Hebrew word · H5579

סְנַפִּיר

senapir

fin

'Fin'. It appears only in Lev 11:9, 10, 12 and Deut 14:9, 10. The four-consonant shape is unusual for Hebrew, and it may be a borrowed or compound word. Later Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew use the same word for fins.

Appears 5 times in 5 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

fin

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 Leviticus 11:12

Range of meaning

'Fin'. It appears only in Lev 11:9, 10, 12 and Deut 14:9, 10. The four-consonant shape is unusual for Hebrew, and it may be a borrowed or compound word. Later Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew use the same word for fins.

Against the English

All English versions render it 'fins'. The translation is accurate.

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX renders it pterygia, literally 'little wings', the normal Greek word for fins. The Mishnah (Niddah 6:9) notes that every fish with scales also has fins, but not every fish with fins has scales. Rabbinic practice therefore treated scales as the deciding sign.

Where it appears

Leviticus · 3

  1. Leviticus 11:9 סְנַפִּ֨יר fin

    Of all the creatures that live in the water, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat anything with fins and scales.

  2. Leviticus 11:10 סְנַפִּ֣יר fin

    But the following among all the teeming life and creatures in the water are detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales.

  3. Leviticus 11:12 סְנַפִּ֥יר fin

    Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales shall be detestable to you.

    Here: A fin. The word occurs only in the food laws (Lev 11:9, 10, 12; Deut 14:9, 10). Singular in Hebrew but meaning the kind of thing: 'fins'.

Deuteronomy · 2

  1. Deuteronomy 14:9 סְנַפִּ֥יר fin

    Of all the creatures that live in the water, you may eat anything with fins and scales,

  2. Deuteronomy 14:10 סְנַפִּ֥יר fin

    but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales; it is unclean for you.

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