כִּישׁוֹר

From the study of Proverbs 31:19

Range of meaning

Occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from context and comparison. Because it is paired with pelekh (spindle), most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) take it as a spinning implement, usually the distaff, the rod that holds the cleaned, unspun wool or flax. Some scholars think it names part of the spindle instead, such as the whorl (the small weight that keeps it turning), or a different spinning tool. It looks like the root k-sh-r, "to be fit, to succeed" (compare kishrôn, "success," in Ecclesiastes 2:21; 4:4). Some suggest the tool was named for being "the proper/skilled instrument."

Against the English

Most modern versions (BSB, WEB, ESV, NASB, NIV) say "distaff." The KJV and YLT say "spindle" here and "distaff" for pelekh, which swaps the two tools compared with modern lexicons. The NLT avoids naming the tool ("busy spinning thread").

How it drifted

The English word "distaff" has not drifted in meaning. It has simply become rare: most modern readers do not know what it is. In English idiom it now mostly survives in "the distaff side" (the female line of a family), which itself comes from spinning as typical women's work.

Used elsewhere in the period

The ancient translators were unsure too. The Septuagint (the Greek translation) renders it ta sympheronta, "useful/profitable things," and the Vulgate (the Latin) renders it fortia, "strong things." Both read it through the root "to succeed, be fit" and did not treat it as a tool at all.