force lie with hosts when they agree in one heart and gather together, even so He is master and ruler over them all, and they succeed not by their own strength but by His strength and His will.
A set time and its end
הֲלֹֽא־ צָבָא לֶאֱנוֹשׁ עֲֽלֵ [עֲֽלֵי] ־אָרֶץ (Iyov 7:1), has man not a set time upon the earth; כָּל־יְמֵי צְבָאִי אֲיַחֵל (Iyov 14:14), all the days of my set time I will wait; כִּי מָֽלְאָה צְבָאָהּ (Yeshayahu 40:2), that her time is fulfilled; וֶֽאֱמֶת הַדָּבָר וְצָבָא גָדוֹל (Daniel 10:1), and the word is true, and the set time great; and וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן עַל־הַתָּמִיד בְּפָשַׁע (Daniel 8:12), and a set time shall be given upon the daily offering in transgression: the sense of all of it is an end and a time. Some explain צָבָא in וְצָבָא גָדוֹל as desire, from the Aramaic דִּֽי־הֲוָא צָבֵא הֲוָה קָטֵל (Daniel 5:19), whom he wished he would kill; and the chacham Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra explains it from the first sense. Radak spells that out: a great host appeared to Daniel in the visions of the night.
אֲשֶׁר צָבְאוּ עַל־יְרֽוּשָׁלָם (זכריה יד, יב), וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ עַל־מִדְיָן (במדבר לא, ז), הַצֹּֽבְאִים עַל־אֲרִיאֵל (ישעיה כט, ז) לִצְבֹּא עַל־הַר־צִיּוֹן (ישעיה לא, ד). לִצְבֹא צָבָא (במדבר ד, כג), תוספת ביאור כי די לו במלת לִצְבֹא. וכן מְקַרְקַר קִר (ישעיה כב, ה) וַתַּשְׁרֵשׁ שָׁרָשֶׁיהָ (תהלים פ, י). ובנח האל"ף ונפילתה מן המכתב וְכָל־צֹבֶיהָ וּמְצֹדָתָהּ (ישעיה כט, ז). והשם כָּל־יֹצֵא צָבָא (במדבר א, ג). וְחָנִיתִי לְבֵיתִי מִצָּבָה (זכריה ט, ח) נכתב בה"א. רַבֶּה צְבָֽאֲךָ (שופטים ט, כט). כִּֽי־נִתֵּן לִצְבָֽאֲךָ (שופטים ח, ו), וּצְבָאוֹ וּפְקֻדָיו (במדבר ב, ו), והקבוץ בָּֽרֲכוּ י"י כָּל־צְבָאָיו (תהלים קג, כא). ובלשון נקבות עַל־צִבְאֹתָֽם (שמות ו, כו). י"י צְבָאוֹת (שמואל א' א, יא), אֱלֹהֵי הַצְּבָאוֹת (הושע יב, ו), כלומר אתן החיילות חיילות מעלה וחיילות מטה. והטעם כי אף על פי שהכח והאומץ עם החיילות בהסכמתם בלב אחד והתאספם יחד אף על פי כן הוא אדון ומושל על כולם ולא יצליחו בכחם כי אם בכחו וברצונו. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] הַמַּצְבִּא אֶת־עַם הָאָרֶץ (ירמיה נב, כה), כולם ענין אסיפת החיל. וכן בְּמַרְאֹת הַצֹּבְאֹת אֲשֶׁר צָֽבְאוּ פֶּתַח אֹהֶל מוֹעֵֽד (שמות לח, ח), שהיו בנות ישראל מתאספות פתח אהל מועד ומביאות בידיהן אפילו המראות שלהן לנדבת המשכן. וענין אחר הֲלֹֽא־צָבָא לֶאֱנוֹשׁ עֲֽלֵ [עֲֽלֵי] ־אָרֶץ (איוב ז, א), כָּל־יְמֵי צְבָאִי אֲיַחֵל (איוב יד, יד), כִּי מָֽלְאָה צְבָאָהּ (ישעיה מ, ב), וֶֽאֱמֶת הַדָּבָר וְצָבָא גָדוֹל (דניאל י, א), וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן עַל־הַתָּמִיד בְּפָשַׁע (דניאל ח, יב), ענין הכל קץ וזמן ויש מפרשים וְצָבָא גָדוֹל חפץ, מן הארמית דִּֽי־הֲוָא צָבֵא הֲוָה קָטֵל (דניאל ה, יט). והחכם רבי אברהם אבן עזרא פירשו מן הענין הראשון כלומר וְצָבָא גָדוֹל נראה לו לדניאל במראות הלילה.
צ-ב-ה
The belly swelling; of this root too צְבִי, the gazelle, and צְבִי, desire and will, for which he says Eretz Yisrael is called צבי; Chazal give another reason.
Swelling
וְצָֽבְתָה בִטְנָהּ (Bamidbar 5:27), and her belly will swell; the feminine adjective, וְאֶת־בִּטְנֵךְ צָבָֽה (Bamidbar 5:21), and your belly swollen; and where the verb makes the belly swell, לַצְבּוֹת בֶּטֶן (Bamidbar 5:22), to make the belly swell, whose proper form would be לְהַצְבּוֹת, as לַנְחֹתָם (Shemos 13:21), to lead them, stands for להנחותם.
The gazelle
אַיָּל וּֽצְבִי (Devarim 14:5), the hart and the gazelle, and תָּאֳמֵי צְבִיָּֽה (Shir HaShirim 7:4), the twins of a gazelle. The plural כְּאַחַד הַצְּבָיִם (Shmuel II 2:18), as one of the gazelles, has lost the yud of the plural; וְכִצְבָאיִם עַל־הֶֽהָרִים לְמַהֵֽר (Divrei HaYamim I 12:8 in his edition), and like gazelles on the mountains for swiftness, is written with an alef and a yud, the alef silent and the yud sounded, and the plural's yud dropped. In the feminine plural the yud is exchanged for an alef: בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה (Shir HaShirim 2:7), by the gazelles or by the hinds of the field. It is a known animal.
Desire and will
נַֽחֲלַת צְבִי (Yirmiyahu 3:19), an inheritance of desire; צְבִי הִיא לְכָל־הָֽאֲרָצֽוֹת (Yechezkel 20:6), it is the desire of all the lands; לַֽעֲטֶרֶת צְבִי (Yeshayahu 28:5), for a crown of desire; הַצְּבִי יִשְׂרָאֵל (Shmuel II 1:19), the desire of Yisrael; לִצְבִי וּלְכָבוֹד (Yeshayahu 4:2), for desire and for honour: ענינם החפץ והרצון, their sense is desire and will. In Aramaic too, דִּֽי־הֲוָא צָבֵא הֲוָה קָטֵל (Daniel 5:19), whom he wished, he would kill. In נַֽחֲלַת צְבִי צִבְאוֹת גּוֹיִם (Yirmiyahu 3:19), an inheritance of desire, the desires of the nations, the feminine plural has its yud exchanged for an alef; though צבאות גוים may be from צָבָא.
Why Eretz Yisrael is called צבי
From this sense Eretz Yisrael is called צבי: אֶל־הַנֶּגֶב וְאֶל־הַמִּזְרָח וְאֶל־ הַצֶּֽבִי (Daniel 8:9), toward the south and toward the east and toward the land of desire; וְיַֽעֲמֹד בְּאֶֽרֶץ־ הַצְּבִי (Daniel 11:16), and he will stand in the land of desire; בֵּין יַמִּים לְהַר־ צְבִי ־קֹדֶשׁ (Daniel 11:45), between the seas and the mountain of holy desire; because it is a land of desire. Some explain them all as לשון הדר ופאר, splendour and glory; whether that is said of these three or of every צבי above, his text does not mark. Chazal (Kesubos 112a) hold that it is called צבי for another reason: as the gazelle is swifter of foot than all the beasts, so Eretz Yisrael is quicker than all lands to ripen her fruits.
וְצָֽבְתָה בִטְנָהּ (במדבר ה, כז). והתאר לנקבה וְאֶת־בִּטְנֵךְ צָבָֽה (במדבר ה, כא). והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] לַצְבּוֹת בֶּטֶן (במדבר ה, כב), כי משפטו לְהַצְבּוֹת כמו לַנְחֹתָם (שמות יג, כא) [משפטו להנחותם]. ומן השרש הזה אַיָּל וּֽצְבִי (דברים יד, ה), תָּאֳמֵי צְבִיָּֽה (שיר השירים ז, ד). והקבוץ לרבים כְּאַחַד הַצְּבָיִם (שמואל ב' ב, יח). ונגרעה ממנו יו"ד הרבים. ונכתב באל"ף וביו"ד, האל"ף נחה והיו"ד נעה וְכִצְבָאיִם עַל־הֶֽהָרִים לְמַהֵֽר (דברי הימים א' יב, ח), ויו"ד הרבים נגרעה. ולרבות הומרה בהם היו"ד באל"ף בִּצְבָאוֹת אוֹ בְּאַיְלוֹת הַשָּׂדֶה (שיר השירים ב, ז). והיא חיה ידועה. נַֽחֲלַת צְבִי (ירמיה ג, יט), צְבִי הִיא לְכָל־הָֽאֲרָצֽוֹת (יחזקאל כ, ו), וְנָֽתַתִּי צְבִי בְּאֶרֶץ חַיִּֽים (יחזקאל כו, כ), צְבִי לַצַּדִּיק (ישעיה כד, טז), לַֽעֲטֶרֶת צְבִי (ישעיה כח, ה), צְבִי תִפְאַרְתּוֹ (ישעיה כח, א), צְבִי אֶרֶץ בֵּית הַיְשִׁימֹת (יחזקאל כה, ט), וּצְבִי עֶדְיוֹ (יחזקאל ז, כ), הַצְּבִי יִשְׂרָאֵל (שמואל ב' א, יט), לְחַלֵּל גְּאוֹן כָּל־צְבִי (ישעיה כג, ט), לִצְבִי וּלְכָבוֹד (ישעיה ד, ב), ענינם החפץ והרצון. ובלשון ארמית דִּֽי־הֲוָא צָבֵא הֲוָה קָטֵל (דניאל ה, יט). ובקבוץ הרבות הומרה היו"ד באל"ף נַֽחֲלַת צְבִי צִבְאוֹת גּוֹיִם (ירמיה ג, יט), ואפשר שיהיה צבאות גוים מן צָבָא. ומזה נקראת ארץ ישראל צבי אֶל־הַנֶּגֶב וְאֶל־הַמִּזְרָח וְאֶל־הַצֶּֽבִי (דניאל ח, ט), וְיַֽעֲמֹד בְּאֶֽרֶץ־הַצְּבִי (דניאל יא, יז), בֵּין יַמִּים לְהַר־צְבִי־קֹדֶשׁ (דניאל יא, מה), לפי שהי ארץ חפץ. ויש מפרשים אותם כולם לשון הדר ופאר. ודעת רבותינו ז"ל (כתובות קיב, ע"א) כי לפיכך נקראת ארץ ישראל צבי מה צבי קל ברגליו מכל החיות אף ארץ ישראל קלה לבשל פירותיה מכל הארצות.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "My Dear Deer," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 18 January 2020.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "My Dear Deer," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 24:13; Shemos 2:4; Vayikra 11:29; Bamidbar 5:21-22, 7:3; Devarim 11:10, 14:5, 29:9; Yeshayahu 4:2, 13:19, 28:1, 28:4, 28:5, 66:20; Yirmiyahu 3:19; Yechezkel 7:20, 20:6; Zecharyah 7:14; Malachi 3:12; Tehillim 106:24; Shir HaShirim 2:9, 2:17, 8:14; Esther 2:3-12; Daniel 8:9, 11:16, 11:41; Rosh Hashanah 11a; Kesubos 112a; Chullin 60a; Sifrei to Devarim 11:10; Shemos Rabbah 32:2; Bamidbar Rabbah 12:17; Midrash Shocher Tov to Tehillim 5; Targum to Yechezkel 7:20 and Yirmiyahu 3:19; Rashi to Yeshayahu 4:2; Radak to Yeshayahu 4:2 and 13:19, Yechezkel 7:20 and Yirmiyahu 3:19; Rashi and Rabbeinu Gershom on tzivyon; the Ritva; Rabbi Nosson of Rome, Sefer HeAruch; Ibn Ezra and Ralbag to Daniel 8:9; Rav Saadia Gaon to Daniel 11:16; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim; Rabbi Aharon Marcus; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur, Meturgeman; Rabbi Chaim Friedlander; Rav Hirsch; Benamozegh, Eim LaMikra to Shemos 12:41.