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אַרְגָּמָן ʾargāmān – bright, rich red purple

Semantic Fields: Colours   
Author(s): John E. Hartley
First published: 2024-10-10
Citation: John E. Hartley, אַרְגָּמָן ʾargāmān – bright, rich red purple,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2024

Introduction

Grammatical Type: noun

Occurrences: 38x HB (27/4/7); 1x Sir; 8x Qum; 0x inscr. (Total: 47).

  • Torah: Exod 25:4; 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16; 28:5, 6, 8, 15, 33; 35:6, 23, 25, 35; 36:8, 35, 37; 38:18, 23; 39:1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 24, 29; Num 4:13;
  • Nebiim: Judg 8:26; Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:7, 16;
  • Ketubim: Prov 31:22; Song 3:10; 7:6; Esth 1:6; 8:15; 2 Chron 2:13; 3:14;
  • Sira: 45:10B;
  • Qumran: 1Q33 (1QM) 7:11; 4Q365 (4QRPc) fr12b.iii:4, 6, 8; 4Q525 fr2.iii:5; 11Q19 (11QTemplea) 3:2; 10:12, 14 (א]ר֯ג֯מ֯ן֯).

See also the Aram. lemma אַרְגְּוָן in 2 Chron and Dan.

Archaeological Evidence and Illustrations

For recent archaeological evidence and illustrations, see the articles on journals.plos.org, www.tandfonline.com, and www.nytimes.com.

According to an inscription of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (RINAP 3/1, 4:56), ‘blue-purple wool and red-purple wool’ (SÍG.ta-kil-tú SÍG.ar-ga-man-nu; cf. תְּכֵלֶת) were among the gifts that King Hezekiah of Jerusalem sent to Sennacherib.

Conclusion

אַרְגָּמָן references ‘bright, rich red purple’. It is a Hitt. loanword (< ark/gamman-, ‘tribute’) that entered Heb. probably from a Canaanite language. The dye was obtained from ‘several gasteropoda molluscs such as Murex brandaris, Murex trunculus, Purpura lapillus and Purpura haemastoma’ (Van Soldt 1990: 345-46), which were primarily found along the north-west coast of Palestine. The workers took secretions from the small bladder of the molluscs. The secretion was yellow, but it turned red on exposure to light (Van Soldt 1990: 346). By metonymy אַרְגָּמָן stands for ‘fabrics dyed reddish purple’. Garments made out of these fabrics served as symbols of royalty and honour. Thus these fabrics were used to adorn palaces and royal gardens. Such fabrics were used to decorate the shrines of the gods and for clothing the idols. The Israelites used rich, red purple fabrics in the tabernacle and also for a variety of objects used in the service of the tabernacle. For cabins on their boats the Phoenicians made awnings out of purple. In addition, women used purple dye to colour their hair and as a facial cosmetic.

For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 198-204 (Printed publications).

Bibliography

Van Soldt 1990
Wilfred H. van Soldt, ‘Fabrics and Dyes at Ugarit’, UF 22:321-57.
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database