Eshel
/ˈɛʃɛl/noun
A tamarisk tree, especially the tree that Abraham is said to have planted at Beersheba in the Hebrew Bible.
Did you know?In Genesis 21:33, Abraham plants an eshel at Beersheba and invokes the name of an everlasting God; Jewish commentators have variously interpreted the tree as a tamarisk or as a symbol of hospitality.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
אֵשֶׁל (ʾeshel)
“A tamarisk tree; the word appears in the account of Abraham at Beersheba.”
3rd–2nd Century BCE
Greek
ἀριυρά (aryourā)
“The Septuagint’s rendering in Genesis 21:33, commonly understood as referring to a cultivated tree or planting rather than preserving the Hebrew name.”
Late Antiquity
Aramaic
אשל (ʾeshel)
“A preserved Hebrew-Aramaic form used in Jewish textual and interpretive traditions for the biblical tree.”
Modern Hebrew
Hebrew
אֵשֶׁל (eshel)
“Tamarisk; also used as a personal name and in Israeli place and institutional names.”
Modern English
English
Eshel
“A transliterated Hebrew proper name or specialized botanical term, rather than a common everyday English noun.”