Dabar
/dāˈvār/noun
A Hebrew term meaning “word,” “speech,” “matter,” or “thing,” especially in biblical and theological contexts.
Did you know?In the Hebrew Bible, dabar can describe both spoken language and an event or matter, inspiring theological ideas about speech as an active force that brings reality into being.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
Proto-Semitic
*d-b-r
“A verbal root associated with speaking or communicating; the precise earliest sense is debated.”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
דָּבָר (dāḇār)
“Word, speech, saying, matter, affair, or thing.”
Second Temple Period
Aramaic
דִּבְרָא (dibrā)
“Word, saying, or matter; a related Aramaic form used in Jewish textual traditions.”
Late Antiquity
Greek/Latin scholarship
dabar
“A scholarly transliteration of the Hebrew term, used when discussing biblical language and theology.”
20th Century
English
dabar
“An English theological and academic loanword referring to the Hebrew concept of word, speech, or substantive matter.”