רַעֲשָׁן (ra'ashan) — noisemaker; Purim gragger

Etymology

The noisemaker (rattle or gragger) used on Purim to drown out the name of Haman is one of the holiday's most recognizable symbols — but it is a relatively recent development. The custom of making noise whenever Haman's name is mentioned during the Megillah reading derives from the biblical commandment "You shall blot out the memory of Amalek" (Deuteronomy 25:19). Since the Book of Esther hints that Haman descended from the Amalekite king Agag (hence "Haman the Agagite"), the custom of obliterating his name developed almost a thousand years ago.

The earliest evidence for this custom comes from 12th-century Provence. In Sefer ha-Manhig, Rabbi Abraham ben Nathan ha-Yarchi described children in France and Provence writing Haman's name on smooth stones and striking them together to erase it when the name was read aloud. Over the centuries the custom spread across Europe, evolving as the original practice of writing and erasing was forgotten, leaving only the noise. Stones gave way to stamping feet, clapping hands, hammers, and even pistols.

Exactly when Jews began using what we now call a ra'ashan for this custom is unknown, but documented use begins only in the 19th century. Jewish communities in Europe apparently adopted the device from their Christian neighbors, who used it in Carnival and Easter celebrations that often coincided with Purim. Across Europe the instrument goes by dozens of different names, and Jewish communities called it by many names in local languages, including: gzhehata, grechetshe, gremushe, dreyer, kodrayke, kolokotke, (Haman-)klapper, shrayer, and most commonly grager — from the Yiddish gragern (to rattle, to make noise by rapid knocking).

When Hebrew-language writers of the late 19th century needed a name for the device, they invented various options: Tzvi Cohen Shrashevsky called it "noise-maker of wood" (ha-Melitz, 1879); Shmuel Moshe Rivlin called it "machine to beat Haman" (ha-Melitz, 1888); Naftali Hertz Neimanovich called it "the noisy one" (הָרוֹעֵשׁ, Ha-Tzfira, 1889); Shalom Levi Epstein called it מְנַעְנֵעַ — the name of a biblical musical instrument (Ha-Tzfira, 1890). By 1900, Ha-Tzfira editor Nahum Sokolow simply transliterated the Yiddish: "the sound of the greger was heard."

Only two years later, in 1902, did the word רַעֲשָׁן appear in print, in an article by writer Yehuda Steinberg in Ha-Tzfira. Steinberg describes a teacher who "hated the ra'ashan absolutely, and chased and hit the obedient children who did not want to let even a single mention of 'Haman' pass without rattling over it with their ra'ashonim."

Itamar Ben-Avi (son of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda) later claimed in his unfinished autobiography that he coined the word in childhood: "I myself created new words every morning as I spoke. For a small cloth I said mappit, for a work cart I said agalila, and from the verb ra'ash I created ra'ashan for Purim." If so, Ben-Avi's father was unimpressed — Eliezer Ben-Yehuda did not include רַעֲשָׁן in his 1903 pocket dictionary nor use it in his newspapers. He preferred מְנַעְנֵעַ and the rabbinic קַרְקָשׁ, the latter appearing in the sculptor Boris Schatz's autobiographical piece in Ben-Yehuda's newspaper Ha-Hashkafa (1906). Ben-Yehuda objected to רַעֲשָׁן because the biblical root ר.ע.ש means "trembling/earthquake," not "loud noise" — and he tried to enforce this original meaning. But the Hebrew-speaking public — mostly Yiddish speakers, for whom ra'ash carried the meaning "loud noise" (absorbed from the biblical phrase kol ra'ash in Ezekiel 3:12) — used it anyway. Eventually Ben-Yehuda accepted the inevitable, and by the early 20th century רַעֲשָׁן had displaced all its competitors.

Key Quotes

"ועל כן מנהג התינוקות בצרפת ובפרובינציא... לוקחים אבנים חלקים לכתוב עליהם המן, וכשמזכיר הקורא את המגילה המן הם מקישים זה על זה למחוק את שמו" — Rabbi Abraham ben Nathan ha-Yarchi, Sefer ha-Manhig, 12th century Provence (earliest evidence for the Purim noise custom)

"את הרעשן שנא תכלית שנאה, והיה רודף ומכה את הילדים הדיקנים, שלא חפצו לעזוב אף פעם אחת את שם ׳המן׳ בלי הרעיש עליו ברעשוניהם" — Yehuda Steinberg, Ha-Tzfira, 1902 (first attested use of רַעֲשָׁן)

Timeline

• ~12th century CE: First evidence for the Haman-name-noise custom, in Provence (Abraham ben Nathan ha-Yarchi)
• 19th century: Noisemaker device gradually adopted by Jewish communities from Christian Carnival/Easter practice
• 1879: Tzvi Cohen Shrashevsky describes the device as "noise-maker of wood"
• 1889: Naftali Hertz Neimanovich coins הָרוֹעֵשׁ
• 1890: Shalom Levi Epstein proposes מְנַעְנֵעַ
• 1900: Nahum Sokolow uses greger (Yiddish) in Ha-Tzfira
• 1902: Yehuda Steinberg uses רַעֲשָׁן in Ha-Tzfira — first attestation
• 1903: Ben-Yehuda's pocket dictionary does not include רַעֲשָׁן; uses מְנַעְנֵעַ and קַרְקָשׁ instead
• 1906: Boris Schatz uses קַרְקָשׁ in Ben-Yehuda's newspaper
• Early 20th century: רַעֲשָׁן wins out; מְנַעְנֵעַ, גְּרָגֵר, קַרְקָשׁ gradually fade

Related Words

• גְּרָגֵר — Yiddish grager; Nahum Sokolow's preferred term
• קַרְקָשׁ — rabbinic Hebrew term for a rattle; Ben-Yehuda's preferred term
• מְנַעְנֵעַ — "shaker"; biblical musical instrument; proposed by Epstein and Ben-Yehuda
• רַעַשׁ — "noise/trembling"; biblical root of רַעֲשָׁן; original meaning was earthquake/trembling
• תִּמְחֶה אֶת זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק — "blot out the memory of Amalek" (Deuteronomy 25:19); the commandment behind the custom