ספיר

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Hebrew

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Assyrian Akkadian šipirtu (“lapis lazuli”) (spelled ṣipirtu in the dictionaries), whence the Semitic root *š-p-r. See the discussion in Ayil (2024) below.

Cognates include Ugaritic spr (“lapis lazuli”), Egyptian t̠frr(t) (“lapis lazuli”), Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros, “lapis lazuli”), and Sanskrit शनिप्रिय (śanipriya, “lapis lazuli”).

Noun

סַפִּיר • (sapír) m (plural indefinite סַפִּירִים)

  1. (countable) sapphire (a clear deep blue variety of corundum, valued as a precious stone)
  2. (Biblical Hebrew) a kind of stone, probably lapis lazuli
  3. anything shiny and expensive

Proper noun

סַפִּיר • (sapír) m or f

  1. a male or female given name, Sapir

Etymology 2

Root
ס־פ־ר (s-p-r)
16 terms

Adjective

סָפִיר • (safír) (feminine סְפִירָה, masculine plural סְפִירִים, feminine plural סְפִירוֹת)

  1. countable, numerable

References

  • Ayil, Ephraim S. (2024). "Chapter 7 סַפִּיר Sappīr—Lapis Lazuli". In Identifying the Stones of Classical Hebrew. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004678002_008
  • “ספיר” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language

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