sword and knife
At a glance
In short
Cherev and shelach are both swords; Malbim separates them by use, a shelach for stabbing and a cherev, he implies, for slicing. Sayif is the common Aramaic word for a sword in the Talmud. Tanach's two words for a knife are sakin and maacheles; chalaf, the common word for a shochet's knife, is Arabic (Rashi, Rabbeinu Shimshon of Shantz) or Greek (Bartenura).
Distinctions
Cherev (חרב)
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740 to 1814) relates cherev to churban, the destruction of something not itself damaged but cut off from an outside element it needs to flourish: an intact but abandoned town, or charbah, a dry land infertile not through its own fault but for want of water from outside. The sword, an ancient tool for reducing a population, brings that destruction.
- Linguists note that an Akkadian word like cherev means a kind of plow.
Shelach (שלח)
Malbim: a shelach is for stabbing, as against a cherev, which he implies is for slicing; perhaps, Rabbi Klein suggests, a shelach was something like a dagger. As a noun meaning "sword" it appears seven times in Tanach (Divrei HaYamim II 23:10, 32:5; Yoel 2:8; Nechemiah 4:11, 4:17; Iyov 33:18, 36:12), and nine more times as the name of Shem's grandson, the father of Ever (Bereishis 10 to 11; Divrei HaYamim I 1). Radak: a verb cognate meaning "cut" appears in Bereishis 37:32.
The name Metushelach is mes, "he died," and shelach. According to the Midrash (cited by Peirush HaRokeach, Sifsei Kohen and others), his sword, engraved with the Ineffable Name, with which he killed as many as 98,000 demons in one moment to protect mankind, was buried with him, so that when he died his sword also "died" (though Imrei Noam and Zera Beirech say it later came to Avraham).
Sayif (סייף)
The common Aramaic word for a sword in the Talmud. The Targumim render cherev generally as charba, sometimes as sayif (Targum Yonasan to Shemos 20:22, Shoftim 20:2). Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (1469 to 1549): singular cherev becomes charba, plural sayif; why that should matter is a mystery to Rabbi Klein. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim and Rabbi Avraham Vilner (1765 to 1808), a son of the Vilna Gaon, derive sayif from sof, end, as a sword can end a life (forms of sof mean death in Bereishis 18:23 and Yeshayahu 7:20). The Arabic name Saif also means "sword."
Sakin (סכין)
Spelled with a sin in its one appearance in Tanach (Mishlei 23:2), with a samech in later rabbinic writings.
Maacheles (מאכלת)
Tanach's other word for a knife, found four times (Bereishis 22:6, 22:10; Shoftim 19:29; Mishlei 30:14). Rashi (to Bereishis 22:6) relates it to א-כ-ל, eating: it "eats" the slaughtered animal's flesh by cutting it, or lets others eat what it cut.
Chalaf (חלף)
The common word for the knife a shochet uses.
Where the authorities disagree
The origin of chalaf.
- Rashi (to Yoma 36a and Zevachim 20a) and Rabbeinu Shimshon of Shantz (to Middos 4:7): "knife" in Arabic. Arabic chalaf does mean something sharp, likely, Rabbi Klein suggests, from Hebrew charif, the r switched for an l, as is common.
- Bartenura: it comes from Greek. Rabbi Yisrael Lipschitz (1782 to 1860) notes, correctly in Rabbi Klein's view, that there is no such Greek usage.
- Rabbi Reuven Margolios (1889 to 1971) and Rabbi David Kamin (d. 1922) ask why Rashi resorts to Arabic rather than cite machlifim (Ezra 1:9), which he himself explains as knives. Ritva (to Yoma 36a) asks the same, adding kalil yachlof (Yeshayahu 2:18), the future cutting down of idols.
The origin of sakin.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: related to sikim, a kind of thorn (Bamidbar 33:55), for the likeness of knives to thorns.
- Rabbi Klein suggests the root ס-כ, to spread or smear, as a table knife spreads butter; or perhaps sakanah, danger, the risk of a knife fight or other misuse.
Rendering guidance
For translators
- Trap: "sword" absorbs cherev, shelach and sayif. Beside cherev, a word for a stabbing weapon keeps Malbim's distinction; "dagger" is Rabbi Klein's guess.
- Trap: "knife" absorbs sakin, maacheles and chalaf. Rashi's explanation of maacheles at the Akeidah depends on its link to eating, which "knife" hides.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "The Sword of Methusaleh," What's in a Word?, 11 October 2018.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 10 to 11, 18:23, 22:6, 22:10, 37:32; Shemos 20:22 (Targum Yonasan); Bamidbar 33:55; Shoftim 19:29, 20:2 (Targum Yonasan); Yeshayahu 2:18, 7:20; Yoel 2:8; Mishlei 23:2, 30:14; Iyov 33:18, 36:12; Ezra 1:9; Nechemiah 4:11, 4:17; Divrei HaYamim I 1; Divrei HaYamim II 23:10, 32:5; Yoma 36a (Rashi, Ritva); Zevachim 20a (Rashi); Middos 4:7 (Rabbeinu Shimshon of Shantz); the Midrash, cited by Peirush HaRokeach and Sifsei Kohen; Imrei Noam; Zera Beirech; Radak; Malbim; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur; Rabbi Avraham Vilner; Rashi to Bereishis 22:6; Bartenura; Rabbi Yisrael Lipschitz; Rabbi Reuven Margolios; Rabbi David Kamin.