פַּרְוָה (parva) — fur; fur coat

Etymology

Ben-Yehuda introduced פַּרְוָה into Modern Hebrew in 1888, in an article in his newspaper HaTzvi titled "A New Word That Is Old: Parva." He explained that in Arabic, the word farwa (فروة) denotes "the skin of any animal with the hair still on it," and he claimed this was also the ancient Hebrew meaning — preserved, he argued, in the name of a chamber in the Jerusalem Temple, "Lishkat Beit HaParva" ("the Chamber of the House of Parva"), where priests salted the hides of sacrificed animals. The word was not borrowed from Arabic, Ben-Yehuda insisted; it was a dormant Hebrew term being restored to its original meaning. Modern Hebrew adopted the word in both senses: "fur" (the material) and "fur coat" (the garment).

The Arabic etymology of farwa is itself unknown, but a plausible derivation leads back to Akkadian parû(m), meaning "hide" or "skin," which itself may be borrowed from Sumerian. If this chain is correct, then the word's journey from Sumerian to Akkadian to Arabic to Hebrew (if the Temple-chamber name is indeed related) and back into Modern Hebrew via Ben-Yehuda spans more than four thousand years.

But the name of the Temple chamber is itself disputed, and the Talmud already wrestled with its meaning. Rav Yosef, head of the Pumbeditha academy in Babylon (Yoma 35a), explained that "Parva" was the Aramaic word for a Zoroastrian priest (amgusha) — implying the chamber was named after a Zoroastrian by that name. Rashi interpreted this to mean a magician who built the chamber; Rabbenu Hananel said the man named Parva had dug a tunnel into the Temple to observe the High Priest on Yom Kippur and was executed there. The Maharal of Prague dismissed all these stories as impossible — a structure produced by sorcery could not stand in the Temple — and read the story as referring to an architecturally impressive building that merely seemed magical. Rabbi Yosef Karo (Rosh) and Rabbi Menahem Meiri proposed that "Parva" was simply the Jewish name of the chamber's builder, with no supernatural element at all.

Additional etymological possibilities include: (1) Latin parva ("small"), if the chamber was simply the small chamber — plausible since Herod completely rebuilt the Temple and Latin architectural terminology may have been used; (2) a corruption of the biblical word פַּרְבָּר/פַּרְוָר (Chronicles I, 26:18), which names a structure in the First Temple complex. None of these is certain, and the name Parva remains etymologically unsettled.

Key Quotes

"וזכינו לעניין הרחבת הלשון לשם עברי לכל מיני עורות השׂער העשויים לעשות בגדים חמים וכן לעצם הבגד, כמו בלשון ערבית" — אליעזר בן-יהודה, הצבי, 1888

"פרווה זה אַמְגוֹשָׁא" — רב יוסף, יומא ל״ה, א׳

Timeline

• Ancient: Akkadian parû(m) meaning "hide/skin"; possibly from Sumerian
• Arabic: farwa (فروة) meaning "animal skin with fur"
• Second Temple period: "Lishkat Beit HaParva" — a chamber in the Temple complex; name's origin unknown
• Talmudic period: Rav Yosef identifies "Parva" as a Zoroastrian; various rabbinic explanations follow
• 1888: Ben-Yehuda promotes פַּרְוָה in HaTzvi as a revival of an ancient Hebrew word
• Modern Hebrew: פַּרְוָה fully established meaning "fur / fur coat"

Related Words

• עוֹר — skin, hide (the plain word, without reference to fur)
• פַּרְבָּר/פַּרְוָר — an outer building or vestibule of the Temple (Chronicles I, 26:18); may be related
• אַמְגוּשׁ — Zoroastrian priest/magician (Aramaic); Rav Yosef's gloss on "Parva"