רַקֶּפֶת (raqefet) — cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum)

Etymology

The cyclamen flower was called "לחם-חזיר" (pig-bread) in its first appearance in Modern Hebrew — a literal translation of the German Saubrot, the name given to the plant because pigs were known to dig up and eat its black, flat tubers. If Israelis today call the flower רַקֶּפֶת rather than "pig-bread," they owe thanks to four figures: Asaf the Physician, Emanuel Löw, Eliyahu Sapir, and Israel Eitan.

Asaf the Physician was a Jewish doctor who lived in the Galilee in the sixth century CE. His "Sefer Asaf ha-Rofeh" (Book of Asaf the Physician) is the earliest Jewish medical text we possess. In it, Asaf lists medicinal plants with their Greek, Latin, and Aramaic names, and describes one as "רַקַּפְתָּא" — with wide, spotted leaves and round, black-outside-white-inside roots. He recommended the tuber extract for stopping tears, relieving menstrual pain, and growing hair on bald heads (the plant is in fact toxic). The Aramaic word רַקַּפְתָּא appears nowhere else in Aramaic literature; it is a hapax legomenon in that language as well.

Emanuel Löw, a Hungarian Jewish scholar, found this word in a manuscript of Asaf's book while writing his doctoral dissertation on Aramaic plant names, published as a book in 1881. That book became the bible for those seeking to coin Hebrew botanical names. Among them was Eliyahu Sapir — a Jerusalem-born banker who in 1910 responded to the poet Shaul Tchernichovsky's call (published in Ha-Shilach) for someone to compile a Hebrew plant-name dictionary. Sapir announced in the educators' journal Ha-Hinukh that he would search first for original Hebrew names and, failing that, derive names from Aramaic using Löw's book as his primary source. He died suddenly at age 42 in September 1911 before completing the project, but the word רַקֶּפֶת appears in a posthumously published translation he had made of a German agricultural economist's report on Palestine — with a short glossary at the back explaining the names.

The translation reached few readers, but that same year Israel Eitan arrived in Palestine. A natural science teacher trained at the Sorbonne, Eitan was assigned by the Language Committee (Va'ad ha-Lashon) to compile a short plant-name dictionary. Drawing on Sapir's work, he included רַקֶּפֶת in the 1913 dictionary the committee published. A competing name — "נֵזֶר שְׁלֹמֹה" (Solomon's crown), given for the flower's shape — was popular among schoolchildren and appeared alongside "רַקֶּפֶת" as an equal in the committee's updated 1930 dictionary. But during the 1950s "נֵזֶר שְׁלֹמֹה" was forgotten, with one likely factor being the song lyricist Levin Kipnis had written in 1920 opening with the now-immortal lines: "מִתַּחַת לַסֶּלַע צוֹמַחַת לְפֶלֶא, רַקֶּפֶת נֶחְמֶדֶת מְאֹד" ("Growing from beneath a rock, a wonder — a most lovely cyclamen").

The root ר.ק.פ is extremely rare: it appears in no Semitic language other than Syriac Aramaic, where verbs from it mean "to cover (a floor or ceiling) with flat, round boards." If there is a connection between that verb and the flower's name — and this is uncertain — the plant may have been named for its habit of growing under rocks (i.e., "covered"), or for the flat, round shape of its tubers.

Key Quotes

"הרַקֶּפֶת הגדלה במקומות הלחים עם עליה היפים האדמדמים ומנֻקדים לבן ופרחיה הקטנים האדומים נחמדי המראה ונעימי הריח" — Eliyahu Sapir (first appearance of the word), 1911

"מתחת לסלע צומחת לפלא, רַקֶּפֶת נחמדת מאוד / ושמש מזהרת נושקת עוטרת, עוטרת לה כתר ורוד" — Levin Kipnis, song lyrics, 1920

Timeline

• 6th century CE: Asaf the Physician writes "Sefer Asaf ha-Rofeh" in the Galilee; records "רַקַּפְתָּא" as the Aramaic name for the cyclamen
• 1881: Emanuel Löw publishes his doctoral study of Aramaic plant names; includes "רַקַּפְתָּא" found only in Asaf
• 1883: First appearance of Hebrew "לחם-חזיר" for cyclamen in the literary anthology Ha-Asif (Warsaw)
• 1910: Shaul Tchernichovsky's call in Ha-Shilach for someone to compile a Hebrew plant dictionary
• 1911: Eliyahu Sapir begins the task; dies suddenly aged 42; posthumous publication contains first "רַקֶּפֶת"
• 1913: Israel Eitan includes "רַקֶּפֶת" in the Language Committee's plant dictionary
• 1920: Levin Kipnis writes the famous cyclamen song
• 1930: Language Committee lists both "רַקֶּפֶת" and "נֵזֶר שְׁלֹמֹה" as equally valid
• ~1950s: "נֵזֶר שְׁלֹמֹה" fades; "רַקֶּפֶת" wins definitively

Related Words

• רַקַּפְתָּא — the Aramaic source word (Asaf the Physician, 6th century CE)
• נֵזֶר שְׁלֹמֹה — Solomon's crown (competing name for the cyclamen, popular 1917–1950s)
• לחם-חזיר — pig-bread (first Hebrew name for the cyclamen, 1883; translation of German Saubrot)
• סִיקְלָמֵן — cyclamen (scientific name from the Greek, as recorded by Asaf)