בָּבָה

From the study of Zechariah 2:8

Range of meaning

Found only here in the Hebrew Bible. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'pupil' or 'eyeball'. The origin of the word is uncertain. One view links it to babah, 'little child / doll': the tiny figure of yourself you see reflected in someone's pupil. Another links it to Aramaic bab, 'gate, opening': the pupil as the eye's aperture. Related idioms elsewhere name the pupil 'little man of the eye' (ʾishon ʿayin, Deut 32:10; Prov 7:2) and 'daughter of the eye' (bat ʿayin, Ps 17:8; Lam 2:18).

Against the English

'Apple of his eye' (KJV, BSB, NIV, ESV) is an old English idiom. In Old English æppel could mean the pupil, which was thought to be a solid ball. Today the phrase means 'favourite, darling'. YLT's 'daughter of His eye' imitates the Hebrew 'daughter of the eye' idiom. NLT turns it into 'my most precious possession'.

How it drifted

English 'apple of the eye' once named the pupil as a body part. Over the centuries it came to mean only fondness. Readers now hear 'God's favourite' and lose the picture of a painful, protected spot being struck.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint has korē ('girl, pupil'), and the Vulgate has pupilla ('little girl, pupil', the source of English 'pupil'). Hebrew, Greek and Latin all use the same 'little person in the eye' image. Deuteronomy 32:10 ('he guarded him as the pupil of his eye') and Psalm 17:8 ('keep me as the pupil of the eye') use the related phrases for God's protective care.