מַזְרֵק (mazrek) — syringe

Etymology

The word מַזְרֵק derives from the biblical root זר"ק, which means "to sprinkle" or "to throw." The Bible contains the related word מִזְרָק (with a hiriq vowel under the מ), used in the context of Temple vessels — a bowl or basin, especially for sprinkling blood or holding libations (e.g., Numbers 7:13). For most of the 19th century, Hebrew writers used this ancient word מִזְרָק when they needed to describe spraying devices.

The vocalization changed in 1897 when Ben-Yehuda, in his newspaper Ha-Tzvi, described a crop-spraying implement with the spelling מַזְרֵק (patah under the מ, in the pattern מַקְטֵל). Ben-Yehuda apparently chose this vocalization to distinguish the new tool from the ancient vessel, and because the מַקְטֵל pattern had become the standard pattern for naming tools in modern Hebrew (from his own coinages in that period). The word מַזְרֵק was quickly adopted and extended to several other spraying and projecting devices: firefighting hoses, garden watering cans, and early water fountains (alongside the phrase מזרק מים). It was also used for projectors of light, as in the compound מזרק אור.

Over the first half of the 20th century, most of these senses were displaced by more specific terms: מַרְסֵס for spray, זַרְנוּק (coined by Natan Shapris in 1945 from a Talmudic Aramaic word) for fire hoses, מַגֵּב/מַגָּב for wipers, and זַרְקוֹר (a portmanteau of זרק and אור) for searchlights. The fountain sense had already been displaced by מִזְרָקָה, coined by Yosef Klausner in 1893. What remained was the medical syringe — the one meaning that survived undisturbed. The earliest Hebrew use of the word for a medical syringe appears in a 1593 Italian-printed Hebrew translation of Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine," and the modern medical sense was in use by 1902. Today מַזְרֵק is used exclusively for the hypodermic syringe.

Key Quotes

"אפר עקרבים ושמן עקרבים… יוזרקו במזרק הנקרא שירינג" — נתן המאתי, תרגום קאנון הרפואה, איטליה, 1593

Timeline

• Biblical era: מִזְרָק (bowl/basin) in Temple ritual context
• 1593: First Hebrew use of the word for a medical injection device (translation of Avicenna)
• 1876: Aaron Fuereis uses מִזְרָק for the medical syringe in "Torat HaHayyim"
• 1888: מִזְרָק used for an agricultural sprayer (Mikve Israel agricultural school)
• 1893: Yosef Klausner coins מִזְרָקָה for water fountains
• 1897: Ben-Yehuda uses מַזְרֵק (new vocalization) in Ha-Tzvi for a sprayer
• 1902: מַזְרֵק attested with patah vowel as medical syringe
• 1945: זַרְנוּק coined for fire hoses, displacing one of מַזְרֵק's senses
• Late 1920s: זַרְקוֹר coined for searchlights
• 20th century: מַזְרֵק settles exclusively on the medical syringe

Related Words

• מִזְרָקָה — fountain (coined 1893 by Klausner)
• זַרְנוּק — fire hose (coined 1945)
• זַרְקוֹר — searchlight (portmanteau of זרק + אור)
• מַרְסֵס — sprayer, atomizer