שַׁעַטְנֵז

From the study of Leviticus 19:19

Range of meaning

A technical word for a particular mixed fabric. It occurs only here and in Deuteronomy 22:11, which explains it: "wool and linen together." It is probably borrowed from another language, and many scholars suggest an Egyptian weaving term, but its exact origin is still uncertain.

Against the English

Most modern versions translate it generically ("two kinds of material"), so it sounds like a ban on any blended fabric. KJV writes "linen and woollen," importing the definition from Deuteronomy, and is more precise here. YLT simply transliterates it, "shaatnez."

How it drifted

Translators had to choose between an obscure word and a general phrase. The general phrase won, and from it came the popular idea that the verse forbids cotton-polyester and similar blends.

Used elsewhere in the period

Deut 22:11 defines it as wool and linen. The Septuagint renders it kibdēlos, "adulterated, counterfeit." Josephus (Antiquities 4.208) says Israelites may not wear wool woven with linen "for that is for the priests alone." The Mishnah (Kilʾayim 9:8) offers a folk explanation of the word as three steps in working fibre: carded, spun, twisted. In later Jewish law the ban covers wool with linen and nothing else.