חֹתֶ֫מֶת

From the study of Genesis 38:25

Range of meaning

A seal: an engraved stone or metal object pressed into clay or wax to mark ownership, authorize a document, or secure a container. The feminine form chotemet appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. Verse 18 uses the ordinary form chotam.

Against the English

'Signet' (KJV, WEB, ESV), 'seal' (BSB, YLT, NIV). Some versions write 'signet ring' (NASB). In Judah's setting a seal worn on a cord, either a cylinder seal or a stamp seal, fits better than a ring. The cord in the same list points that way.

How it drifted

The LXX translated it δακτύλιος, 'ring', and later readers picture the signet ring of the Roman or medieval era.

Used elsewhere in the period

Thousands of seals and seal impressions survive from Bronze and Iron Age Canaan and Mesopotamia. Cylinder seals were often pierced so they could be worn on a cord. Jeremiah 22:24 and Haggai 2:23 use chotam as an image for a ruler's most treasured personal possession. Herodotus (1.195) says each Babylonian man carried a seal and a carved staff.