Shmita
/ʃmiːˈtɑː/noun
The biblical seventh year in which agricultural land in Israel is traditionally left fallow and certain debts are released.
Did you know?Shmita combines two biblical ideas: letting the land rest and releasing debts, making it one of history’s earliest institutionalized cycles of economic reset.
Etymological Timeline
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
šəmiṭṭāh
“Release, remission, or relinquishment; especially the seventh-year release described in the Torah.”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
š-m-ṭ (שמט)
“To let drop, release, relinquish, or leave unharvested.”
3rd–1st Century BCE
Septuagint Greek
ἄφεσις (aphesis)
“Release or remission; a Greek rendering of the release concept associated with the Hebrew term.”
Rabbinic Period
Mishnaic Hebrew
שביעית (shevi'it)
“The seventh year, also used for the sabbatical agricultural cycle and its legal regulations.”
19th–20th Century
English
shemitah / shmita
“A Hebrew loanword referring to the Jewish sabbatical year, especially the agricultural observance in Israel.”