Gruber-Dance Derived Expressions PDF

Ten Dance-Derived Expressions in the Hebrew Bible
Author(s): Mayer I. Gruber

Source: Biblica, Vol. 62, No. 3 (1981), pp. 328-346
Published by: Peeters Publishers
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42706966
Accessed: 30-06-2019 16:20 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Peeters Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Biblica
This content downloaded from 97.76.132.163 on Sun, 30 Jun 2019 16:20:57 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
328
Ten Dance-Derived Expressions in the Hebrew Bible*
Referring to D. Lapson's article "Dance" in the Encyclopedia

Judaica (*), F. Berk and D. Rosenblatt in their article "Dance" in
the influential The Second Jewish Catalogue have written: "According
to the Encyclopedia Judaica , the high level of interest and develop-
ment in choreography can be noted by the fact that the Bible has
eleven verb forms to describe dancing" (f). The eleven verbs are
hãgag, sãb ab, rãqad, qippëç, dilllg, kir kêr, pizzëz, pisseah , sãla' sihèq,
and the root of the noun mãhôl , either hyl or hll. This list of eleven
Hebrew verbs goes back to the pioneering and still basic The Sacred
Dance by W. O. E. Oesterley (8). In fact, two of the verbs in this
list - sãla* 'limp* and qippes 'jump' - are unattested in the Hebrew
Bible as verbs meaning 'dance'.
In her classic "Symbolic Gestures in Akkadian Contracts from
Alalakh and Ugarit" A. Draffkorn Kilmer notes that it would be
of general interest to trace "figures of speech. . . from the symbolic
act in an original context to the symbolic figure of speech, attempting
to establish whether the act was performed or not in the latter situ-
ation" (4). In my own comprehensive study of references to pos-
tures, gestures, and facial expressions attested in Akkadian, Ugaritic,
Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Aramaic, I demonstrated that criteria
* This article is a revision of a paper presented at the International

Seminar on the Bible in Dance held in Jerusalem August 5-9, 1979.
I am most grateful to Prof. Moshe Greenberg for his having suggested
to the organizers of the conference - Barry Swersky, Chairman of the
Organising Committee and Giora Manor, Chairman of the Programming
Committee - and to me that I investigate the subject and present the
paper. I am very glad that Prof. Toby Berger Holtz of Barnard College,
Columbia University, was able to present the paper on my behalf. I
wish to record my thanks to Prof. Shalom Paul for his having urged
me to prepare the paper for publication.
(!) (Jerusalem 1972) vol. 5, p. 1262.
(*) (Philadelphia 1976) 337.
(8) (Cambridge, Eng. 1923) 44.
(4) JAUS 94 (1974) 182, n. 24.
Ten Dance-Derived Expressions in the Hebrew Bible 329
could indeed be established for determining when these verbs or
expressions were employed in their literal meanings and when they
were employed idiomatically to denote attitudes or emotions such
as praise, entreaty, anger, grief, happiness, etc (6). I showed that
the most important criterion for determining when a particular verb
or expression is employed literally to refer to a body movement is
its being juxtaposed with other expressions denoting physical acts
while the most important criterion for determining when a particular
expression is employed symbolically is its being juxtaposed with
other abstract expressions.
Previous studies of the verbs meaning 'to dance' in Biblical
Hebrew relied almost exclusively upon etymology for the deter-
mination of meaning. In the present article I present the findings
of my reinvestigation of the nuances of ten verbs based upon (1) the
criteria explained in the previous paragraph; (2) the determination
of semantic equivalents in Biblical Hebrew and cognate languages;
(3) traditions preserved in Talmudic literature; and (4) comparisons
with terminology employed in other cultures whose dance has been
systematically investigated. The ten verbs to be considered are
hãgag, sãbab, rãqad , qippës, dillèg , kirkêr, pizzêz, pisseah , hyljhll, and
sihêq.
hãgag 'dance in a circle'

In thirteen of its sixteen occurrences the Hebrew verb hãgag
means simply 'celebrate (a prescribed festival)'. In Ps 107,27 hãgag
is juxtaposed with the verb nãl 'move about', and both verbs are
said to describe the behavior of a drunk. Based on the assumed
etymological relationship between the verb attested in Ps 107,27
and the verb hãg 'draw a circle' attested in Jb 26,10, it has been
assumed that Ps 107,27a means "They shall move about going in
circles like a drunk" (6). Hence it has seemed plausible to suggest
that in 1 Sm 30,16 and Ps 42,5 - the only other instances where
hãgag does not mean 'celebratela prescribed festival)' - hãgag may
mean 'dance in a circle' (7). If so, 1 Sm 30,16 where the verb is
(5) Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East,

(Studia Pohl 12/I-II) xxx-770 p. Rome 1980.
(6) OestERI<EY, The Sacred Dance , 44.
(7) Cf. Brown-Driver-Briggs, 290; Koehi,er- Baumgartner3, 278;
commentaries of David Kimhi on these two verses.
330 Mayer I. Gruber
juxtaposed with the verbs ' ãkal 'eat', Sãt

should be rendered as follows: "So he (
(King David) down, and there they (Zik
all over the ground eating and drinkin
commemoration of the vast spoil they h
Judah".
In Ps 42,5 the words beqôl-rinnãh wHôdãh hãmôn hõgèg may be
rendered "The multitude dances in a circle to the tune of a song of
thanksgiving". It cannot be demonstrated, however, that in either
1 Sm 30,16 or Ps 42,5 the verb hãgag does not mean simply 'cele-
brate' as it does everywhere except in Ps 107,27 where the context
calls for a verb of motion. Nevertheless, the most plausible expla-
nation as to how a single verb can mean 'move in circles (like a
drunk)' and 'celebrate (a prescribed festival)' is that the verb hãgag
whose basic meaning is 'move about in a circle' was used to refer
to dancing in a circle in celebration of victory as perhaps in 1 Sm
30,1 and to dancing in a circle in praise of God as perhaps in Ps 42,5.
The semantic development hãgag 'move about in a circle' > hãgag
'dance in a circle to celebrate' > hãgag 'celebrate' thus corresponds
to the semantic development bãkãh 'weep' > bãkãh 'weep (in mourn-
ing)' > bãkãh 'mourn' (8) and to the semantic development hi&tahawãh
'bend over' > hiêtahawãh 'bend over (in worship)' > hiStahawãh
'worship' (®). This does not mean that by designating a festival as
hag the Bible means to inform us that a sacred (or non-sacred) dance
was a feature of that festival although it may have been (10).
There does seem to be one clear reference to the circle dance
or processional dance about the altar which employs the noun hag
in the sense "procession". This is Ps 118,27 where we read, "Make
a procession with branches up to the horns of the altar" (n). This
interpretation of the verse which seems to refer to the procession
with lulab and ethrog on the festival of Sukkoth, is supported by
(8) M. Gruber, "Akkadian labãn appi in the Light of Art and

Literature", JANESCU 7 (1975) 74, n. 8; id., Aspects of Nonverbal
Communication in the Ancient Near East , 402-407.
(9) Gruber, Aspects, 94-98.
(10) T. NöifDEKE, review of Skizzen und Vorarbeiten von J. Wey-
hausen, Drittes Heft : Reste arabischen Heidenthumes , Z D MG 41 (1887)
719.
(u) Cf. RSV: "Bind the festal procession with branches up to the
horns of the altar".
reference to the Akkadian cognate of Heb. Hsrû , which is usually

rendered 'bind'. In light of the Akkadian cognate esèru, which
may mean 'enclose, surround' ("), it would appear that Heb. *isrû
hag should mean 'make a procession, form a circle'.
sãbab 'encircle, turn about'
Especially worthy of note are the four attestations of sãbab

'encircle, turn about' in Jer 31,22; Ps 114,3.5; 26,6 and Qoh 12,5
precisely because these references to dancing are generally ignored
both in the previous discussions of dance in the Bible and in Bible
commentaries and translations.
The most obvious instance of sãbab 'encircle' which refers to
a dance is Ps 26,6 where the psalmist says, "I shall wash my palms
with innocence so that I may walk in the procession around Your
altar, O LORD". Here sãbab refers to the same rite of worship
as is described in 1 Sm 30,16 by the verb hãgag (1S). That Jos 6
(12) Note the juxtaposition of the Akkadian synonyms natu, lamû, and
esèru, 'enclose, encircle, surround', in Enuma eliš iv 110-111: nïta lamû
napař šudiš lã le*ê isirlunütíma kakkèlun ulàbbir, "Enclosed, encircled,
unable to flee (were the hosts of Tiamat) ; he (Marduk) surrounded them,
and he smashed their weapons"; note also the juxtaposition of esèru
and labû (Assyrian equivalent of Babylonian lamû) in ABL 1186:10:
lu gabbilüma ina libbi ali èsir u emüqiya labiülu, "As for him, I enclosed
all of him within the city, and my troops surrounded him"; note also
the semantic equivalence of esèru and lamû, 'surround, besiege (a king,
city)'; for esèru 'surround, besiege' see OIP 2, 33:27-29 (= 70:28-29):
sâlu kïma issur quppi qereb Ursalimma ãl larrütilu esiršu "As for him
(Hezekiah), I (Sennacherib) surrounded him in his capital Jerusalem
like a caged bird"; see also Rost, Tig III 34:203; for lawû (Old Babylonian
equivalent of later lamû) see ARM 1 131:10: àlam lati almi, "I besieged
that city"; note the cliche almi aklud appui aqqur, "I surrounded, I con-
quered, I thoroughly devastated", passim in OIP 2.
(13) OesterI/EY, The Sacred Dance, 91; see commentaries; T. H.
GasTER, Myth, Legend, and Custom in the Old Testament (New York and
Evanston 1969) 746-747. The reference to palms washed by innocence
reflects the idea expressed in Is 1,5 that God will not heed prayer or
worship by those whose hands are defiled by guilt, an idea which derives
its poignancy from the fact that ancient Israelites supplicated with palms
spread apart; see Gruber, Aspects, 29-31; cf. šurpu III 44: mãmit nil
qãtí lã ellúti zikir ili zakãru, "the dire consequence of invoking the name
of a god while making the prayer gesture with unclean hands".
332 Mayer I. Gruber
where the verb sãbab is attested six times describes a ceremonial

processional dance around the walls of Jericho is well known, an
it has frequently been discussed (M). While the aim of the circum-
ambulation in Ps 26,6 is worship (16), the purpose of the circum-
ambulations prescribed and carried out in Jos 6 is symbolically to
lay claim to the territory of Jericho (16). Perhaps the psalmist's
metaphoric description of the conspiracy of his enemies in Ps 118,11a
sabbûnî gam-sebâbûnî , "They encircled me; indeed, they encircle
me," is an extension of circumambulation as a symbolic act designed
to conquer or overpower an enemy. That the same verb of motion
or idiom may describe several different bodily motions or similar
bodily motions with different meanings determined by context is
discussed at length in my Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in
the Ancient Near East (17).
In Ps 114,3-4 we have additional attestations of sãbab referring
to a dance performed as an act of divine worship. Here we are told
that in response to the deliverance from Egypt "The sea saw and
fled, the Jordan turned around, the mountains danced like rams,
the hills like young sheep". These verses combine three images.
These are (1) the primordial battle between the LORD and the re
bellious Sea/River (18); (2) the splitting of the Reed Sea (Ex 14,21
etc.) and of the Jordan River (Jos 3,13-17) to enable the Israelite
to pass over on dry land; and (3) dancing as a form of praise and
(u) See commentaries. G ASTER, Myth, Legend , and Custom, 41

points out, "The emphasis on the sacred number seven shows clearly
that the Biblical writer is modelling his account upon a ritual ceremony.
Likewise in the Sargon legend CT 13 42, 17 when Sargon of Akkad say
[mã]ti tiãmat lu almX<i ' S-šu "I circumambulated the Seal and three
times" the reference to the sacred number three indicates that Sargon
speaks of a rite rather than of a military procedure of surrounding a city
as in the stereotypic almi akšud discussed in n. 12 above. Contrast
B. Lewis, The Sargon Legend (ASOR Dissertation Series 4; Cambridge,
Mass. 1980) 63-64; 83, nn. 168-172; for other references to three circum-
ambulations in Assyrian ritual see below, n. 32a. For references to
symbolic circumambulation in laying claim to territory using Akk.
sahäru 'circumambulate' see Ch.-F. Jean, Tell Sifr (Paris 1931) # 71a,
1. 19; #71, 1. 18.
(15) Oesteri^EY, The Sacred Dance, 91; see commentaries.
(16) GasTER, Myth, Legend, and Custom, 411.
(17) See there pp. 18-19; 49, n. 1; 60, n. 2; 94-98 and passim.
H Is 51,10; Ps 66,6; 74,13; 89,10-11; 104,6-8; Jb 26,12; etc.
worship of the LORD. Just as the personified mountains (19) are

said to have danced the riqqûd 'skipping dance1 (20) so are Sea and
Jordan said to have danced the circle dance. Similarly in Ps 114,7
*ãre$ 'the land (of Israel?)' is commanded: hûlî "dance the mãhôV ' (21)
in praise of God.
In Jer 31,22 sãbab refers neither to an act of worship nor to
laying claim to territory but to the universal phenomenon of circum-
ambulation of the bridegroom, bride, or bridal couple (22). According
to folklorists the origin of this practice is "to obstruct the entry of
demons and noxious influences" that might seek to harm the bride-
groom and/or bride (23). Bible scholars have long been puzzled as
to why Jeremiah calls the practice of woman circumambulating
man an innovation when he says in Jer 31,22b, "Indeed, the LORD
creates an innovation in the land: a woman will circumambulate
a man" (24). To those who had become so completely used to dis-
(19) Probably Mount Lebanon (Lubnan) and Mount Sirion (Her-

mon); see Ps 29,6.
(20) See below.
(2i) por identification of mãhôl see below, pp. 341-345.
(22) See Gaster, Myth, Legend, and Custom, 412; id., The Holy
and the Profane (New York 1953) 124-45; Funk and W agnails Standard
Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology , and Legend , ed. Maria Leach (New
York 1949) 1, p. 235; M. HiGGER, "Haqqãpôt weHggûlîm" , Horeb 1 (1934)
214 (in Hebrew); id., Tractate Semahot (New York 1936) 76 (in Hebrew).
(23) GASTER, Myth, Legend, and Custom, 412.
Í24) See commentaries; for a survey of views see S. R. Driver,
The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (New York 1906) 188; 366-367; W.
Rudolph, Jeremiah (HAT 12; 2d ed., Tübingen 1958) 181-182; J. P.
Hyatt, "The Book of Jeremiah: Introduction and Exegesis", IB vol. 5,
p. 1034. E. Nacar, "Sobre la interpretación de 'Femina circumdabit
virům' ", EstBib 1 (1942) 405-436 argues that the innovation is that in
former times when the people of Israel travelled the women walked on
the inside, the men outside to protect the women; when Israel will return
from the Babylonian Exile God will create a new circumstance of such
great security that the women will be able to walk on the outside without
the protection of the men; I wish to thank my former student, Mr. Ariel
Zamarripa-Gesundheit for translating this article from Spanish for me.
A. Ehrlich, Mikrâ ki-Pheschutô (Berlin 1899-1901) 3, pp. 244-45 (in
Hebrew) explains that "a woman shall circumambulate a man" means
"she shall surround him with words of endearment so as to capture his
heart". The Prophets : Nevi'im, ed. H. L. Ginsberg (Philadelphia 1978)
renders "For the LORD has created something new on earth: A woman
courts a man", adding in a marginal note: "Meaning of Heb. uncertain".
334 Mayer I. Gruber
aster that they said of Judah and Jerusalem

no one lives here" (Jer 33,10) it was indeed
dings should again be celebrated there (M).
prophet describes a wedding as "a woman
man".
Seeing that sãbab 'encircle, turn about' can and does refer to
the circle dance or processional dance elsewhere called hag , we may
be able to appreciate the Bible's single reference to dancing as a rite
of mourning. In The Sacred Dance Oesterley writes, "There is no
instance to be found in the Old Testament of dancing being per-
formed as a mourning or burial rite; that must be acknowledged;
yet in spite of this there are strong reasons for believing that the
custom did exist among the Israelites" (ie). He goes on to say,
"The strongest reason for believing that this custom was in vogue
among the ancient Israelites is that it exists at the present day" (27).
He refers specifically to the seven circumambulations of the bier
which are still part of the prescribed funerary rites according to
the custom of the Sephardim (28). Perhaps the Mishnaic and Modern
(26) Hence while in his prophecies of rebuke Jeremiah warns in

Jer 7,34 "I shall cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the
streets of Jerusalem the sound of joy and the sound of happiness, the
sound of bridegroom and the sound of bride, for the land will become
a ruin" (similarly Jer 16,9 and 25,10), in his "Scroll of Consolations"
(i.e., Jer 30-33; see Y. Kaufmann, Tôledôt hã-emúnãh hayyisrâ'ëlît 6
[Tel Aviv and Jerusalem 1963] 7, p. 410) in Jer 33,10-11 he says:
"Thus said the LORD, 'There shall again be heard in this place of which
you say, "It is destroyed, it is devoid of a person, and it is devoid of
cattle", in the cities of Judah and in the destroyed streets of Jerusalem
which are devoid of a person and devoid of an inhabitant and devoid
of cattle, people saying, "Thank the LORD of Hosts, for the LORD is
kind, for His loyalty is forever" and people bringing thanksgiving of-
ferings to the Temple of the LORD when I restore the fortunes of the
land as aforetime', said the LORD".
(26) P. 194; similarly A. J. Wensinck, Some Semitic Rites of Mourn-
ing and Religion (Amsterdam 1917) 44.
(27) Oesterley, The Sacred Dance, 197.
(28) Rabbi Michael Azose, spiritual leader of the Portuguese Israelite
Fraternity of Evanston, Illinois, informs me (oral communication,
June 13, 1980) that these circumambulations are observed by the Western
Sephardim (the communities established in Western Europe and the
western hemisphere following the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and
Hebrew term for a funeral l'wäyäh derives from the common Semitic
root l-w-y and refers to the circumambulation of the bier (29).
We have seen that Biblical Hebrew refers to circumambulation
by means of the verb hãgag, the noun hag, and the verb sãbab (80).
Hence it is probable that sãbab 'participate in a circle dance or pro-
cession' refers to the circumambulation of the bier in Qoh 12,5 where
we read, kí-hõlêk hffãdãm yel-bêt tôlãmô wesãbebu baššuq hassôpedîm,
"When a person goes to his eternal home (31), the mourners (sa) in
the street participate in the circumambulations". It is indeed
remarkable that this reference to circumambulation has not been
recognized in any of the major translations of the Hebrew Bible
into English or in the major critical commentaries on Ecclesiastes (32a).
Portugal in the fifteenth century) but not by the Eastern Sephardim

(descendants of the Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin who settled
in lands of the Eastern Mediterranean). For pictorial illustration of
circumambulation of the coffin among the Sephardic Jews of eighteenth
century Amsterdam see "The Acafoth, or the Seven turns round the
Coffin", in B. PicarT, Ceremonies of the Jews', sixteen engravings in fac-
simile (New York [no date]).
(29) Cf. M. D. Cassuto, "Leviathan", Encyclopedia MiqraHt, 4:486
(in Hebrew).
(80) In Rabbinic and Medieval Hebrew the preferred verb is hiqqîp ;
see sources cited in HiGGER, "Haqqâpôt" and in id., Tractate Semahot
75-76; see also Harry Rabino wicz, "Hakkafot", Encyclopedia Judaica
7:1153-1154. In Biblical Hebrew hiqqîp 'encircle' refers to the proces-
sion around the walls of Jericho in Jos 6,3 and 6,11. The same verb
refers to the besieging of a city also in 2 Kgs 6,14. Corresponding to
sãbab in Ps 118,11 hiqqîp in Ps 17,9; 22, 17; 88,18 (in the latter verse
the verb is employed as the parallel word to sãbab) and Lam 3,5 refers
metaphorically to the psalmist's enemies' conspiracy against him. Just
as in Ps 26,6 sãbab 'walk around' refers to an act of divine worship so
does hiqqîp in 2 Kgs 11,8 and 2 Chr 23,7 appear to refer to a ceremony
of obeisance to King Joash of Judah. In Ps 48,13 the two verbs sãbab
and hiqqîp refer to circumambulation of the walls of Jerusalem as an
act of adoration of the Holy City: sobbû Siyyôn wehiqqîpûâh siperû migdã-
lêãh "Encircle Zion, and march around her, count her towers".
(31) Heb. hãlak 'go (to his eternal home)' should be compared to
Akk. alãku 'go' in the idiomatic ana limti alãku 'go to fate', i.e., 'die';
see CAD A pt. 1, p. 321.
(32) On sôpedîm 'mourners' see Gruber, Aspects, 350.
(32a) H. L. Ginsberg, Koheleth (Tel Aviv & Jerusalem 1961) 132
(in Hebrew) correctly notes that the verb refers to a funerary rite; hence
he takes the verb to mean 'they surrounded (it, i.e., the bier)'; Ginsberg's
336 Mayer I. Gruber
rãqad 'skip'
Curt Sachs in his monumental World History of the Dance (88)

points out :
Skip dances as movements in which either foot is used ought
to be distinguished from the jump dances; in the real jump
dance the dancer leaves the ground with both feet at the
same time. It seems to me that only the Hebrew language
discriminates carefully between the two terms.
Sachs' distinction between riqqûd 'the skip dance' and qippûs

'the jump dance' derives from the assertion of Rabbi Jeremiah in
the name of Rabbi Ze'ira in the name of Rab Huna (d. 296 C.E.)
in the Jerusalem Talmud, Beza 5, 1: "In qippû§ one removes his
realization is not followed up in The Five Megilloth and Jonah, ed. H. L.

Ginsberg (Philadelphia 1969), which renders wesâbebû hassôp'dîm baššúq
"With mourners all around in the street". Circumambulation is at-
tested as a funerary rite in the Akkadian text KAR 143, 66-67 where
as in Qoh 12,5 circumambulation (labû) is an activity of the professional
mourner. The text reads as follows: narkabtu ša ana bit akit tallaküni
tallakanni bèlla laššu ša lã bêle tasabbu9 u d Sakkukutu ša issu ali talab -
banni bakkissu ší issu ali talabbia, "As for the chariot which goes again
and again to the festival temple, its lord [Marduk] is not (in it) ; without
its lord it totters. Now DN who goes in a circle around the city, she,
his professional mourner, goes in a circle around the city". Another
attestation of circumambulation as a funerary rite is in W. von Soden,
"Aus einem Ersatzopferritual für den assyrischen Hof", ZA 45 (1939)
42, 11. 4-6: kallatu šěpě tamassi 3 -šu issu erši tallabia šěpě tanaššiq tallaka
tuššab, "The daughter-in-law [of the king] will wash the feet [of the dead
crown prince, her husband]. Three times she shall walk in a circle
around the bier; she shall kiss [his] feet; she shall go; she shall sit".
Similarly in 11. 20-21 (there, p. 44) of the same text we read as follows:
3 -šu issu i*erši talabbi šěpě tanaššiq Nevinnu tašarrap, "Three times she
shall walk around the bier; she shall kiss the feet [of the deceased], and
she shall burn cedar". As for eršu 'bier', CAD E 315 and AHw 246
give eršu only the meaning 'bed', but cf. Heb. mittãh 'bed' in the extended
meaning 'bier' in 2 Sm 3,31 (so Brown-Driver-Briggs 641-642) and
passim in Rabbinic Hebrew; see dictionaries of Rabbinic Hebrew.
Three circumambulations of the bier before interment are attested also
in Greek literature as in Iliad 23 where Achilles is described as having
war chariots circle the body of Patroclus three times.
t33) Trans. Bessie Schönberg (New York 1937) 30.
two feet from the ground simultaneously, but in riqqûd one removes
one foot from the ground while placing the other foot upon the
ground". Sachs concludes that King David's dance before the Ark
described in 1 Chr 15,29 as m'raqqèd was a skip dance (u).
Sachs' conclusion seems to be corroborated by the Bible's
characterization of riqqûd as the activity of rams (Ps 114,4-6), calves
(Ps 29,6), and he-goats (Is 13,21). The similes 'dance like a calf'
in Ps 29,6, 'dance like rams' and 'dance like young sheep' in Ps
114,4-6 suggest that in ancient Israel riqqûd was regarded as an
imitation of the skipping or romping of large and small cattle (86).
Like Heb. rãqad , Akk. dakãku is employed both to refer to the romp-
ing of animals including calves, sheep, donkeys, and foxes and to
refer to the dancing of young girls. Moreover, like räqad in J1 2,5
and Na 3,2, Akk. dakãku may refer to military troops' gathering
together like a flock of sheep (8#).
Because the dance is frequently a feature of mourning rites it
should not be surprising that in Syriac the root r-q-d came to have
the two meanings 'dance' and 'mourn' (87). In the Hebrew Bible,
however, riqqûd was understood to be a dance of joy and, perhaps,
like mãhôl in Lam 5,15 and in Ps 30,12 it came to be a dance-derived
expression for 'joy' (38). Hence Qoh 3,4 informs us, "There is an
appointed time to cry, and an appointed time to laugh, an appointed
time to beat the breast (89), and an appointed time to dance" (40).
In Jb 21,11-12 Job, describing the happiness and prosperity
of the wicked seems to characterize the riqqûd both as a dance im-
itative of the behavior of sheep and goats and as an expression of
(M) Ibid.
(ss) For numerous examples from all over the world of dances
imitative of animals see Sachs, World History of the Dance, 79-85; B.
DE ZoETE and W. Spies, Dance and Drama in Bali (New York & London
1939) 25-26; S. Marti and G. P. KuraTh, Dances of A náhuac (Chicago
1964) 94-102.
(8S) See CAD, D 34. Akk. raqãdu is also used of both people and
animals; see AHw 957.
(87) See dictionaries.
(88) Cf. Akk. lurqud "Indeed I jump for joy" (?) in H. W. F. Saggs,
"The Nimrud Letters 1952 - Part III", Iraq 18 (1956) 54, 1. 13.
(39) On Heb. sãpad 'beat the breasť and the cognate Akk. sapãdu
'beat the breasť see Gruber, Aspects, 436; 449-455.
(40) Contrast Ginsberg, Koheleth, 73.
Biblica 62 (1981) 23
338 Mayer I. Gruber
joy. There we read, ''They produce t

and their children continually dance
and the lyre, and they rejoice at the so
qippûs and dillůg 'jump'

As the above-cited passage from the Jerusalem Talmud indi-
cates, both riqqûd and qippûs were attested as terms designating
specific and distinct dance forms during the Amoraic period. The
Jerusalem Talmud passage is useful also for the light it sheds on
the Hebrew Scriptures although the single biblical attestation of
qiflfiëç in the sense 'jump' is not in a dance context. This single
attestation is Ct 2,8 where the woman in love says of the man she
loves, "Hark, my beloved! There he comes, leaping over mountains,
jumping over hills". The fact that in the Talmudic period qippûs
designated the jumping dance and the fact that the two verbs dilleg
and qippês are employed as synonyms in Ct 2,8 help us fully ap-
preciate the single clear reference in the Hebrew Bible to the jumping
dance, Is 35,6. Here the prophet who is generally said to have
been the Second Isaiah (41) tells us that when Israel will have been
vindicated by God, "Then the lame will dance like a hart, and the
tongue of the dumb shall sing a joyous song". Here the parallelism
'dance like a hart'//'sing a joyous song' reflects the universal associ-
ation of song and dance.
kit kit 'whirl, pirouette'
The verb kirkêr 'whirl' is twice attested in the account of King

David's dancing in the procession that brought the Ark to Jerusalem
(2 Sm 6,14.16). The interpretation of kirkûr as a whirling dance
is based primarily on the view that kirkêr is an intensive (pilpèl)
of the verb kãrar ' rotate' (4a). Moreover, J. Morgenstern suggested
that kãrar is a secondary formation from kwr 'be round', from which
we get the noun kikkar (4S) (= Akk. kakkaru) 'a round loaf of bread,
a round weight, a round district' i44). Thus E. G. Hirsch in his
(41) See commentaries.

(42) OesTERI<EY, The Sacred Dance , 45.
(4S) "The Etymological History of the Three Hebrew Synonyms
for 'to Dánce', HGG, HLL and KRR, and their Cultural Significance",
JAOS 36 (1917) 321.
Í44) Brown-Driver-Briggs, 503.
article "Dancing - Biblical Data" suggested that kirker is "most

likely the turning round and round upon the heels on one spot, as
practised by the dervishes" (46). Equally plausible from an ety-
mological point of view and to be preferred by reason of its antiquity
is the suggestion presented anonymously in Numbers Rabbah 4:20
that kirker denotes 'pirouette1.
Notwithstanding the plausible arguments to the contrary ad-
vanced by Y. Avishur (4#), the interpretation of kirkûr as 'dancing',
specifically 'pirouette', is supported by numerous attestations of the
verb and derived nouns in Rabbinic Hebrew and Aramaic referring
either to dancing or to verbal circumlocution (47). Nevertheless,
there is some evidence both in Rabbinic literature and in Ugaritic
for kirkûr denoting a gesture of the hand rather than a movement
upon the heel or toe. That kirkûr may indeed denote both dancing
and a gesture or gestures of the hand or fingers is plausible in view
of the following: (1) C. Sachs' delineation of sitting dances in which
all significant movement takes place from the waist upward (48) ;
and (2) the hasta 'single hand gesture' and samyuta hasta 'double
hand gesture', "which have now become the hallmark of Indian
dance throughout the world" (49).
The first of the two biblical attestations of kirkûr 'whirling,
pirouette' is 2 Sm 6,14a where we read, "David was whirling with
all (his) might before the LORD". The adverbial phrase 'before
the LORD' indicates that the dance was performed as an act of
worship (60). The second attestation of kirkûr is found in 2 Sm 6,16
where we read, "When the Ark of the LORD was coming to the City
of David, Michal daughter of Saul was peering through the window
when she saw King David skipping and whirling, and secretly she
despised him".
The substitution of the verb sihêq 'dance' for kirker in the par-
allel accounts in 1 Chr 13,8 and 15,29 seems further to support the
interpretation of kirkûr as 'whirling, pirouette'. Nevertheless,
(45) The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York 1901) 4, p. 425a.

(46) "Krkr in Biblical Hebrew and in Ugaritic", VT 26 (1976) 257-261 .
(47) See dictionaries; cf. G. W. Ahi^strom, "Krkr and tpd", VT
28 (1978) 100-102.
(48) World History of the Dance 37-41.
(49) F. Bowers, The Dance in India (New York 1953) 34.
(50) See Gruber, Aspects, 112-116.
340 Mayer I. Gruber
Number Rabbah 4:20 records the followin

"What i $ m'karkèrì [It is that] he stru
other, clapping them and saying, ' kyr
on the word m'karker seems to be the
the Hebrew first person singular possessiv
for 'He (my Lord) is exalted". This inte
fact that in 2 Sm 6,14a kirkûr is an a
suggestion that kirkûr may designate a g
ported also by the Ugaritic text UT 51, c
il kypnh When El saw her (Asherah)
yprq lsb wyshq He parted his jaw, and he laughed
p'nh 'hdm ytpd He put his foot on the footstool (61),
wykrkr usb'th And he twiddled his fingers.
pizzèz 'skip'
The verb pizzèz is attested with reference to a dance step only
in 2 Sm 6,16. There the verb is usually interpreted to mean 'skip'
on the basis of 1 Chr 15,29 wich seems to equate the common verb
riqqèd 'skip* with the rare verb pizzèz by substituting the former
for the latter. Given the two lines of evidence that kirkèr means
'pirouette', the expression m'pazzèz umekarkèr 'skip and whirl' must
refer to the raising of one foot (Heb. riqqûd, pizzûz) while the other
foot, the pivot, executes the pirouette [kirkûr).
pãsah 'limp'
It has frequently been suggested that the festival of Pesah de-
rives its name from a limping dance performed on this festival in
hoary antiquity ("). In fact, there is no basis for this suggestion
other than the presumed derivation of the noun pèsah from the verb
päsah 'limp'. Nevertheless, the Bible does refer at least once to
pissûah 'a limping dance'. In 1 Kgs 18,26 the behavior of the
priests of Baal in their contest with Elijah is described as follows:
They took the bull that he (Elijah) had given them, and they
prepared it. They called upon the name of Baal from morning
(61) For the significance of this gestus see Gruber, Aspects , 460-
463; 570; 613-614.
(62) For the literature on this subject see J. B. Segai,, The Hebrew
Passover (London Oriental Series 12; London 1963) 95-96; P. Laaf,
Die Pascha-Feier Israels (BBB 36; Bonn 1970) 144.
until noon, saying "Baal, answer us!" There was, however,

no sound, and there was no one who answered, so they per-
formed the limping dance (Heb. way€pass9hû) about the altar
which he (Elijah) had made.
The limping dance referred to in this description of the priests

of Baal has been compared to the manner in which devout Muslims
on pilgrimage to Mecca circle the Ka'aba "with a peculiar limping
walk, dragging one foot behind the other" (68).
Some scholars hold that Elijah refers to the limping dance also
in 1 Kgs 18,21, "It is long enough that you are limping between
two opinions". A. Ehrlich takes the Hebrew word st%ippxm (usually
rendered 'opinions') as a biform of sippîm 'thresholds' (of temples),
and he interprets Elijah's remark as a reference to people who have
been worshiping both Baal and the LORD by means of the limping
dance. He is asking these people to perform the limping dance
either for the one deity or for the other, not for both (64). Other
commentators see the two references to limping in w. 21 and 26 as
coincidental, and they hold that only in v. 26 does the verb refer
to a dance. They hold that this dance is peculiar to the worship
of Baal and foreign to the worship of the LORD (M). Regardless
of the tenability of this contention there is no question but that the
author of the narrative has deliberately employed two forms of the
same verb in the two verses. It is equally certain that there is no
other attestation of the limping dance in the Hebrew Bible (6#).
hyljhll 'perform a whirling dance' etc.
The most frequently attested and therefore the most frequently

discussed term for 'dance' in the Hebrew Bible is mãhôl. Just ás
the Hebrew word misped and its Akkadian cognate sipittu , which
originally designated a gesture of mourning, 'beating the breast', came
by synecdoche to denote simply 'mourning' so did mãhôl , which
originally designated a kind of dance associated with joyous occa-
(M) J. Robinson, The First Book of Kings (Cambridge, Eng. 1972)

209.
(54) Ehruch, Mikrâ ki^Pheschutô 2, p. 314.

(55) See J. A. Montgomery, The Book of Kings (IGG; Edinburgh
1951) 301-310.
(6e) See OESTERiyEY, The Sacred Dance , 44.
342 Mayer I. Gruber
sions, come by extension to denote 'joy'.

the Jews who suffered defeat at the hand
Sãbat m'éôê libbênûfl nehpak l*'êbel m'h
ceased//our joy has turned into mourn
semantic development mãhôl 'dance' >
Ps 30, a psalm of thanksgiving, gives t
"You turned my mourning (Heb. misp'
for me; You ungirded my sackcloth, and Y
appropriate to) happiness" (v. 12).
It should not be surprising that of all
Biblical Hebrew the one that develops
seeing that this is the type of dance whi
of joy upon the safe return of the armie
example, when Jephthah returns from
"Behold his daughter went forth to gree
m'hôlôt 'dances' " (Jgs 11,34). Likewise
victory over Goliath "the women went f
cities for song and the m'hôlôt 'dances' to
with joy, and with sistrums. The dancing
chanted, saying, 'Saul slew his thousand
(1 Sm 18,6-7). The association of M'h
'chant' (67) is clearer still in 1 Sm 21,
m'hôlôt, saying, 'Saul slew his thousand
and in 1 Sm 29,5b, "They chanted to h
'Saul slew his thousands, and David his
of chanting and mãhôl lends support t
J. Sasson that mãhôl is both etymologica
equivalent of Akk. melultu , which, in tu
hyporchema , a multimedia performance i
dance, choral singing, and mime (58).
It is the association of mãhôl with milit
in Jgs 11,34; 1 Sm 18,6-7; 21,12b and 2
(67) For *ãnãh 'chanť see R. Gordis, The

tary . New Translation and Special Studies
1978) 32.
(M) J. M. Sasson, 4 'The Worship of the
Occident : Essays Presented to Cyrus H. Go
Sixty-fifth Birthday, ed. Harry A. Hoffn
Neukirchen-Vluyn 1973) 157-159.
probably accounts for the term whôlat hammahanayim 'dance of the

two camps' in Ct 7,1:
Return, return Shulamite.
Return, return that we may see you.
"What", (she asks) "will you see in the Shulamite?"
(They answer), "Of course, the dance of the two camps".
Just as by synecdoche mãhôl came to be employed to designate

'joy' in Lam 5 and Ps 30 so, apparently, the same term came to
designate a musical instrument in Ps 149 and 150. In both these
psalms the term tnãhôl appears among a list of musical instruments.
The interpretation of the term mãhôl as the name of an instrument
was advocated by the medieval philologists Ibn Janah, Abraham
Ibn Ezra and David Kimhi and in modern times by N. H. Tur-
Sinai (5#). J. S. Licht argues that the term mãhôl has two meanings.
He holds that the meaning 'dance' is alone appropriate in Jgs 21,23
and Ct 7,1 while the meaning 'flute' is appropriate in Ps 149,3 and
150,4 (60). Perhaps, however, the noun mãhôl , which originally
meant 'dance' came to mean 'flute' or 'drum' because it was used
to provide music or rhythm for the dancing of the dance called mãhôl.
Support for this suggestion is provided by the Rabbinic Hebrew
term ' êrûs , lit., 'betrothal', which designates a gong played at wed-
dings (#1).
(69) N. H. Tur-Sinai, Hallãlôn W'hassëper 1 (Jerusalem 21954) 369

(in Hebrew); id., P'sûtô šel Miqrã ' (Jerusalem 1962-67) 4/1, p. 257 (in
Hebrew) .
(#0) J. S. Licht, "Mahôl", Encyclopedia Miqra'it 4, p. 789 (in
Hebrew) .
(61) See Babyloman Talmud, Sotah 49b; Niddah 61b. Similarly
it has been argued that mrqd, the Ugaritic cognate of Akk. raqãdu and
of Heb. rãqad 'dance' appears to designate a musical instrument in UT
602 (=? RS 24.252), 11. 3-5: il ytb b'ttrt il tpt bhdr'y dyšr wy$mr bknr wbtlb
btp wbmsltm brmqdm dšn, "The god who is enthroned in Ashtaroth, the
god who exercises sovereignty at Edrei, who sings and chants to the
accompaniment of lyre and flute, of timbrel and of cymbals and of cas-
tinets of ivory". Alternatively, mrqdm has been taken to mean 'dan-
cers'; so Ch. V iROiyiyE au D in Ugaritica 5, p. 553; A. F. Rainey, "The
Ugaritic Texts in Ugaritica 5", J AOS 94 (1974) 187; C. E. L'HEUREUX,
Rank Among the Canaanite Gods : El, Ba*al, and the Repha* im (Harvard
Semitic Monographs 21; Missoula, MT, 1979) 179; B. Bayer, "Dance
in the Bible: the Possibilities and Limitations of the Evidence", p. 6
344 Mayer I. Gruber
If, in fact, the term mãhôl, which ma

event like the Greek hy por chema, can a
we should not be surprised that in Ct 7,1
dance step rather than the entire mult
Ct 7,1 Sachs observed, "When we read
of Songs we are convinced that what is r
four directions" (6a). Indeed, the interpr
dance in which the dancer rotates and th
accounts for the audience's exclamation Sûbî šubí "Return, return"
and their saying "And let us look at you". This interpretation of
mãhôl is supported by the derivation of the noun from the root hwl
'whirl, writhe'. Julian Morgenstern long ago suggested that the
root A//, which is the derivation preferred by contemporary scholars
such as Sasson (68), is related to hwl as is krr to kwr (M).
The whirling dance of the nubile woman to exhibit herself to
prospective marriage partners is suggested by the passage which
follows in Ct 7,2-10 where one of these eligible men praises her beauty
from bottom to top, beginning with "How beautiful are your [danc-
ing] feet in sandals, O noble woman!" (Ct 7,2). Moreover, mãhôl
refers to precisely such a dance in Jgs 21,21 and in Mishnah Ta'anit
4,8. Finally, the interpretation of mãhôl as whirling or turning
around is supported by the Rabbinic Hebrew expression mehôl hak -
kerem 'circumference of the vineyard' attested and defined in Mishnah
in seminar papers presented at the International Seminar on the Bible

in Dance (Jerusalem, August 5-9, 1979). For the arguments in favor
of interpreting mrqdm as 'castinets' see B. Marguus, "A Ugaritic Psalm
(RŠ 24.252)", JBL 89 (1970) 294. For din 'of ivory' see M. H. Pope,
"Notes on the Rephaim Texts from Ugarit" in Essays on the Ancient
Near East in Memory of Jacob Joel Finkelstein, ed. Maria DE Jong EUJS
(Memoirs of the Connecticut Academy of Arts & Sciences 19; Hamden,
Connecticut 1977) 170; for tlb 'flute' (= Akk. šulpu) see J. C. de Moor,
"Studies in the New Alphabetic Texts from Ras Shamra I", UF 1 (1969)
177; contrast M. Dahood, Review of Ugaritica 5, Or 39 (1970) 377;
L'Heureux, Rank Among the Canaanite Gods, 174-175. For another
possible reference to mrqdm dšn 'castinets of ivory' see 1 Aqht 189; see
Marguus, "A Ugaritic Psalm", 294.
(<2) Sachs, World History of the Dance, 43.
(•3) Sasson, "The Worship of the Golden Calf", 158.
(#4) Morgenstern, "The Etymological History", 321-324.
Kilayim 4,1-2 (#5). There is no basis in the exegetical tradition for

Morgenstern's clever suggestion that this term designated an open
space surrounding every vineyard, which was provided for the per-
formance of the dances alluded to in Mishnah Ta'anit 4,8 (e#).
iihlq 'dance, play'

Particularly interesting is the variety of nuances of the fii'èl
of the verb shq. In 2 Sm 6,21 King David tells Michal that he in-
tends to do more of that which he is described ás having done in
2 Sm 6,14. In 2 Sm 6,21 King David says, weàihaqtî "I shall dance",
while in 6,14 King David is described as mekarkêr bekol-oz, "whirling
with all (his) strength". 1 Chr 15, 29 transforms the unusual dãwid
nvpazzèz um'karkèr , "David (was) skipping and whirling" of 2 Sm 6,16
into dãwíd meraqqêd ûm'sahèq, "David (was) skipping and dancing".
Moreover, 1 Chr 13,8a, wedãwíd wekol-yisrã'êl mešahaqím lipnê
hffelohîm bekol-oz, "David and ali Israel were dancing before God
with all (their) strength," seems to be another parallel to the ex-
pression found in 2 Sm 6,14 while 2 Sm 6,5 seems to be a corruption
of the text which has been faithfully reproduced in 1 Chr 13,8.
In most other cases the pi' ël of the verb šhq has nothing to do
with dancing, but it means 'play'. Typical of this usage are Ps 104,
26b, "Leviathan whom You created to play with him" and Prv
8,30-31, "...playing in His presence continually, playing on His
earth...". In 1 Sm 18,7, however, we find another nuance of the
verb šhq. Here we find, "The mesahaqôt women chanted, 'Saul slew
his thousands, David his myriads' ". The equation of éihûq and
mãhôl should not be surprising in that, as we have seen, mãhôl is
both semantically and etymologically equivalent of Akk. mèlulu ,
which may designate both 'play' and 'dance' precisely as does Heb-
sihèq. Hence it is possible also to appreciate the expression mehôl
mesahaqîm "dancers' dance"in Jer 31,4.
Conclusion
Once we can go beyond etymological speculation to the establish-

ment of semantic equivalents between expressions in Biblical Hebrew
(86) Cf. Akk. sahirtu 'circumference', a derivative of the verb sahãru

'circumambulate'; see ARM 13 #16, 1. 7: sahirtam ša kisal gišimmarim,
"the circumference of the palm tree courtyard".
(86) Morgenstern, "The Etymological History", 324.
346 Mayer I. Gruber
and dance terminology in the cognat

be able to clarify the Hebrew terms by
of pictorial art from the surrounding
up the possibility of reconstructing
accomplishing for ancient Israel wha
classical world in The Ancient Greek D
achieved in Ancient Egyptian Dances
for a later date.
Ben-Gurion University Mayer I. Gruber

P.O.Box 653
Beer Sheva 84120
Israel
(67) Trans. Harriet Jean Beauley (New York & London 1916).
(68) With drawings made from reproductions of ancient Egyptian
originals by Milada Lexová. Trans K. Haltmar (Prague 1935).

Gruber-Dance Derived Expressions PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Gruber-Dance Derived Expressions PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Gruber-Dance Derived Expressions PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ten Dance-Derived Expressions in the Hebrew Bible

Author(s): Mayer I. Gruber

Ten Dance-Derived Expressions in the Hebrew Bible*

Referring to D. Lapson's article "Dance" in the Encyclopedia

* This article is a revision of a paper presented at the International

hãgag 'dance in a circle'

(5) Aspects of Nonverbal Communication in the Ancient Near East,

juxtaposed with the verbs ' ãkal 'eat', Sãt

(8) M. Gruber, "Akkadian labãn appi in the Light of Art and

reference to the Akkadian cognate of Heb. Hsrû , which is usually

sãbab 'encircle, turn about'

Especially worthy of note are the four attestations of sãbab

where the verb sãbab is attested six times describes a ceremonial

(u) See commentaries. G ASTER, Myth, Legend , and Custom, 41

worship of the LORD. Just as the personified mountains (19) are

(19) Probably Mount Lebanon (Lubnan) and Mount Sirion (Her-

aster that they said of Judah and Jerusalem

(26) Hence while in his prophecies of rebuke Jeremiah warns in

Portugal in the fifteenth century) but not by the Eastern Sephardim

Curt Sachs in his monumental World History of the Dance (88)

Sachs' distinction between riqqûd 'the skip dance' and qippûs

realization is not followed up in The Five Megilloth and Jonah, ed. H. L.

joy. There we read, ''They produce t

qippûs and dillůg 'jump'

kit kit 'whirl, pirouette'

The verb kirkêr 'whirl' is twice attested in the account of King

(41) See commentaries.

article "Dancing - Biblical Data" suggested that kirker is "most

(45) The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York 1901) 4, p. 425a.

Number Rabbah 4:20 records the followin

until noon, saying "Baal, answer us!" There was, however,

The limping dance referred to in this description of the priests

hyljhll 'perform a whirling dance' etc.

The most frequently attested and therefore the most frequently

(M) J. Robinson, The First Book of Kings (Cambridge, Eng. 1972)

(54) Ehruch, Mikrâ ki^Pheschutô 2, p. 314.

sions, come by extension to denote 'joy'.

(67) For *ãnãh 'chanť see R. Gordis, The

probably accounts for the term whôlat hammahanayim 'dance of the

Just as by synecdoche mãhôl came to be employed to designate

(69) N. H. Tur-Sinai, Hallãlôn W'hassëper 1 (Jerusalem 21954) 369

If, in fact, the term mãhôl, which ma

in seminar papers presented at the International Seminar on the Bible

Kilayim 4,1-2 (#5). There is no basis in the exegetical tradition for

iihlq 'dance, play'

Once we can go beyond etymological speculation to the establish-

(86) Cf. Akk. sahirtu 'circumference', a derivative of the verb sahãru

and dance terminology in the cognat

Ben-Gurion University Mayer I. Gruber

You might also like