Aramaic word · H2941

טְעֵם

ta'ma'

account

Its basic meaning is 'taste'. From there it widens to 'judgment, discretion', then 'report, account (of a matter)', and also 'decree, command'. HALOT lists both 'report' and 'order'.

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

Appears 2 times in 2 verses of the Aramaic of the Old Testament. ·

What it means

judgment, command, discretion

Aramaic of ta.am (טַ֫עַם "taste" H2940)

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 Ezra 5:5

Range of meaning

Its basic meaning is 'taste'. From there it widens to 'judgment, discretion', then 'report, account (of a matter)', and also 'decree, command'. HALOT lists both 'report' and 'order'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'the matter', BSB 'a report'. Both are right for this verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ezra 4:21; 5:3, 9, 13; 6:14 ('by the decree [ṭaʿam] of the God of Israel and by the decree [ṭǝʿēm] of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes'); Dan 3:10; 6:13. Also common in Imperial Aramaic administrative documents.

Where it appears

Ezra · 1

  1. Ezra 5:5 טַעְמָ֖א report the

    But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, so that they were not stopped until a report was sent to Darius and written instructions about this matter were returned.

    Here: Here 'the report' or 'the matter', in the sense of an official account sent up to the king. Elsewhere in these chapters the same word means 'decree', so the reader hears the language of royal government.

Daniel · 1

  1. Daniel 6:2 טַעְמָ֔א report the

    and over them three administrators, including Daniel, to whom these satraps were accountable so that the king would not suffer loss.

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