צחח ṣāḥaḥ – to dazzle
Semantic Fields:
Colours
Author(s):
John E. Hartley
First published: 2026-05-20
Citation: John E. Hartley, צחח ṣāḥaḥ – to dazzle,
Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (sahd-online.com), 2026
Introduction
Grammatical type: verb.
Occurrences: 1x HB (0/0/1); 0x Sir; 0x Qum; 0x Inscr. (Total: 1x).
- Ketubim: Lam 4:7.
A.1 In the collocation יָצָא מֵחֵלֶב עֵינֵמוֹ (Ps 73:7), Gunkel proposes reading יֵצַח, ‘their eyes are milky white’, for MT יָצָא, 'swell' (Gunkel 51968:317). Without emending the text, Dahood arrives at a similar sense by arguing that יצא also means ‘be clean, shine, gleam’ (Dahood 1968:189; cf. Dahood 1966:93): ‘their eyes gleam through folds of fat’ (REB). To achieve agreement between ענימו and יָצָא, Dahood repoints the verb as an inf.abs. יָצֹא. However, given the lack of textual support and the fact that MT is intelligible, both proposed emendations are rejected.
7. Conclusion
A.1 Glosses for צחח include ‘be bright, brilliant, glowing, radiant’. The roots צחח and לבן describe the glistening white colour of snow and milk. These lexemes stand for the same basic chromaticity, but they differ in regard to brilliance, lustre, and sheen. לבן references a light colour, ‘white to light grey’, and צחח the ‘radiance’ of a light colour (Brenner 1982:74).
For this entry, see further John E. Hartley, The Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Colour Lexemes (2010), 57-59 (Printed publications).
Bibliography
For the abbreviations see the List of Abbreviations.
Athalya Brenner, Colour Terms in the Old Testament (JSOTSup, 21), Sheffield: JSOT Press.