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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