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מְזַמֶּרֶת mezammèret – trimming knife, snuffer (?)

Semantic Fields: Utensils   
Author(s): Cornelis Houtman
First published: 2011-03-24
Last update: 2025-10-10
Citation: Cornelis Houtman, מְזַמֶּרֶת mezammèret – trimming knife, snuffer (?),
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011 (update: 2025) (WORK IN PROGRESS)

Introduction

Grammatical type: noun fem.

Occurrences: 5x HB (0/4/1); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 5)

  • Nebiim: 1 Kgs 7:50; 2 Kgs 12:14; 25:14; Jer 52:18;
  • Ketubim: 2 Chron 4:22.

1. Root and Comparative Material

A.1 Root. √zmr/zbr/d̲mr is attested in both South-Semitic and Northwest-Semitic dialects. In most cases it describes a careful mode of cutting, such as pruning a vine.1 The root should not be confused with d̲mr/zmr/šmr ‘to guard, protect’ and d̲mr/zmr ‘to play music’.
The closest cognates are Arabic mizbar, a small sickle2, and Palestinian Arabic zâbûra, also a sickle.3 The reason why a small, very sharp sickle-knife may have been used for trimming the wicks is that, as with a sickle cutting a cornstalk, the curved blade provided sufficient counter-pressure to cut off a piece of wick. Perhaps the מֶלְקַחַיִם ‘forceps’ held the wick during this operation.4

A.2 Ugaritic. The verb zbr is used for the pruning of a vine.5

A.3 Jewish Aramaic. Usually איזמילא or אוזמילא ‘scalpel, very sharp small knife’ is seen as a Greek loanword6, but see below under Greek.

A.4 Syriac. Usually zemelyā or zemalyā ‘scalpel, very sharp small knife’ is seen as a Greek loanword7, but see below under Greek.

A.5 Arabic. See above.

A.6 Greek. Because in many languages, including Semitic dialects and Greek, interchanges between l and r are frequent8 there is a remote possibility that Greek σμῖλη, a ‘scalpel’, but also ‘a vinedresser’s pruning-knife’9, is an early Semitic loanword.

2. Formal Characteristics

A.1 מְזַמֶּרֶת, in form a feminine participium of the pi’el of the verb זמר, ‘to trim, prune’.

3. Syntagmatics

A.1 מְזַמֶּרֶת occurs as the subject of:

  • עשׂה nif., ‘to be made’, 2 Kgs 12:14 (יֵעָשֶׂה).

A.2 מְזַמֶּרֶת occurs as the direct object of:

  • נשׂא qal, ‘to carry’: 2 Kgs 25:14;11 Jer 52:18;12
  • עשׂה qal, ‘to make’: 1 Kgs 7:50;10 2 Chron 4:22.

4. Ancient Versions

a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):

  • ἦλος, ‘nail, stud’:13 1 Kgs 7:50; 2 Kgs 12:14(13).
  • κρεάγρα, ‘flesh-hook’:14 Jer 52:18.
  • ἦλος in 1 Kgs 7:50 and 2 Kgs 12:14(13) is used in plural and is perhaps used due to a hearing error or guesswork, cf. ἤλοις as rendering of מַסְמְרוֹת in Jer 10:4 and ἤλων for מִסְמְרוֹת in 2 Chron 3:9. κρεάγρα in Jer 52:18 is elsewhere used as a rendering for → מַזְלֵג. The traditions about the renderings of α´ and σ´ and θ´ in Jer 52:18 are too uncertain to be trusted. In LXX 2 Kgs 25:14 and 2 Chron 4:22(21) מְזַמֶּרֶת is not translated.

b. Peshitta (Pesh):

  • ܢܦܛܪܐ (nafṭirā), ‘lamp, lantern’:15 1 Kgs 7:50 par.
  • ܩܪܕܠܐ (qardālā), ‘large hanging pot, pot used to cook meat offered in sacrifice’:16 2 Kgs 25:14; Jer 52:18 (basket according to Houtman).
  • ܫܚܠܐ (šeḥlā), ‘strainer, firepan, saucer of a lamp’:17 2 Kgs 12:14 (according to Houtman:(šelḥā),‘hide, skin’).
  • The translation in 2 Chr 4:22 is lacking. In Jer 52:18 ܫܚܠܐ (šeḥlā) is used as a translation for מִזְרָק, ‘bowl, basin’.

c. Targum (Tg):

  • מְזַמַּר, In all occurrences הַמְזַמְּרוֹת is translated with מְזַמְּרַיָּא. It is unclear whether this is an aramaicised transliteration meaning ‘musical instruments’ (so Levy),18 or a true Jewish-Aramaic equivalent (so Jastrow, Dalman and most modern specialist in Targumic studies).19

d. Vulgate (Vg):

  • fuscinula, ‘small three-pronged fork, fleshhook’:20 1 Kgs 7:50; 2 Kgs 12:14(13);
  • psalterium, ‘stringed instrument’:21 Jer 52:18;
  • thymiaterium, ‘censer’:22 2 Chron 4:22;
  • tridentes, ‘tridents’:23 2 Kgs 25:14.

5. Lexical/Semantic Fields

A.1 [Discussion will be added later.]

6. Exegesis

6.1 Textual Evidence

A.1 מְזַמֶּרֶת occurs only in the plural absolute and, with the exception of 2 Kgs 12:14, always with the article (1 Kgs 7:50 = 2 Chron 4:22; 2 Kgs 25:14 = Jer 52:18). The מְזַמְּרוֹת are mentioned among the utensils of the Temple of Solomon in partly stereotype enumerations. As such they are preceded by → סַף plur. in 1 Kgs 7:50 (lacking in the parallel 2 Chron 4:22); 2 Kgs 12:14, by → סִיר pl. and → יָע pl. in 2 Kgs 25:14 = Jer 25:18, and followed by → מִזְרָק pl. (2 Kgs 12:14 + חֲצֹצרָה pl., ‘clarions, trumpets’) as well as כַּף pl. (1 Kgs 7:50 = 2 Chr 4:22 [+ → מַחְתָּה plur]; Jer 52:18 [מִזְרָק pl. is lacking in the parallel 2 Kgs 25:14]). According to 1 Kgs 7:50 = 2 Chr 4:22 the מְזַמְּרוֹת were made of ‘ ‘‘closed’’ gold’ (זָהָב סָגוּר, ‘closed’ meaning that the gold plating was soldered with silver;24 cf. 2 Kgs 12:14, of gold or silver [כֶּסֶף]), according to 2 Kgs 25:14 = Jer 52:18 they were of bronze (נְחֹשֶׁת; cf. 1 Kgs 7:45). The √זמר (see 1. Root and Comparative Material) points to some sort of cutting instrument, a kind of knife or a pair of scissors (cf. → מַזְמֵרָה). Often the מְזַמְּרוֹת are identified as snuffers25 for trimming the wicks (→ פִּשְׁתָּה) of the lamps (→ נֵר) of the lampstand (→ מְנֹרָה). The meaning ‘snuffers’ is also attributed to another term, מֶלְקַחַיִם, but these are rather forceps or tongs (→ מֶלְקַחַיִם).

A.2 In view of the context of their occurrence knives with a more general cultic or another specific cultic use might have been intended. It has been suggested that they might be identified with pincers (‘Zwicker’) which look like pruning knifes, and were used in treating the sacrificial meat to remove the fat and to press out the blood (‘den Winzerscheeren ähnliche Zwicker bei Behandlung des Opferfleisches [Fettablösen, Blutausdrücken]’26).

A.3 For practical reasons a pair of scissors is the most unlikely option. There is no evidence for the use of scissors in ancient Egypt.27 In Greece scissors were used since the fifth century bce.28 It is unlikely that they were invented earlier in Israel.

6.2 Pictorial Material

A.1 See 6.1 Literal Use.

6.3 Archaeology

A.1 [Will be added later on.]

7. Conclusion

A.1 Already the ancient versions were guessing about the nature of this cultic implement that was apparently used in connection with the lamps of the temple. Modern scholars waver between ‘snuffer’ and ‘scissors’, but the latter are unlikely in the pre-exilic period. A third possibility, though also rather remote, is a special type of butcher’s knife used to remove fat and blood from the sacrificial meat. Finally some Arabic cognates point in the direction of a very sharp trimming knife in the shape of a small sickle. This would seem the best option.

Bibliography

For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.

AncBD, vol. 6, 75: (instrument) ‘for trimming lampwicks. In this case, a kind of scissors, rather than a snuffer, would be a more accurate rendering’

Dalman, AuS, Bd. 7, 232

BDB, 275: ‘snuffers’

Böttcher 1864
F. Böttcher, Neue exegetisch-kritische Aehrenlese zum Alten Testamente, Zweite Abtheilung, Leipzig 1864, 64

BRL2, 218

CEDHL, 330: ‘snuffers, forceps’

Alonso Schökel, DBHE, 390: ‘Cuchillos’

DCH, vol. 5, 210: ‘snuffer, or perh. knife to trim wick, as utensil in temple’

EB, vol. 4, 4664: ‘snuffers’

GB, 411: ‘Messer zum Lichtputzen, als Geräte des Armleuchters’

HAHAT, 654: ‘Messer, i.d. Funktion einer Lichtputzschere f. die goldenen Leuchter i. Tempel z. Jerusalem’

HALAT, 536: ‘ÒMesserÓ als Lichtputzschere’

HAWAT, 216: ‘Lichtputzscheere’

HCHAT, Bd. 1, 718: ‘Messer für die Lichter’

Hurschmann 2009
R. Hurschmann, ‘Schere’, in: BNP online

HWAT, 335: ‘Lichtputzen’

IDB, vol. 4, 394: ‘some sort of scissors or similar cutting instrument used for trimming the wicks of the lamps’

ISBE, vol. 4, ‘a kind of scissors for trimming the wicks of lamps’ or ‘snuffer’, like מֶלְקַחִַים, the latter ‘perhaps having been added through the influence of the tabernacle account’

KBL, 510: ‘Lichtscheere, snuffers’

Korpel 1991
M.C.A. Korpel, ‘Soldering in Isaiah 40:19-20 and 1 Kings 6:21’, UF 23 (1991), 219-222

LHA, 424: ‘cultellus’

MHH, 596-7: כלי מכלי ביתהמקדש עשוי זהב>

Mulder 1998
M.J. Mulder, 1 Kings, vol. 1 (HCOT), Leuven 1998, 370: ‘It is possible that these knives were also used as ‘‘snuffers’’, though a somewhat more general cultic use seems more likely’

NIDOT, vol. 1, 1118: ‘golden snuffers that were part of the temple utensils and were used for trimming the wicks of the lamps’

Gesenius & Roediger, TPC, 421: ‘forfices’ (scissors).

  1. Cf. DRS, 677-9; CDG, 631; HAHAT, 304; DULAT, 999; DOSA, 96-7. ↩

  2. Dozy, SDA, t. 1, 579. ↩

  3. Dalman, AuS, Bd. 3, 23-4, Pl. 16; Bd. 4, 312. For the equivalence of m and b, see Lipiński, SLOCG, § 11.6. ↩

  4. For the use of such small sickles as pruning-knives on vines see Dalman, AuS, Bd. 4, 312 and Avishur, Plates 90-1. ↩

  5. Cf. DULAT, 999. ↩

  6. So e.g. Levy, CWT, vol. 1, 170. ↩

  7. So e.g. Brockelmann, LS, 199. ↩

  8. Cf. Lipiński, SLOCG, § 17.5. ↩

  9. LSJ, 1619. ↩

  10. The sentence starts in 1 Kgs 7:48. מְזַמֶּרֶת is part of an enumeration in which is explained what is included in אֵת כָּל־הַכֵּלִים אֲשֶׁר בֵּית יְהוָה, ‘all the vessels that were in the house of the Lord’. See also the parallel in 2 Chron 4:19-22. ↩

  11. The verb is in 2 Kgs 25:13. ↩

  12. The verb is in Jer 52:17. ↩

  13. LSJ, 769; GELS, 319. ↩

  14. LSJ, 992; GELS, 411. ↩

  15. Payne Smith, TS, 2411; ’fax, laterna’. ↩

  16. Payne Smith, CSD, 518. ↩

  17. Payne Smith, CSD, 571. ↩

  18. Levy, CWT, Bd. 2, 21. ↩

  19. Jastrow, DTT, 756: ’snuffers’; Dalman, ANHT, 230: ’Lichtputze’. ↩

  20. Lewis & Short, LD, ??. ↩

  21. Lewis & Short, LD, a kind of lute??. ↩

  22. Lewis & Short, LD, ??. ↩

  23. Lewis & Short, LD, ??. ↩

  24. Korpel 1991. ↩

  25. E.g. Dalman, AuS, Bd. 7, 232: ‘Dochtmesser’. ↩

  26. See Böttcher 1864, 64. ↩

  27. AEMI, 282. ↩

  28. Hurschmann 2009. ↩

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database