סגלגל (segalgal) — lavender, light purple; (formerly) oval

Etymology

In biblical Hebrew, the root ס-ג-ל carries the meaning of distinctiveness or special possession, as in the well-known phrase am segula (עַם סְגֻלָּה, "a treasured people"). From this ancient root branched a cluster of modern Hebrew words — mesugl (suited), histagl (to adapt), sagal (secondary officer rank), mishkal seguli (specific gravity). But the word segalgal is not related to any of these.

The word segalgal originates in Jewish Aramaic, where the forms segalgal and segal appear frequently in Rabbinic literature with the meaning "round" or "circular." Scholars hold that the initial samekh in these Aramaic forms is a prefixed addition and that the actual root is ג-ל-ל (rolling, circularity), the same root familiar to Hebrew speakers from the word galgal (wheel). From Rabbinic Aramaic, segalgal entered Hebrew, where it meant "roundish" in general and more specifically the shape we today call "oval." It appears in this meaning across medieval Hebrew writing, early modern Hebrew, and into the 20th century. The most prominent survival of this older meaning is the Hebrew name for the Oval Office — ha-cheder ha-segalgal — which was fixed in the first half of the 20th century when the oval sense was still current.

In the late 19th century the word acquired a second, unrelated meaning through an elaborate chain of etymology and misidentification. The critical link is the Talmudic plant sigli (סִיגְלִי), mentioned in a handful of passages in Rabbinic literature. In Tractate Shabbat 50b, Rav Sheshet the Blind (3rd–4th century CE) permits washing with a compound called barda — a mixture of three plants in equal measure: ahala, assa, and sigli. The precise identity of the plant sigli was uncertain even in Rabbinic times; beyond the fact that it was apparently fragrant (since Rabbinic bathing was more about scenting than cleansing), nothing more can be determined from these few sources.

Rashi (11th century), characteristically decisive, identified the sigli without any supporting argument as "the herb called viole in the vernacular, with three leaves" — viole being the Old French word for the violet plant (modern French violette). By the early 14th century, French speakers had begun using the name of the violet flower to describe its distinctive color as well; the usage spread to English, German, and other European languages. Before this, purple-blue had no dedicated name and was treated as a shade of blue or red depending on context.

Just as European languages lacked a specific word for this color until the late medieval period, so too did Hebrew — but Hebrew's need arose much later, in the late 19th century, as Hebrew writing on secular topics expanded. In 1891, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's newspaper HaTzvi reported on the founding of a Hebrew student organization at the University of Chernivtsi called Hashmona'i. The students' letter described their organization's colors as "red, purple [sagol], and green." Whether the original was Hebrew or was translated by Ben-Yehuda is unclear; in either case, the word sagol (סָגוֹל) for the color purple/violet appears here — either coined by the students or by Ben-Yehuda via loan-translation from French, based on Rashi's dubious identification of the Talmudic plant sigli as the violet.

Once sagol existed, segalgal — "somewhat purple, pale purple" — could be formed naturally on the Hebrew diminutive-color pattern qetaltal (as in adumdam for reddish). This secondary color sense spread in the 1950s and 1960s. As it spread, the old oval sense of segalgal was pushed out to avoid the ambiguity of the double meaning.

Key Quotes

"בקיבוץ, כשהיינו קושרים את העגלות היינו אומרים שאנחנו 'מסנדלים' אותם" — (unrelated; see סינדול entry)

"התלמידים ילבשו הגוונים האלה: אדום, סגול וירוק" — מכתב אגודת חשמוניה לאליעזר בן-יהודה, פורסם ב'הצבי', 1891

Timeline

• Talmudic period: segalgal used in Jewish Aramaic for "round/oval"; enters Hebrew in this sense
• Medieval–early modern period: segalgal used in Hebrew for "oval" shape
• 11th century: Rashi identifies Talmudic plant sigli with the Old French viole (violet)
• Early 14th century: French begins using violette as a color name; spreads to European languages
• 1891: Ben-Yehuda introduces (or relays) sagol for the color purple in HaTzvi
• 1st half of 20th century: ha-cheder ha-segalgal ("the Oval Office") coined while oval sense is still current
• 1950s–1960s: segalgal as "pale purple" spreads in modern Hebrew; oval sense fades
• Post-1960s: segalgal = pale purple; oval is expressed with the loanword oval or the phrase tsurat bisah

Related Words

• סָגוֹל — purple/violet (base color; coined 1891, from sigli via Rashi via Old French viole)
• סִיגְלִית — violet flower (coined after sagol; the reverse of the European naming process)
• גַּלְגַּל — wheel (the root ג-ל-ל underlying the original Aramaic segalgal)
• אֲדַמְדַּם / יְרַקְרַק — reddish / greenish (the same qetaltal pattern applied to other colors)