סמים (samim) — drugs; originally spices/aromatic herbs
Etymology
The word סמים has one of the most dramatic semantic careers in Modern Hebrew — from sacred Temple incense ingredients to criminal narcotics. The biblical commandment "Take for yourself spices" (Exodus 30:34) introduces the word in its original sense: dried aromatic plants ground to powder and burned twice daily as incense (קטורת הסמים, "the spice incense") on the golden altar of the Temple. The root ס.מ.מ relates to mixing or compounding aromatic substances.
In the Talmudic period the Aramaic cognate סמא expanded to cover both medicines and writing ink. Rabbinic literature developed the resonant metaphorical antithesis "sam hayyim / sam mavet" (potion of life / potion of death): "He who learns [Torah] — it is a potion of life; he who does not learn — it is a potion of death" (Hullin 54a). This dichotomy became a favorite rhetorical device. In the medieval period, under the influence of Arabic medicine, Jewish physicians used סמים for medicinal herbs, citing the midrash: "God caused spices to grow from the earth; with them the physician heals the wound and the apothecary compounds the medicine" (Bereshit Rabbah 10). During the Haskalah, writers used סמים as a synonym for תרופה (medicine), and the sam hayyim / sam mavet metaphor was especially popular with Ahad Ha'am, who used it repeatedly to analyze Enlightenment's effects on Jewish national spirit.
The decisive semantic shift came in 1925, when the British decided to unify drug legislation across their empire. The result for Mandatory Palestine was the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance — almost certainly translated from English by Yitzhak Abadi, the official Mandate government translator for most of the British period. Abadi rendered "dangerous drugs" as "סמים מסוכנים." From that moment the phrase "סמים מסוכנים" or "סמים משכרים" (intoxicating drugs) entered the Hebrew press in criminal contexts and began coloring the word סמים with negative associations. The qualifier "מסוכנים" became redundant as the connotation of the base word darkened, and from 1959 onward Israeli journalists began dropping the qualifier, using סמים alone — first in headlines, then in body text — to mean illicit narcotics. The medicinal sense of the word effectively disappeared from contemporary usage.
The legal authority to declare substances as controlled drugs rests with the Minister of Health, who can add any compound to the schedule of the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance by signature alone, without legislation. Hundreds of compounds have been added since the 1960s. Since 2003, the procedure runs through the Inter-Ministerial Committee for Review of Psychoactive Substances, chaired by the National Authority for Combating Drugs.
Key Quotes
"קַח לְךָ סַמִּים" — Exodus 30:34 (God to Moses)
"ההשכלה הזאת... הרמת המצב הקולטורי, עבודה שמצד עצמה היא סם-חיים לכל עם... נהפכה לנו לסם-מות" — Ahad Ha'am, "Tehiyyat Ha-Ru'ah," 1903
Timeline
- Biblical era: סמים denotes the aromatic spice blend for Temple incense (Exodus 30:34)
- Talmudic era: Aramaic סמא covers medicines and ink; "sam hayyim / sam mavet" metaphor develops (Hullin 54a)
- Medieval period: Jewish physicians use סמים for medicinal herbs under Arabic medical influence
- 1789: Mendel Lefin uses גיהוק (a neighboring word from the same era of revival) in Refu'at Ha'Am; סמים used for medicines in Haskalah literature
- 1891: Ben-Avigdor uses סמי מרפא (healing drugs) as synonym for medicine
- 1903: Ahad Ha'am uses sam-hayyim / sam-mavet metaphor extensively
- 1920: British Dangerous Drugs Act enacted in England
- 1925: Yitzhak Abadi translates the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance for Mandatory Palestine; סמים מסוכנים enters Hebrew legal and press usage
- 1959: Israeli journalists begin using סמים alone (without qualifier) for illicit drugs
- 2003: Inter-Ministerial Committee procedure for scheduling new substances established
Related Words
- תרופה — medicine; the word that replaced סמים in the medical sense
- קטורת — incense; the sacred smoke offering that was the original context for סמים
- עשבים — herbs; a related concept (natural plants) that retains neutral connotations