בְּלוֹרִית (belorit) — forelock / quiff

Etymology

The word בלורית is a Talmudic term whose original meaning is uncertain, and whose modern meaning is the result of a 19th-century semantic shift under Eastern European influence. The word appears in Rabbinic literature in discussions of prohibited hairstyles. The Rabbis banned Jews from growing a בלורית because it was considered "the way of the Amorites" (i.e., pagan custom), though they granted exceptions to Jews who needed to appear respectable before Roman authorities. The concern was likely that Romans grew this hairstyle as part of idol worship practices — the Rabbis further ruled that a non-Jew's day of cutting his בלורית was to be considered his holy day.

What exactly the בלורית was is not fully clear. In Mandaic Aramaic, the cognate word means "act of braiding"; in Syriac Aramaic it means "braid/plait." This suggests the Rabbis had in mind something like what we now call צַמָּה (plait/braid). Maimonides described בלורית as "hair left in the middle [of the head] while everything around is shaved" — which sounds exactly like the traditional Cossack hairstyle known in Slavic languages as чуб (chub, literally "crest/tuft"), чуприна (chuprina), or оселедець (oselédets).

This resemblance was not lost on Ashkenazi Jews. The Russian word чуб means the hair at the front of the head, and 19th-century Hebrew writers began using בלורית to describe this frontal tuft — giving the word its modern Hebrew meaning. The diminutive of the Russian word, чубчик (chubchik, with the Slavic diminutive suffix -чик), was borrowed into Hebrew as צ׳וּפְּצִ׳יק.

The column also covers several related hairstyle terms: צַמָּה (braid) — a biblical word (Song of Songs, Isaiah) that originally meant a face-covering veil, but was reinterpreted as "braid" by Rashi and later David Kimhi, whose interpretation was accepted when Hebrew was revived; קוֹקוֹ (bun/ponytail) — from Eastern European (Polish/Romanian) kok, possibly from French coque (shell) or from a word for a bread roll; פוֹנִי (pony/fringe) — from German Pony (from English pony, from Scottish, from French poulenet, from Latin pullanus, from pullus "young animal"); and קָארֶה (square cut/bob) — from French coupe au carré.

Key Quotes

"הוא שער המניחין באמצע ומגלחין מה שסביבותיו מכל הצדדין ותספורת כזה אסור לו מן התורה כדי שלא נתדמה להם" — Maimonides, describing בלורית

Timeline

• Talmudic period: בלורית used in halakhic discussions of prohibited pagan hairstyles; exact shape uncertain
• Talmudic ruling: Day a non-Jew cuts his בלורית is considered a pagan holiday (Avodah Zarah 8a)
• Medieval period: Maimonides describes בלורית as a strip of hair left in the center with everything around shaved (= Cossack chub)
• 19th century: Ashkenazi Hebrew writers identify בלורית with Russian чуб (forelock); modern meaning established
• 1948 and after: בלורית becomes culturally iconic — the Israeli fighter's forelock, immortalized in Chaim Hefer's song "HaRe'ut"
• Present: בלורית = forelock/quiff; צמה = braid; both words having traveled long roads from their origins

Related Words

• צַמָּה — braid (originally a face veil in the Bible; reinterpreted by Rashi and Kimhi as "braid"; now the standard Hebrew word)
• צ׳וּפְּצִ׳יק — small forelock (from Russian чубчик, diminutive of чуב)
• קוֹקוֹ — bun / hair elastic (from Eastern European kok; displaced "זנב סוס" for ponytail since 1968)
• פוֹנִי — fringe (from German Pony, originally the horse → the hairstyle resembling a pony's mane)
• קָארֶה — bob haircut (from French coupe au carré, "square cut")