H7388 H7388
saliva, slimy juice; bodily fluid or viscous substance
A noun meaning saliva or slimy secretion. First Samuel 21:14 describes David letting his spittle run down when feigning madness before Achish. Job 6:6 uses it metaphorically—'the slime of purslane' or possibly 'white of egg'—to describe something tasteless. The term captures the viscous, unpalatable quality of certain substances.
Senses
1. sense 1 — Refers to saliva or slimy fluid, used literally in 1 Samuel 21:14 where David feigns insanity by drooling, and metaphorically in Job 6:6 ('the slime/juice of purslane' or 'white of egg') to evoke something bland and unappetizing. The Hebrew רִיר captures viscosity and unpleasantness. Spanish 'saliva/baba' and French/German 'saliva' reflect the literal sense, while the Job passage's imagery remains debated—is it egg-white, plant sap, or something else tasteless? The shared semantic core is a slimy, undesirable substance. 2×
AR["في-لُعابِ", "لُعَابَهُ"]·ben["তার-লালা", "লালারসে"]·DE["[בריר]", "sein-saliva"]·EN["his-saliva", "in-slime-of"]·FR["dans-בריר", "son-saliva"]·heb["ב-ריר", "ריר-ו"]·HI["अपनि-रसल", "लार-में"]·ID["air-liurnya", "dalam-lendir"]·IT["in-in-slime-of", "suo-saliva"]·jav["idu", "ing-iler"]·KO["그의-침을", "즙-에서"]·PT["em-baba-de", "sua-saliva"]·RU["в-белке", "слюну-свою"]·ES["en-baba-de", "su-saliva"]·SW["katika-ute-wa", "mate-yake"]·TR["salyayı", "suyunda"]·urd["اپنا-لعاب", "رس-میں"]
Related Senses
H3808 1. simple negation (not) (4839×)G1722 1. locative: in, within (2442×)H1004b 1. house, dwelling, building (2015×)G3756 1. not (negation particle) (1635×)H4480a 1. source or separation (1198×)H5892b 1. city, town (1093×)G1519 1. direction: into, to, toward (1061×)H3427 1. Qal: to dwell, inhabit (937×)G1537 1. from, out of (source/origin) (886×)H8034 1. Name (designation / identifier) (856×)G3361 1. subjective negation (not) (834×)G1909 1. on, upon (spatial surface) (757×)H0369 1. existential negation: there is not (738×)H5869a 1. in the eyes/sight of (evaluative) (734×)H5650 1. Servant, attendant, subject (723×)H0408 1. prohibitive negation do-not (712×)G2443 1. so that, in order that (purpose/result) (665×)G0575 1. from (649×)G1223 1. through, by means of (582×)H3541 1. thus, so, in this manner (569×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† רִיר n.m. slimy juice, spittle;—cstr. בְּרִיר חַלָּמוּת Jb 6:6 in the juice of ח׳ (al. slime of yolk, i.e. white of egg); sf. רִירוֹ 1 S 21:14 his spittle.