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shebanq

שָׁנִי šānī – bright red dye

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

Introduction

Grammatical Type: noun

Occurrences: ?x HB (35/5/2); 1x Sir; 8x Qum; 0x inscr. (Total: ?).

  • Torah: Gen 38:28, 30; 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; Lev 14:4, 6, 49, 51, 52; Num 4:8; 19:6;
  • Nebiim: Josh 2:18, 21; 2 Sam 1:24; Isa 1:18; Jer 4:30;
  • Ketubim: Prov 31:21; Song 4:3;
  • Sira: 45:11B;
  • Qumran: 1Q33 (1QM) 7:11; 4Q365 (4QRPc) fr8a_b:3; fr12b.iii:3, 4, 6, 8; 4Q405 fr23.ii:8; 4Q525 fr2.iii:6.

Archaeological Evidence and Illustrations

For recent archaeological evidence and illustrations, see the articles on www.sciencedirect.com and www.patternsofevidence.com

Conclusion

שָׁנִי is a ‘bright red dye’ taken from ‘the nests of a scale insect that lives on the Israelian oak (Quercus calliprinos Webb)’ (Keel 1994: 143). This lexeme is highly referential for the ‘bright red, scarlet’ colour produced by this dye. Thus it has limited syntagmatic uses. שָׁנִי is often restricted by the term תּוֹלֵעָה, ‘worm’, the source of this dye. It is similar in colour to כַּרְמִיל, for it appears that the latter lexeme is substituted for שָׁנִי in the description of the building of Solomon’s temple in 2 Chron. In addition to being produced from a different dye, fabrics dyed שָׁנִי had a higher value. The value of these fabrics was just below those dyed blue purple תְּכֵלֶת or red purple אַרְגָּמָן. Most Israelites would have been able to readily distinguish these four colours. By contrast שָׁנִי is well attested in EBH and only slightly attested in LBH, depending on the dates of the sources in which it occurs in the Pentateuch, and poorly attested in Rabbinic Hebrew.

For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 190-97 (Printed publications).

Bibliography

Keel 1994
Othmar Keel, The Song of Songs (CC), Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database