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The words for "Sabbath" and "seven" seem similar in both Hebrew and Aramaic. Is there an etymological relationship between them?

Sabbath (Shabbat), שַׁבָּת, is Strong's H7676. It is spelled shin-bet-taf.

Seven, שֶׁבַע, is Strong's H7651. It is spelled shin-bet-'ayin.

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Standard reference: etymonline.com/index.php?term=sabbath – prash Feb 18 at 1:52
It might be helpful if you mentioned what these words were in Hebrew and Aramaic. – Cerberus Feb 18 at 2:03
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Shabbat is the seventh day, which is holy. No surprises here, really. – jlawler Feb 18 at 2:15

3 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

I don't think they are related. As you said, the root from which the word shabbath is built, is different from that of sheva. The first is constructed from the root shin-bet-tav (sīn-bā’-tā’ in Arabic) and the second comes from the root shin-bet-'ayin (sīn-bā’-’ayn in Arabic).

שבת (shabbath) means to rest, to stop working and that is why the last day (seventh day) of the week is called shabbath. On the other hand, שבע (sheva) is the number seven and is related to the word سبعة (sab’a) in Arabic.

Some extra information on the word shabbath: The seventh day of the week for Jews is Saturday as it is with Arabs, so shabbath means Saturday, and so does its Arabic counterpart السبت (sabt) (but for Muslim Arabs, the day of rest is جمعة (jum’a) which is the sixth day). The Persian word شنبه (shanbeh) has been derived from shabbath and has the same meaning (Saturday) but it is not the day of rest; it is the first day of the week. Instead of Saturday, the last day of the week for Iranians is Friday which is the Islamic holy day of the week.

That's all I know so I hope it helps.

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Thank you @Mohammad Sanei – Sarah Feb 19 at 21:45
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My memories of reading older introductory texts on Biblical Hebrew was that many triliteral roots differing by one letter are actually related, also that some biliteral and triliteral roots are related. Some could be genuine linguistic relationships due to evolutionary processes of sound change but others seemed somewhat mystical due to theological analyses of similar words. So without being able to say for sure, I definitely wouldn't discount any relationship between שבת and שבע on the differing final letter alone. – hippietrail Feb 21 at 13:24
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Yes I have seen some words like that too. That maybe correct. – Mohammad Sanei Feb 21 at 16:15
@hippietrail Could you point me in a direction of where I might be able to look more thoroughly into this? – Sarah Feb 24 at 5:21
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@Sarah: I can't be sure but I think it was an old paperback reprint from the 1970s or 1980s of "Teach Yourself Biblical Hebrew" originally published decades earlier than that. – hippietrail Feb 24 at 9:34
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It is usually asserted that the Proto-Indo-European word for "seven", septm was an early borrowing from Semitic. Also, Russian word for Saturday, "суббота" "subbota" is a relatively recent borrowing from Hebrew. It is unclear though whether the roots somehow related. Possibly, the "rest" role for the seventh day was decided by ancient Semites based on the similarity in the pronunciation of the words for "rest" and for "seven".

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Thank you @Anixx. – Sarah Feb 22 at 22:59
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I think "usually asserted" is overstating the case. It has certainly been suggested, but there are several difficulties (the origin of the t, the fact that septm shares a suffix with newm and dekm but is the only one claimed to be borrowed, etc). The only place I've seen it suggested is by Veenemann, who claims a whole lot of Semitic words were borrowed into Germanic in particular. – Colin Fine Apr 23 at 23:31
@Colin Fine e̯neun - where do you see the same suffix? – Anixx Apr 23 at 23:38
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You're right that I omitted the prefix in 9, but is there reason to think that the suffix is -n rather than -m? Most languages assimilate these, but Latin has novem. – Colin Fine Apr 23 at 23:48
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But there's no trace of any professionally-asserted connection with PIE *septṃ. – jlawler Apr 24 at 17:01
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up vote 1 down vote

It is possible, but I'm not aware of any evidence for it. As Mohammd Sanei points out, the root שבת (šbt) means "rest", which is a more obvious origin.

On the other hand, שבע (šv') as well as 'seven' also underlies שבועה (švu'h), which means 'oath'; so a single root can have unrelated meanings.

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