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.
A.1
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: שַׁרְבִיטā ‘staff, branch’ (Sokoloff, DJPA, 566).
Samaritan Aramaic: Tal, DSA, 930: שרביט ‘1. staff ... 2. blow, plague’.
2. Formal Characteristics
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3. Syntagmatics
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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.
A.1
5. Lexical/Semantic Fields
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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 [twice]; 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
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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
Sasson 1972: J.M. Sasson, ‘A Note on šarbîṭ’, VT 22 (1972), 111 --