H2879 H2879
female cooks; women who prepare food, especially in royal service
This feminine plural noun means 'female cooks,' appearing in 1 Samuel 8:13 where Samuel warns that a king 'will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.' These roles represent forced royal service. The three occupations—perfumers, cooks, bakers—suggest specialized labor in the palace. Female cooks prepared royal meals, a position of servitude despite proximity to power. The warning underscores the cost of monarchy.
Senses
1. sense 1 — First Samuel 8:13 lists the exactions of kingship: 'He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.' Female cooks served in the palace, preparing food for the royal household. The conjunction 'and for cooks' links them with perfumers and bakers as examples of conscripted labor. Spanish 'y-para-cocineras,' French and English 'and-for-cooks,' German 'und-fuer-cooks' all identify domestic service roles forced upon Israelite daughters. 1×
AR["وَ-خَبَّازَاتٍ"]·ben["এবং-রাঁধুনী-হতে"]·DE["und-fuer-cooks"]·EN["and-for-cooks"]·FR["et-pour-cooks"]·heb["ו-ל-טבחות"]·HI["और-के-लिए-रसोईयों"]·ID["dan-untuk-tukang-masak"]·IT["e-per-cooks"]·jav["lan-kangge-juru-masak"]·KO["그리고-요리하는-자로"]·PT["e-para-cozinheiras"]·RU["и-поварихами"]·ES["y-para-cocineras"]·SW["na-kupika"]·TR["ve-aşçılar"]·urd["اور-باورچین"]
Related Senses
H4421 1. war, battle, armed conflict (319×)H0341 1. enemy, adversary, foe (284×)H3898a 1. Nifal: to fight, wage war (167×)H2026 1. kill, slay (active) (146×)H2451 1. wisdom, discernment (146×)H5483b 1. horse (the animal) (138×)H0006 1. to perish, be destroyed (105×)H7843 1. Hifil: destroy, annihilate (83×)H2491a 1. slain, fatally pierced (74×)H6862c 1. adversary, enemy, foe (69×)H8045 1. destroy, exterminate (69×)G0615 1. kill, put to death (60×)H6571b 1. horseman, cavalryman (52×)H8077a 1. desolation, waste (abstract state) (52×)G4678 1. of wisdom (51×)G4717 1. crucify, fasten to a cross (46×)H2763a 1. utterly destroy (Hifil active) (44×)G0622 1. perish, be destroyed (intransitive) (41×)H0006 2. to destroy, annihilate (Piel) (38×)H8074 1. be desolate, lie waste (36×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† [טַבָּחָה] n.f. female cook;—only pl. abs. טַבָּחוֹת 1 S 8:13 (+ רַקָּחוֹת perfumers and אֹפוֹת bakers, all as menials).