Aramaic word · H1519

גִּיחַ

megichan

to strive

The basic stem of gîaḥ/gûaḥ (Hebrew and Aramaic) means to burst forth or gush out, used of a baby from the womb, water from a source, or a river in flood. The causative form used here (haphel) means 'to cause to burst forth, stir up, agitate'. This is its only occurrence in biblical Aramaic.

A Biblical Aramaic word, from the parts of the Old Testament written in Aramaic. Why Aramaic?

Appears once in the Aramaic of the Old Testament.

What it means

(Aphel) to break forth

Aramaic of gi.ach (גִּיחַ "to burst/come out" H1518)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Daniel 7:2

Range of meaning

The basic stem of gîaḥ/gûaḥ (Hebrew and Aramaic) means to burst forth or gush out, used of a baby from the womb, water from a source, or a river in flood. The causative form used here (haphel) means 'to cause to burst forth, stir up, agitate'. This is its only occurrence in biblical Aramaic.

Against the English

BSB and NIV 'churning up' and ESV and NASB 'stirring up' read it as transitive, with the winds acting on the sea. KJV 'strove upon' follows the Latin Vulgate pugnabant ('were fighting'), so it pictures combat. WEB 'broke out on' and YLT 'coming forth to' take it as the winds bursting out onto the sea, closer to the basic stem's meaning but losing the causative force.

How it drifted

The KJV's 'strove' comes from Jerome's Latin, which made the winds 'fight'. Modern readers can take it as the winds fighting one another, which the Aramaic does not say.

Used elsewhere in the period

Hebrew cognates: Job 38:8 (the sea 'burst forth' from the womb at creation); Job 40:23 (a river surging against Behemoth); Ezek 32:2 (Pharaoh as a sea monster who 'burst forth in your rivers' and muddied the waters); Micah 4:10. HALOT and BDB give 'burst forth' for the simple stem and 'stir up' for the Aramaic causative.

Where it appears

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 7:2 מְגִיחָ֖ן [were] stirring up

    Daniel declared: “In my vision in the night I looked, and suddenly the four winds of heaven were churning up the great sea.

    Here: A causative participle, 'stirring up' or 'making burst forth'. It shows the winds whipping the sea into upheaval, and the action is ongoing. The root is used of water or a monster bursting out (Job 38:8; Ezek 32:2), so the sea is being made to heave and erupt.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.