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תְּכֵלֶת tekḗlet – bluish purple, violet

Semantic Fields: Colours   
Author(s): John E. Hartley
First published: 2024-10-10
Citation: John E. Hartley, תְּכֵלֶת tekḗlet – bluish purple, violet,
               Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2024

Introduction

Grammatical Type: noun fem.

Occurrences: 49x HB (40/4/5); 2x Sir; 7x Qum; 0x inscr. (Total: 58).

  • Torah: Exod 25:4; 26:1, 4, 31, 36; 27:16; 28:5, 6, 8, 15, 28, 31, 33, 37; 35:6, 23, 25, 35; 36:8, 11, 35, 37; 38:18, 23; 39:1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 21, 22, 24, 29, 31; Num 4:6, 7, 9, 11, 12; 15:38;
  • Nebiim: Jer 10:9; Ezek 23:6; 27:7, 24;
  • Ketubim: Esth 1:6; 8:15; 2 Chron 2:6, 13; 3:14;
  • Sira: 6:30A,2Q18; 45:10B;
  • Qumran: 1Q33 (1QM) 7:10; 4Q179 fr1.ii:12; 4Q299 fr75:1; 4Q365 (4QRPc) fr12b.iii:4 ([הת]כ֯[ל]תׄ), 6, 7 (תכל[ת]); 11Q19 (11QTemplea) 3:2.

Archaeological Evidence and Illustrations

For recent archaeological evidence and illustrations, see the articles on journals.plos.org, www.tandfonline.com, and www.nytimes.com.

According to an inscription of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (RINAP 3/1, 4:56), ‘blue-purple wool and red-purple wool’ (SÍG.ta-kil-tú SÍG.ar-ga-man-nu; cf. אַרְגָּמָן) were among the gifts that King Hezekiah of Jerusalem sent to Sennacherib.

Conclusion

תְּכֵלֶת represents the rich, deep ‘bluish purple’ or violet’ colour from the shellfish identified as purpura hyacinthea. By metonymy it stands for expensive, elegant fabrics dyed this rich colour. For centuries, from the early second millennium BCE until the latter part of the first millennium CE, this colour symbolized royalty in the Middle East. Fabrics dyed this colour certainly carried a very high commercial value.

For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 185-90 (Printed publications).

Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database