כִּיר
a cooking range (consisting of two parallel stones, across which the boiler is set)
Definition
The Hebrew noun כִּיר (kîyr) refers to a cooking range or stove used in ancient Israelite households. It specifically denotes a structure, likely made of two parallel stones, upon which a cooking pot or kettle would be set over a fire for boiling or stewing food. This term appears only in the dual form (כִּירַיִם, kîrayim), emphasizing its two-part construction. Its sole biblical occurrence is in Leviticus 11:35, where it is mentioned in the context of ritual purity laws concerning vessels that can become unclean.
Biblical Usage
This word is used only once in the Old Testament, in Leviticus 11:35. It appears within the detailed legal instructions about which objects can contract ritual impurity. The context is specifically about what happens if a dead, unclean swarming creature falls onto such a cooking range. The usage is purely descriptive of a common household item within a legal framework.
Etymology
The word כִּיר (kîyr) is considered a by-form or a derived noun from the root כּוּר (kûr, H3564), which means 'to dig' or 'a furnace' (like a smelting furnace). This connection suggests the concept of a hollowed-out or constructed place for containing fire. The dual form כִּירַיִם (kîrayim) is the only form used biblically, directly indicating the two-stone structure of the appliance.
Semantic Range
While the object itself is mundane, its inclusion in Leviticus 11:35 carries theological significance. It demonstrates the comprehensive nature of the Mosaic purity laws, which extended to everyday domestic life. Understanding that even a common cooking stove was subject to these rules highlights the concept that holiness and ritual cleanness were to permeate every aspect of an Israelite's existence, not just the sanctuary.
The כִּירַיִם was a standard piece of cooking technology in an ancient Israelite home. Unlike modern enclosed stoves, it was an open, likely portable, structure of two stones. This design allowed a fire to be built between them and a pot to be balanced across the top. Its mention in the law shows it was a ubiquitous item, central to daily food preparation.
תַּנּוּר (tannûr, H8574) — a (clay) oven for baking bread, typically a dome-shaped furnace. כִּיּוֹר (kiyyôr, H3595) — a basin or laver, often for ritual washing; a different but phonetically similar word for a different kind of vessel.
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
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