This Aramaic term for 'testimony' or 'witness' appears in the emphatic state as part of Laban's compound name for the covenant heap in Genesis 31:47. The root is cognate with Hebrew שָׂהֵד and related to widespread Semitic vocabulary for witnessing and testimony (Syriac, Arabic shahida). The word appears in the famous bilingual pun where the stone-heap serves as a 'witness' between Jacob and Laban, commemorating their covenant. Egyptian Aramaic documents frequently use related forms for witnesses in legal contexts.