MA-KA-RI-TE
merchants (heading of a roster of men); rival 'red (wool)'
- Reading
- makkārītu
- Confidence
- Candidate
- Root
- *makir- ‘seller, trader, merchant’
- Kind
- Personnel
- Language
- Semitic
- Rank
- —
Compared forms
- Ugaritic𐎎𐎋𐎗mkrmkr ‘merchant, commercial agent’, pl. mkrm, counted in rosters: ʿšr mkrm ‘ten merchants’, spr mkrm ‘list of traders’, ġr mkrm ‘total of merchants’ (DULAT 537); syllabic ma-ka-ri ‘to trade’ (Huehnergard 2008, 146)
- Akkadianmakārumakāru B ‘to do business’, OA and Ras Shamra (CAD M/1 126); mākiru, makkāru ‘trader’ (CAD M/1 129, 131); tamkāru ‘merchant’ (CAD T 125); tamkārūtu ‘commercial transaction; (collective) merchants’ (CAD T 141); rival makrū, fem. makritu ‘red’, of wool (CAD M/1 138)
- Hebrewmōkērmōkēr ‘seller’ (Isa 24:2); mkr ‘to sell’ (HALOT 581)
- PhoenicianPunic mkrPunic mkr ‘seller, trader’: mkr ʾqṭr ‘incense-seller’ (Krahmalkov 2000, 282)
- Sabaicmkrnmkrn ‘merchants, tradesmen’ (Biella 1982, 274)
- Egyptian*mākiruyu*mākiruyu ‘merchant’, a Semitic loan after swty ‘trader’ (Hoch 1994, 169, no. 223)
Attestations2 cited
Commentary
HT 87: *21F-TU-NE · MA-KA-RI-TE ·, then six men at 1 each. HT 117a: MA-KA-RI-TE · KI-RO · U-MI-NA-SI ·, then ten men at 1 each, KU-RO 10: ‘merchants: owed’. One sign-group in both, divider after TE. √m-k-r ‘to trade’: Ugaritic counts mkrm in rosters with a total (ġr mkrm, DULAT 537), Akkadian has mākiru and makkāru ‘trader’, Punic mkr. TE writes the -t of a class noun, cf. the Akkadian collective tamkārūtu ‘merchants’ (CAD T 141). Hebrew has -t forms of the root, mimkeret ‘sale’ (Lev 25:42; HALOT 581) and hammōkeret ‘she who sells’ (Nah 3:4). Weak point: neither names a body of traders. Rival: makritu ‘red’, of wool (CAD M/1 138), which suits a commodity, not a roster of men.