H1613 H1613
gopher wood (unknown tree species for ark construction)
This mysterious term appears only in Genesis's ark narrative, identifying the wood Noah used for construction. The species remains unidentified; suggestions include cypress, cedar, or some resinous pine. Some scholars connect it to 'pitch' (Hebrew kopher), suggesting naturally waterproof wood. The word may not even be Hebrew originally but a technical loanword for a specific timber type. The mystery endures: we know what Noah built but not precisely what he built it from.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Genesis 6:14 specifies 'gopher wood' for ark construction, but the term appears nowhere else in biblical or extra-biblical literature. Every translation simply transliterates ('gopher') because no one knows what tree species this names. Some connect it to pitch or resinous woods, others to cypress. The Septuagint guessed 'squared timber.' The unknown word preserves a lost piece of ancient knowledge—a technical term for shipbuilding timber that didn't survive in later Hebrew. 1×
AR["السَّرْوِ"]·ben["গোফর"]·DE["von-Gofer"]·EN["gopher"]·FR["gopher"]·heb["גפר"]·HI["गोफेर-की"]·ID["gofar"]·IT["gopher"]·jav["gofer"]·KO["고퍼"]·PT["gofer"]·RU["гофер"]·ES["gofer"]·SW["goferi"]·TR["gofer"]·urd["گوفر"]
Related Senses
H3754 1. vineyard, cultivated grape plot (92×)H0730 1. cedar tree or wood (73×)H1612 1. vine, grapevine (55×)H3293a 1. forest, wood, thicket (55×)H5560 1. fine flour (53×)H5193 1. plant vegetation (48×)H2232 1. sow seed, plant crops (41×)H1715 1. grain, cereal crop (40×)H7114b 1. reap, harvest grain (36×)H2132 1. olive tree (34×)H8184 1. barley (34×)H2406 1. wheat (grain crop) (30×)H7070 1. reed, cane (plant) (30×)H7848 1. acacia (28×)H8328 1. root of a plant (28×)H8384 1. fig tree (25×)H5488 1. reeds, rushes (in 'Sea of Reeds') (24×)G0290 1. a vineyard (23×)G2325 1. reap, harvest a crop (21×)G4687 1. sow seed, plant (21×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† גֹּ֫פֶר n.[m.] gopher, only in עֲצֵי־גֹּפֶר Gn 6:14 (P), wood of which the ark was made (word dub.; Thes comp. כֹּפֶר & so Rob Ges (hence ‘pitch-wood, resinous wood’), cf. Di; LagSemitica i. 64; Symmict. ii. 93, BN 217 ff. thinks word not original, but inferred from גפרית, and substituted here for גפרית by copyist, or editor. Cf. following).