אשכול
esh-KOL
Cluster of grapes.
What does it literally mean — and what do Israelis actually mean?
What it literally means
Literal: cluster.
קנינו אשכול ענבים גדול מהשוק.Kaninu eshkol anavim gadol me-ha-shuk.We bought a big cluster of grapes at the market.
What Israelis actually mean
Cluster of grapes; a place-name and a surname.
המרגלים חזרו עם אשכול ענבים ענק.Ha-meraglim chazru im eshkol anavim anak.The spies returned with a giant cluster of grapes.
Where did this word come from?
Biblical — "cluster of grapes" (Numbers 13:23–24: the spies' giant cluster carried on a pole, from the wadi later called Eshcol near Hebron "because of the cluster"). Root uncertain — a lexical isolate, possibly an ancient loan; the Amorite ally Eshcol (Genesis 14:13,24) shows the same name borne by a person. The word names the Eshkol Regional Council (northwest Negev) and was the birth surname of PM Levi Eshkol (born Shkolnik — adopted as a Hebraized surname echoing the word).
Register & social context
Literary-biblical (the everyday word for a bunch of grapes is also eshkol — but it sounds biblical) and toponymic. The modern regional council is named for the agricultural landscape, an apolitical geography note.
Root & morphology
No productive root in biblical Hebrew; a lexical isolate, possibly ancient loan.
Influences & contact languages
- Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)Biblical Hebrew "cluster of grapes" (Numbers 13:23–24) — a lexical isolate; root uncertain.
Associated places · modern location anchors
Which places are associated with this word?
One place carries a documented relationship to this word.
Hear it in the wild
קנינו אשכול ענבים גדול מהשוק.
Kaninu eshkol anavim gadol me-ha-shuk.
We bought a big cluster of grapes at the market.
המרגלים חזרו עם אשכול ענבים ענק.
Ha-meraglim chazru im eshkol anavim anak.
The spies returned with a giant cluster of grapes.
What English speakers get wrong
Eshkol the wadi (near Hebron), Eshkol the regional council (northwest Negev), and Eshkol the prime minister are three different references — context decides. Also the everyday word for a bunch of grapes is just eshkol — no holiness attached.
What lives next to this word?
Sources & review
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