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חוֹרַי ḥōray – white fabric (?)

Semantic Fields: Colours   
Author(s): John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, חוֹרַי ḥōray – white fabric (?),
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026

Introduction

Grammatical type: noun feminine.
Occurrences: 1x HB (0/1/0); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 1x)

  • Nebiim: Isa 19:9.

A.1 In Isa 19:9 for MT חוֺרָֽי 1QIsaa reads חורו and BHS suggests יֶחֱוָֽרוּ. That חורי is a noun finds support in the glosses of LXX βύσσον and Vg subtilia, ‘finely woven white fabric’, and in its being parallel to פשׁתים, ‘linen’. Nevertheless, the reading of 1QIsaa has strong support; see ‘Introduction A.1’ under I חור verb.

7. Conclusion

A.1 If Heb. has the lexeme חוֹרַי, it stands for ‘white fabric’, particularly ‘fine white linen’ for which Egypt was famous.

For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 87-89 (Printed publications).

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database