{{Short description|Biblical hapax and variety of wood}} {{for|the tree sometimes called "gopher wood"|Torreya taxifolia{{!}}''Torreya taxifolia''}} {{Italic title}} [[Image:Noahs Ark.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.8|''Noah's Ark'' by Edward Hicks, 1846. Genesis 6:14 says that Noah's Ark was constructed from gopher wood.]]
'''''Gopher wood''''' or '''''gopherwood''''' is a term used once in the Bible, to describe the material used to construct Noah's Ark. {{Bibleverse|Genesis|6:14|NKJV}} states that Noah was instructed to build the Ark of {{transliteration|hbo|gofer}} ({{lang|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|גֹפֶר}}}}), commonly transliterated as {{transliteration|hbo|gopher}} wood, a word not otherwise used in the Bible or the Hebrew language in general (a {{lang|la|hapax legomenon}}). Although some English Bibles attempt a translation, older English translations such as the King James Version (17th century) leave it untranslated. The word is unrelated to the name of the North American animal known as the gopher.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gopher |title=gopher |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=2015-11-03}}</ref>
== Identity == The Greek Septuagint (3rd–1st centuries BC) translates the phrase as {{lang|grc-x-koine|ἐκ ξύλων τετραγώνων}} ({{grc-transl|ἐκ ξύλων τετραγώνων}}), {{gloss|out of squared timber}}, translating {{translit|hbo|gofer}} as {{gloss|squared}}.<ref>{{cite book |first=Sir Lancelot C. L. |last=Brenton |title=The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English |year=1986 |orig-year=1851 |edition=Reprint |location=Peabody, Mass., US |publisher=Hendrickson Publishers |isbn=0-913573-44-2 |oclc=1029083225}}</ref> Similarly, the Latin Vulgate (5th century AD) rendered it as {{lang|la|de lignis levigatis}} ({{lang|la|lævigatis}}, in the spelling of the Clementine Vulgate), {{gloss|of timber planks}}.
''The Jewish Encyclopedia'' states that it was most likely a translation of the Akkadian term {{transliteration|akk|gushure iṣ erini}}, {{gloss|cedar beams}}, or the Assyrian {{transliteration|ass|giparu}}, {{gloss|reeds}}.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=365&letter=G&search=gopher%20wood |title=Goper-Wood|encyclopedia=The Jewish Encyclopedia |author1=Hirsch, EG |author2=Hyvernat, H|year=1906|access-date=2007-06-27}}</ref> Ancient and modern kuphar boats on the Tigris and Euphrates are also built of reeds, waterproofed with pitch. The Aramaic Targum Onkelos renders this word as {{transliteration|arc|qadros}}, {{gloss|cedar}}. The Syriac Peshitta translates this word as {{transliteration|syc|arqa}}, {{gloss|box}} (boxwood).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/|title=The Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon|publisher=Hebrew Union College|access-date=2013-01-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131018045941/http://cal1.cn.huc.edu/|archive-date=2013-10-18|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Many modern English translations favor an identification with ''cypress''. This was espoused (among others) by Adam Clarke, a Methodist theologian famous for his commentary on the Bible: Clarke cited a resemblance between the Greek word for cypress, κυπάρισσος {{transliteration|grc|kyparissos}}, and the Hebrew word {{transliteration|hbo|gopher}}. Likewise, the {{lang|la|Nova Vulgata}} (20th century) has it as {{lang|la|de lignis cupressinis}} {{gloss|out of cypress wood}}.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}
Others, noting the visual similarity between the Hebrew letters {{Transliteration|he|gimel}} ({{script|Hebr|ג}}) and {{Transliteration|he|kaf}} ({{script|Hebr|כ}}), suggest that the word may actually be {{transliteration|hbo|kopher}}, the Hebrew word meaning {{gloss|pitch}}: thus {{transliteration|hbo|kopher}} wood would be {{gloss|pitched wood}}. Later suggestions for a dynamic equivalent of the word have included {{gloss|laminated wood}} (to strengthen the Ark), or a now-lost type of tree, but there is no consensus.<ref>{{cite web |author=Taylor, Paul |url=https://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/gopherwood.html |title=What is 'Gopher Wood'?|year=2001 |publisher=Eden Communications |access-date=2007-06-25}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.giveshare.org/BibleStudy/241.gopherwood-ark.html Gopherwood and Construction of the Ark] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529234856/http://www.giveshare.org/BibleStudy/241.gopherwood-ark.html |date=2015-05-29 }} * [https://www.thefreedictionary.com/gopherwood The Free Dictionary - "Gopherwood"] (giving a definition of ''Cladrastis kentukea'')
{{Noah's Ark}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gopher Wood}} Category:Noah's Ark Category:Wood Category:Plants in the Bible Category:Plant common names Category:Cedrus Category:Cupressus Category:Biblical studies