Etrog

Etrog (Hebrew: אֶתְרוֹג, plural: etrogim; Ashkenazi Hebrew: esrog, plural: esrogim) is the yellow citron (Citrus medica) used by Jews during the weeklong holiday of Sukkot as one of the four species. Together with the lulav, hadass, and aravah, the etrog is taken in hand and held or waved during specific portions of the holiday prayers. Special care is often given to selecting an etrog for the performance of the Sukkot holiday rituals.

The romanization of the Hebrew as etrog from Sephardi Hebrew is widely used. The Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation is esrog or esrig. It has been transliterated as etrog or ethrog in scholarly works. The Hebrew word is thought to derive from the Persian name for the fruit, wādrang, which first appears in the Vendidad. Related words are (Persian: ترنج, romanized: toronj) and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַתְרוּגָּא, romanized: ʾaṯruggā. It has also made its way into Arabic as أُتْرُجَّةِ‎ utrujjah notably in a hadith collected in the Sahih Muslim. A rare Aramaic form, eṯrungā (אֶתְרוּנְגָּא), is significant because it retains the alveolar nasal sound (as indicated by the nun) of wādrang, also observable in the English word 'orange'.

In Modern Hebrew, etrog is the name for any variety or form of citron, whether kosher for the ritual or not. In general usage, though, the word is often reserved to refer only to those varieties and specimens used ritually as one of the four species. Some taxonomic experts, like Hodgson and others, have mistakenly treated etrog as one specific variety of citron. The various Jewish rites utilize different varieties, according to their tradition or the decision of their respective posek.

On the first day you shall take the fruit of majestic trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days.

— Leviticus 23:40, New Revised Standard Version

According to one study, the biblical phrase peri 'etz hadar (פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר) (translated above as "fruit of majestic trees") is syntactically and lexically ambiguous, and has been interpreted or translated in at least fifteen distinct ways. Some of the best-known approaches are "fruit from beautiful trees", (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan; Martin Luther; NRSV cited above), "beautiful tree-fruit", (the Samaritans; Septuagint; Abraham ibn Ezra), or "branches of beautiful trees" (King James Version). Most Rabbinic translations directly link peri 'etz hadar to the etrog, e.g., "tree-fruit, that is etrogim" (Targum Onkelos), "etrog fruit from the etrog tree" (Nachmanides), or "fruit of the etrog tree" (Saadia Gaon). Some other approaches to the ambiguity have been "cone of the cedar tree" (Shmuel Tolkowsky), "fruit of the olive tree" (Irving Koller), or "branches of the myrtle tree" (Arnold Ehrlich).

In modern Hebrew, hadar refers to the genus Citrus. Nachmanides (1194 – c. 1270) suggests that the word was the original Hebrew name for the citron.^{[citation needed]} According to this view, the word etrog was introduced over time and adapted from Aramaic. The Arabic name for the citron fruit, itranj (اترنج), mentioned in hadith literature, is also adapted from Aramaic.

Etrogim were extensively cultivated in the Holy Land at the time of the Second Temple, and images of etrogim are found at many archaeological sites of that era, including mosaics at the Maon Synagogue, Beth Alpha Synagogue, and Hamat Tiberias Synagogue. At all of those sites, the etrog is depicted alongside other important religious symbols, like the shofar or menorah. The etrog is also found on numerous Bar Kokhba coins.