עַרְדָּלַיִם (ardalayim) — shoe covers / overshoes
Etymology
The word עַרְדָּלַיִם (dual form of עַרְדָּל) is a case study in how a misread Talmudic word can enter a living language carrying a meaning it never originally possessed. The entire history of the word rests on a single uncertain Talmudic passage and cascades through a chain of lexicographers who copied one another's errors.
The sole ancient source is a brief ruling attributed to Rav Pappa in the Babylonian Talmud (Beitza 15a): "ערדלין are not subject to the prohibition of mixed fibers (sha'atnez)." When scholars examine the oldest manuscripts and earliest external attestations, the evidence strongly suggests that the word is a scribal corruption of עדלירין. What the original word meant is entirely unknown. The earliest surviving interpretation, in the Geonic commentary on Seder Tohorot, defines the word as "gaurib" — Arabic for "stockings." The commentaries of Rabbi Natan and Rashi agree: these are something worn under the foot, not over the shoe.
The modern misidentification began with writer Yosef Sheinhaak, who in his 1858 dictionary Sefer HaMashbir defined ערדל as "shoes worn over leather shoes" — that is, galoshes. He appears to have confused the Talmudic word's direction (under vs. over the foot). Two later lexicographers — Moshe Shulboim and Yehoshua Steinberg, both publishing in 1880 — copied this definition independently. The misidentification was thus entrenched in reference works.
Israel Haim Taviov, a Riga accountant who wrote Hebrew articles in his spare time, was inspired by the Hebrew literary anthology HaAretz (1892), which he read with great enthusiasm. He was particularly impressed by its coinages, including the word מגפיים (boots), revived by Ze'ev Yaavetz from the Mishnah. When in 1896 Taviov published his children's reader Eden HaYeladim, he used ערדל to mean galoshes — rubber overshoes popular in Eastern Europe. A contemporary critic, educator Yehuda Leib Davidovitz, challenged the usage in HaTzfira, calling the meaning uncertain. Taviov replied citing Steinberg's dictionary, admitted the identification was debatable, but kept the word in subsequent editions. The word spread.
As galoshes disappeared from daily life, the specific meaning disappeared too. But the word survived and found a new semantic niche: today עַרְדָּלַיִם refers to disposable plastic shoe covers worn by workers in food factories and clean-room laboratories.
Key Quotes
"אמר רב פפא ערדלין אין בהן משום כלאים." — תלמוד בבלי, מסכת ביצה ט"ו, א'
"אין הרשות בידי המחבר להכריע, כי ערדלים הם גאלאשן." — יהודה ליב דוידוביץ, ביקורת ב"הצפירה", 1896
Timeline
- Talmudic era: ערדלין appears in Beitza 15a (likely a corruption of עדלירין)
- ~9th century: Gaonic commentary on Seder Tohorot defines the word as "stockings" (Arabic gaurib)
- 1858: Yosef Sheinhaak's Sefer HaMashbir redefines it as "shoes worn over leather shoes" — the origin of the modern error
- 1880: Lexicographers Moshe Shulboim and Yehoshua Steinberg independently copy Sheinhaak's definition
- 1892: Taviov reads Ze'ev Yaavetz's anthology HaAretz and its coinage מגפיים (boots) in Riga
- 1896: Taviov uses עַרְדַל in Eden HaYeladim to mean galoshes; controversy with Davidovitz
- Late 20th century: Word narrows to "disposable plastic shoe covers for clean-room use"
Related Words
- מגפיים — boots (revived from Mishnah, Shabbat 6:2, by Ze'ev Yaavetz; discussed in the same column)
- גרביים — stockings (the probable original meaning of ערדלין)
- כלאים — prohibition on mixing fibers (the Talmudic legal context for the word)