אגרטל

Hebrew

Etymology

Etymology disputed. Many theories exist, the main ones being:

• From Aramaic קרטל (qarṭāl, “basket”) (Syriac spelling ܩܪܛܠܐ) which itself could be from:
  • Hittite 𒄑𒆳𒋫𒀀𒀠 (kurtal-, kartal-)
  • Middle Persian glyw' (grīw, “a measure of grain, a peck”) + -dʾl (dār, “holder, keeper, container of”), or
  • from Ancient Greek.
• From Ancient Greek κάρταλλος (kártallos, “basket with a pointed bottom”), possibly being from either a native Indo-European source or from Aramaic קרטל (qarṭāl, “basket”).
• the Jerusalem Talmud theorizes that the term is a compound of אָגַר (agar, “to accumulate, to store, to hoard”) +‎ טָלֶה (tale, “lamb”), this combination was because the Agartalim were allegedly used to collect the blood of lambs.

Pronunciation

• (Modern Israeli Hebrew) IPA^(key): /(ʔ)aɡ.aʁ̞.tal/
• (Tiberian Hebrew) IPA^(key): /ʔăɣ.ar.tˤɔːl/

Noun

אֲגַרְטָל • (agartal) m

1. (biblical), (archaic) a kind of vessel, basin, basket.
2. vase

   Synonym: ואזה

References

H105 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible