Is there any connection between the words ra’al רַעַל - “poison, toxin” and re’ala רְעָלָה - “veil, scarf”?
There are three primary theories. Let’s review them.
The first suggests a connection between the root רעל and the root ערל, via a metathesis (a rearrangement of the letters). The adjective עָרֵל arel means “uncircumsized”, and this theory proposes a common sense of both roots meaning “to cover.” A veil covers the wearer, poison (in this view) “covers” the heart, and the orlah עָרְלָה - “foreskin” - is a type of cover. Support for this view is found in this verse:
שָׂבַעְתָּ קָלוֹן מִכָּבוֹד שְׁתֵה גַם־אַתָּה וְהֵעָרֵל תִּסּוֹב עָלֶיךָ כּוֹס יְמִין ה' וְקִיקָלוֹן עַל־כְּבוֹדֶךָ׃
“You, sated by scandal rather than filled with glory,
now you too drink from the poisoned cup and become exposed;
the cup of the Lord’s right hand will turn upon you,
and shame will replace your glory.” (Habakkuk 2:16)
While there are other translations to the word וְהֵעָרֵל here, and some scholars don’t see a connection between the root here and the meaning "uncircumcised", there are those who claim a common origin.
Rashi is a prime proponent of this theory. See for example his commentary on Yeshaya 51:17, where he identifies the word תַּרְעֵלָה as a “drink that clogs and weakens the strength of a person, like one bound, tied, and enwrapped.” Similar comments by Rashi can be found in his commentaries on Tehilim 60:5 and Zecharia 12:2.
Further discussion of this theory can be found in Ben Yehuda’s dictionary here.
The second theory claims that the root רעל means “to stagger, quiver, dangle” (see for example the BDB definition). This meaning appears in Aramaic, which is found in Targum Yonatan’s translation of Yeshaya 35:3. Many scholars, such as Gesenius and Aruch HaShalem, suggest a possible connection between רעל and the root רעד, meaning “to tremble.” The meaning “veil” reflects the way a veil billows or dangles, similar to a staggering or wavering motion. This theory also has support from the Septuagint translation of Yeshaya 51:17, which renders כּוֹס הַתַּרְעֵלָה as “the cup of falling/collapse” and of Tehillim 60:5 as "wine of stupor/piercing,” neither of which mention poison.
The promoters of this interpretation find that none of the biblical appearances of the root refer to poison, which they claim only appears in Medieval Hebrew (for example, see Klein here.) When exactly this usage began is unclear. Mandelkern in his concordance writes that the meaning of רעל is trembling (like in Syriac and Arabic), but the קדמונים (“early ones”) say it means poisons - and it’s unclear who the early ones are. Steinberg, in his Milon HaTanakh, also identifies רעל with trembling, but says that בלשון ימינו (“in the language of our days”), it means poison. Steinberg wrote that dictionary between 1891 and 1895, so he couldn’t have been referring to Modern Hebrew in the Zionist/Israeli sense, but I can’t say how far back he felt it was adopted. The most recent Even Shoshan dictionary offers the meaning poison for ra’al “על פי המשמע הרווח” - according to popular usage. Even that definition is clearly hedging a bit, not accepting the usage as fully legitimate.
In any case, we do find רעל meaning poison in Jewish commentaries in the Middle Ages. For example, Radak mentions this theory in his commentary on Yeshaya 51:17 and in his Sefer HaShorashim, contrasting his interpretation to the identification of רעל with trembling that his father offered. This later meaning of poison could have first developed from the staggering walk of an intoxicated person, which later suggested “toxicity” (as the two similar words, intoxicate and toxic, indicate.)
This second theory (“staggering/ quivering”) appears to be the most widespread theory, found both in traditional Jewish medieval (like Ibn Ezra) and modern commentaries (like Shadal), as well as in scholarly literature.
The third theory does not assume a connection between ra’al and re’ala, but does claim that the meaning of poison is found in Biblical Hebrew. Their proof is the parallel appearance of רַעַל with חֵמָה chemah. While chemah can mean “anger, rage” in many biblical verses, in others it clearly means poison or venom (for example, Devarim 32:24, 32:33, Tehillim 58:5). In fact, Tawil in his entry for chemah writes that the original meaning of the word was “poison” and only later developed into the meaning “rage”. (More on that here).
The parallelism found in Yeshaya 51:17 and 51:22 has convinced these linguists that ra’al did mean poison in those texts, and the Medieval scholars who identified ra’al with poison weren’t coming up with an innovative meaning, but rather were revealing the original meaning of the word.
This theory has grown in popularity in recent decades. It is found in the Daat Mikra commentary (on Nachum 2:4 and Zecharya 12:2), Even Shoshan’s concordance, and in Kaddari’s dictionary of Biblical Hebrew (in the entries for חמה, רעל and תרעלה). Robert Alter, in his commentary on Yeshaya 51:17 writes:
The usual translation of the term tarʿeilah is “reeling” or “staggering” but it is more plausibly related to raʿal, which definitely means “poison” in postbiblical Hebrew, as it may also do in Zechariah 12:2. This understanding is supported by the fact that the word for “wrath” in “the cup of His wrath” also means “venom.”
The earliest modern academic sources I found were from the linguist Prof Chaim Cohen. For example, in his entry in the 1971 edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica, entry “Poison” (Vol 13, p 703), Cohen writes:
Ra‘al, Tar‘elah. The exact meaning of ra‘al and tar‘elah is unknown. That it must refer to some kind of poison is clear from Isaiah 51:17, 22, where tar‘elah parallels hemah. The occurrence with yayin (“wine”) in Psalm 60:5 (yayin tar‘elah) also fits in well with the usage of hemah and mererah as stated above. The other few passages (Isa. 3:19; Nah. 2:4; Hab. 2:16 [read יהועל, as in 1QpHab]; Zech. 12:2) in which this substantive or its denominative verb occurs are far from clear, however, and offer nothing in the way of identification. What is clear from the little evidence is that the biblical ra‘al cannot be derived from Aramaic r‘l (“to reel, tremble”) because its usage is identical with that of two known biblical words for poison, hemah and mererah. While the etymology of the Modern Hebrew ra‘al (“poison”) is unclear (ra‘al “poison” is almost nonexistent in the Talmud and Midrash), because its usage in modern Hebrew appears consistent with biblical usage, it is more likely that it is derived from the biblical term than from the Aramaic r‘l.
While I don’t quite understand the value of Cohen’s citation of “its usage in modern Hebrew”, the parallel to chemah is persuasive. And there was an ancient practice of using poisoned wine as a punishment, as we discussed here.
The challenge in determining which of these theories is correct is primarily due to two factors: the appearance of רעל in only a few biblical verses - and those verses allow multiple interpretations, and the lack of the use of רעל in Talmudic literature, except in one case where it clearly means “veiled” in a discussion of what articles of clothing aren’t considered carrying on Shabbat:
עַרְבִיּוֹת יוֹצְאוֹת רְעוּלוֹת
“[Jewish] women [in] Arab [countries] may go out veiled (reulot) [with a scarf covering their face]” (Mishna Shabbat 6:6)
This use is found today in the phrase רְעוּל פָּנִים - a masked person, usually someone involved in a violent act or crime.
But there is no other appearance that could be interpreted as “poison”, and the cognates in other Semitic languages, while certainly allowing for the trembling/reeling position don’t rule out the possibility of the ancient Hebrew meaning of רעל being “poison.”.
So if we take a look at the Biblical verses where רעל appears, we see even today a variety of translations. In most translations, only the second and third theories I’ve presented are represented, and you can see that in this table:
There is one sense in Modern Hebrew that while it might appear to be related to either of the above roots, most certainly isn’t. The adjective מֻרְעָל mur’al means “highly motivated.” This term is found in army slang, and as the linguist Ruvik Rosenthal points out, the Hebrew phrase רוּחַ הַלְּחִימָה ruach halechima - “the fighting spirit”, was later abbreviated to רה”ל, and that became pronounced ra’al, leading to the eventual spelling רעל, and the adjective mur’al.
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