שַׁרְבִיט šarbīṭ – sceptre
Semantic Fields:
Utensils Kingship
Author(s):
W.A.M. Beuken
First published: 2011-03-24
Citation: W.A.M. Beuken, שַׁרְבִיט šarbīṭ – sceptre,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2011
(WORK IN PROGRESS)
Introduction
Grammatical type:
Occurrences: 4x HB (0/0/4)
- Ketubim: Est 4:11; 5:2 (2x); 8:4.
1. Root and Comparative Material
A.1 König, HAWAT, 527, remarks: ‘mit Übergangs-r (2473 [= Hist. Komp. Lehrgeb., Bd. 2, 473]) wie es auch im Aram. gesprochen wird (cf. σκῆπτρον)’. Apparently König means Jewish and Samaritan Aramaic, see below. See also Fürst & Ryssel, HCHAT, Bd. 2, 497. Probably all are loans from Bab. šabbīṭu, ‘staff, sceptre’, with typically Aramaic dissimilation of the geminated consonant (Wagner, LGA, 116, No. 317; Mankowski, ALBH, 147-9). The etymology proposed by Sasson 1972 must be rejected (Mankowksi, ibid.).
Coptic: šarbōt ‘sceptre’ (Crum, CD, 554).
Akkadian: šabbīṭu ‘staff’ (CAD Š/1, 10).
Jewish Aramaic: שַׁרְבִיט ‘staff, branch’ (Sokoloff, DJPA, 566).
Samaritan Aramaic: Tal, DSA, 930: שרביט ‘1. staff ... 2. blow, plague’.
2. Formal Characteristics
A.1 [Will be added later.]
3. Syntagmatics
A.1 [Will be added later.]
4. Ancient Versions
a. Septuagint (LXX) and other Greek versions (αʹ, σʹ, θʹ):
- LXX translated with χρυσῆ ῥάβδος.
b. Peshitta (Pesh):
- šabṭā d edahbā ‘golden sceptre’.
c. Targum (Tg):
- The First Targum to Esther translates with דדהבא תגדא ‘golden sceptre’ (Levy, CWT, Bd. 2, 528), the same word as is used in the Targum to Ps 23:4.
d. Vulgate (Vg):
- Renders virga aurea.
5. Lexical/Semantic Fields
A.1 [Will be added later.]
6. Exegesis
6.1 Textual Evidence
A.1 It is only attested in the sense of a golden royal sceptre in the book of Esther (Est 4:11; 5:2 [2x]; 8:4). The lemma is a late (Aramaic) development next to → שֵׁבֶט ‘stick, staff, tribe’.
The term occurs once, in the plural, in Jesus Sirach Hebrew (Sir 37:17), in ms D, while ms B seems to read שׁבטים, which must have been the Vorlage of LXX (μέρη; cf. Beentjes 1997, 102, 155). Apparently the meaning is ‘branches’ here. The term is not attested in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Rabbinic sources maintain the meaning of a royal sceptre, which decides upon chastisement (m. Sanh. II,5; b. Arakh. 19a; Cant. Rabba II, 16. 2). At the same time, the term is used in the sense of a ‘shoot’ or ‘twig’ (Tosephta, Kil. I,10; Uqtsin I,5). This may be due to the fact that several times MT שֵׁבֶט which can mean ‘branch’, is translated as שרביטא in the Palestinian Targums to Exod 21:20 and Lev 27:32 (→ שֵׁבֶט, section 6).
6.2 Pictorial Material
A.1 → מַטֶּה.
6.3 Archaeology
A.1 [Will be added later.]
7. Conclusion
A.1 שַׁרְבִיט is nothing but a late loanword from Babylonian šabbīṭu, in which the double consonant is dissimilated into r+consonant, a process that took apparently place under the influence of Aramaic. The virtual hapax legomenon is exclusively attested in the book of Esther, in the meaning of ‘scepter’.
Bibliography
J.M. Sasson, ‘A Note on šarbîṭ’, VT 22:111.