שְׁחוֹר šeḥōr – soot
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, שְׁחוֹר šeḥōr – soot,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: noun.
Occurrences: 1x HB (0/0/1); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 1x)
- Ketubim: Lam 4:8.
A.1 In Joel 2:2 for שַׁחַר, ‘dawn’, in the sentence כְּשַׁחַר פרשׂ על ההרים ‘like the light of dawn spread over the mountains’, some wish to read שְׁחֹר, ‘blackness’, claiming that ‘blackness’ offers both a better description of the effect of a locust plague and a better parallel with the preceding words for darkness and gloom as a metaphor for the terrible day when a powerful army attacks Zion. However, if the poetry describes the advance of a mighty army, MT’s שַׁחַר, ‘dawn’, is intelligible (Rudolph 1971:51; Wolff 1969:44; Dillard 1992:271). It is also preferred as the harder reading.
7. Conclusion
A.1 Belonging to the root שׁחר, ‘black’, שְׁחוֹר is a noun for ‘soot, charcoal, or something black’. In its single attested occurrence in ancient Heb., this lexeme stands for a dark or black substance; the appearance of the population of a city under siege is compared to this dark material, likely soot or grime.
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 69-71 (Printed publications).
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.