שָׂרֹק śārōq – reddish
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, שָׂרֹק śārōq – reddish,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: adjective.
Occurrences: 2x HB (0/2/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 1x Inscr. (Total: 3x).
- Nebiim: Isa 16:8; Zech 1:8.
A.1 In his first vision Zechariah sees three groups of horsemen, each group mounted on horses of a distinguishing colour (1:8). In the MT the horses in the middle group are identified by שְׂרֻקִּים. The LXX, however, has four groups of horses of different colours. The variant stands at the centre: those horses are identified as ψαροὶ καὶ ποικίλοι ‘dapple-grey and piebald’. The reading in the LXX leads to several questions. Did the LXX have a different Vorlage than the MT, do the two Gk. lexemes gloss שׂרקים, did the LXX translator supply an additional term in order to make this list of horses correspond either to the four teams of horses of four different colours in Zechariah’s eighth vision report (6:2-3) (Rudolph 1976:75; also Hanhart 1998:55; cf. the discussion under ‘שָׁחֹר Introduction A.1’) or to the four horses of different colours in the vision reported in Rev 6:3-8, an account based on Zechariah’s vision? Mitchell proposes that either ψαροί or ποικίλοι entered the LXX as a gloss to the other term, especially since ψαροί is omitted in ms Sc (Mitchell 1912:129). According to this explanation the LXX text has been expanded within its own transmission history. In any case, the MT is the superior reading by reason of its being shorter. LXX’s gloss ποικίλοι suggests the possibility that its Heb. text read ברדים as in Zech 6:3 in place of MT’s reading שׂרקים.
A.2 As an explanation for the variations in the colours terms in the three lists of horses (Zech 1:8; 6:2-3; 6-7), McHardy conjectures that the variations arose as a result of these lexemes having been abbreviated in early editions (McHardy 1968:176). A later scribe, in providing full spelling for the lexemes, misunderstood some of the abbreviations. In particular that scribe wrote שׂרקים instead of the intended lexeme שׂחרים, ‘black’. It is highly unlikely, though, that Hebrew scribes abbreviated the colour terms at any stage of the transmission of Zechariah.
7. Conclusion
A.1 In the Heb. Scriptures שׂרק modifies horses and grapes. From the evidence of the cognate lexemes שׂרק represents the bright sheen or lustre of a ‘reddish’ colour, possibly ‘fox-red’. For horses an appropriate gloss is ‘sorrel’ or ‘bay’. Secondary evidence indicates that the colour could be ‘grey’; but this colour does not fit as a modifier of grapes. In its occurrence with vines it appears to describe the shiny light reddish colour of a superior quality of grapes. By metonymy it became a technical term for vine stocks that yielded this kind of grapes.
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 168-174 (Printed publications).
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.