Hebrew word · H5600
סְפִינָה
hasefinah
ship
'Ship,' probably specifically a decked or covered vessel (the root spn means 'to cover, panel'). Found only here in the Hebrew Bible; common in Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew (sefinta, sefinah).
Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·
What it means
ship, vessel
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
- Range of meaning
'Ship,' probably specifically a decked or covered vessel (the root spn means 'to cover, panel'). Found only here in the Hebrew Bible; common in Aramaic and Mishnaic Hebrew (sefinta, sefinah).
- Against the English
All English versions just say 'ship/vessel,' which is fine, but the switch of word from ʾoniyyah (used in the same verse) disappears.
- Used elsewhere in the period
Hapax legomenon (a word used only once) in the Hebrew Bible; well attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic, and in Arabic safīna. Often cited in discussions of the date of Jonah as a late or Aramaic-flavored word, though a technical sailors' term could be old.
Where it appears
Jonah · 1
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Jonah 1:5 הַסְּפִינָ֔ה the ship
The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the ship’s cargo into the sea to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down to the lowest part of the vessel, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
Here: A word found only here in the Hebrew Bible, common in later Hebrew and Aramaic. It probably means a ship with a covered deck, which helps explain how Jonah could be below, out of sight, while the crew worked above.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.