Step into the fascinating world of Hebrew synonyms and explore the rich tapestry of linguistic nuances surrounding the concept of "collateral" and the act of "taking a collateral" from a debtor. For those who don’t know, a collateral refers to a valuable asset or property that a borrower pledges to a lender as security for a loan. When one takes a loan, the lender wants to ensure that they have some form of assurance that one will repay the borrowed money. Collateral thus serves as a safety net for the lender, reducing their risk in case the borrower defaults on the loan. If the borrower fails to make loan payments, then the lender has the right to seize the collateral and sell it to recover their losses. In this essay, we delve into the heart of the Hebrew language to unravel the hidden meanings behind the Hebrew terms for “collateral” and the adjacent concept of “taking a collateral,” shedding light on a realm where language and finances intertwine to create a profound web of significance.
The most popular Hebrew word that refers to a “surety for a loan” is mashkon. Although the noun mashkon does not appear anywhere in the Bible, it does make several appearances in the Mishna. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (1469-1549) in Sefer Tishbi explains that the Mishnaic word mashkon is actually a declension of the Biblical Hebrew root SHIN-KAF-NUN (“dwelling,” “settling,” “neighbor”), with an added MEM to its beginning. He explains that maskhon relates to the original sense of this root because the collateral is an item that "dwells" in the house of another (i.e. the creditor) until it can be redeemed (by the debtor).
As HaBachur explains, once the word mashkon was formed, the initial MEM began to be treated as though it were part of the root, hence in Mishnaic Hebrew, the verb for “taking” a collateral or “designating” something as a collateral is le’mashken and its various inflections, which are obviously related to the noun mashkon. The Mishnaic term mashkon is also the etymological forebear of the Modern Hebrew mashkanta ("mortgage").
The verb chaval is another Hebrew term that refers to the act of “taking” a collateral, or security deposit, from one’s debtors. The Torah uses this word when placing certain restrictions on a creditor regarding how he may take a collateral. For example, if a creditor takes a debtor’s blanket as collateral, he must return it to the debtor every night (Ex. 22:25); a creditor may not take a debtor’s millstone (or other utensils necessary for food preparation) as collateral (Deut. 24:6); and a creditor may not take a widow’s clothing as collateral (Deut. 24:17). In all these cases, cognates of chaval is used. All in all, verbs related to chaval in the sense of “taking a collateral” appear 14 times in the Bible (according to Even-Shoshan’s concordance).
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Ex. 22:25) offers two ways of explaining how the verb chaval relates to the noun chevel: Firstly, he argues that the item that the borrower uses as a security deposit becomes “tethered” to the lender, in the sense that the borrower can no longer sell or otherwise damage that item (which could cause a loss to the lender). Alternatively, Rabbi Hirsch explains that the collateral is a tangible symbol of the borrower’s personal responsibility to fulfill his financial obligations to the lender, and thus it essentially serves to “tie” the borrower to his debt, in the same way that a rope may be used to tie something down.
*To read the full discussion that goes into other words like avit, apotekei and rahan, please visit us online and check out the full version of this article: http://ohr.edu/this_week/whats_in_a_word/
