אֱגוֹז (egoz) — nut
Etymology
The word אֱגוֹז is a Hebraized form of the Persian גּוּז (guz), the name for the walnut tree. It first appears in the Bible in Song of Songs 6:11: "I went down to the walnut grove to see the blossoms of the valley" (אֶל גִּנַּת אֱגוֹז יָרַדְתִּי). For over 2,000 years, from its biblical debut until the late 20th century, אֱגוֹז referred specifically to this one tree — what we now call "the walnut" (אגוז מלך). The Persians likely introduced the walnut tree to the Levant, which is why Hebrew borrowed their name for it.
The semantic broadening of אֱגוֹז to mean "nut" generically began during the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) in the late 18th century. The first to need a general Hebrew word for "hard-shelled fruit" was Baruch Linda, one of the earliest maskilim. In his 1788 educational work "Reshit Limudim," he wanted to discuss various exotic nuts that had no Hebrew names, and so he used אֱגוֹז as a generic term, creating compounds that are still in use today: אגוז קוקוס (coconut), אגוז מוסקט (nutmeg), and אגוז לוז (hazelnut).
Hebrew lived comfortably with this double usage — אֱגוֹז as both a specific tree and a generic category — for more than a century. The critical shift came in 1921 when Eliezer Yafe, editor of the agricultural journal "HaSadeh," published an article about walnut cultivation and felt the need to distinguish this particular tree from nuts in general. He named it "אגוז המלך" (the king's nut) — a translation of the tree's scientific name, Juglans regia, given by Linnaeus in the 18th century. By the late 1970s, as Israelis began eating larger varieties of nuts (hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia), the generic sense of אֱגוֹז strengthened, the compound "אגוז מלך" became the standard term for the walnut specifically, and אֱגוֹז meaning "walnut" gradually faded.
The column also traces the etymology of each nut name in Hebrew: coconut (from Portuguese coco, "head," for the face-like appearance of the base); nutmeg (from Latin muscata, for its musk-like scent); hazelnut (from biblical לוּז, originally meaning almond); macadamia (named after Scottish chemist John Macadam); pecan (from Illinois-language pakaani, via French pecane, first documented 1712); cashew (from Tupi acajuba via Brazilian Portuguese acaju, mangled by English into "cashew").
Key Quotes
"אֶל גִּנַּת אֱגוֹז יָרַדְתִּי לִרְאוֹת בְּאִבֵּי הַנָּחַל" — שיר השירים ו׳, י״א
Timeline
- ~6th–3rd century BCE: אֱגוֹז first appears in Song of Songs, referring to the walnut tree
- 1788: Baruch Linda uses אֱגוֹז generically and coins אגוז קוקוס, אגוז מוסקט, אגוז לוז
- 1921: Eliezer Yafe coins "אגוז המלך" to distinguish the walnut from nuts generally
- Late 1970s: Increasing nut variety in Israel accelerates shift; אֱגוֹז becomes generic; אגוז מלך becomes specific
- Modern Hebrew: אֱגוֹז = nut (generic); אגוז מלך = walnut
Related Words
- אגוז מלך — walnut ("king's nut," calque of Juglans regia)
- אגוז לוז — hazelnut (from biblical לוּז)
- אגוז קוקוס — coconut (Portuguese loanword)
- אגוז מוסקט — nutmeg (Latin/German loanword)
- אגוז פקאן — pecan (from Illinois Native American language)
- אגוז קשיו — cashew (from Tupi via Portuguese and English)
- אגוז מקדמיה — macadamia (named after John Macadam, 1858)