צְלִיל

From the study of Judges 7:13

Range of meaning

This word appears only here in the Hebrew Bible, so its meaning has to be worked out from context, ancient translations and possible related roots. The usual understanding is 'a round flat loaf / cake.' BDB lists it as 'cake' and calls the meaning doubtful, perhaps named for rolling. HALOT also gives a round loaf or cake. One proposed origin is the root ṣll, 'to roll' or 'to whirl', which would make it 'a roller', a disk-shaped loaf. Another is a homonym meaning 'to tingle / rattle'. A few scholars have suggested a sense like 'stale' or 'dry, hard' bread, but these remain speculative.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'cake'. Today that word suggests something sweet and festive. In 1611 it meant a flat, round mass of baked dough. BSB, NASB and NLT say 'loaf'. NIV says 'round loaf', which best keeps both the shape and the ordinariness.

How it drifted

English 'cake' narrowed over the centuries to mean sweetened confectionery. The KJV's 'cake of barley bread' meant a flat round loaf, like 'oatcake' or 'griddle cake'.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint uses magis, a kneaded cake or loaf. The Latin Vulgate says subcinericius panis, bread baked under the ashes, which is the flat hearth-bread of village life (compare 1 Kgs 19:6, ʿuggāh). The Aramaic Targum also takes it as a cake of bread. No ancient version reads it as anything but a flat, round loaf.