# Shani



## LenyZaZa

What does the word shani mean? I only know it as a name and was recently told that there are many meanings to it in Hebrew. I'd appreciate any info over the word shani. Thanks ahead of time to anyone willing to help. 

~~LenyZaZa~~


----------



## david314

I believe that it can also signify the color: *scarlet *


----------



## בעל-חלומות

שני also has the meaning of 'a string'. I _think_ that this comes from an old tradition of putting a red string around the firstborn's wrist when a woman had twins, but I'm not sure why I think that.


----------



## scriptum

בעל-חלומות said:


> שני also has the meaning of 'a string'. I _think_ that this comes from an old tradition of putting a red string around the firstborn's wrist when a woman had twins, but I'm not sure why I think that.


Hello,
to the best of my knowledge, the second meaning of shani is "scarlet cloth".
"Scarlet string" is "חוט השני".
Metaphorically, "חוט השני" means "keynote", "leading motive", "dominant trait". The expression seems to have originated from the book of Joshua, 2, 18.


----------



## Gadyc

There is some mismatch.
Shani is "scarlet". 
The color was produced in the antiquity from the blood of some kind of worms.

Because it is a very warm color, it was very used for clothes and wool. 

So, you can find in Hebrew different expressions using the color:
חוט השני - a scarlet string (or Thread) was often use to bold something. so in modern Hebrew it became "leitmotif".
תקוות השני - is the red cloth hanged by Rahav in Jericho to signal her immunity to Joshua soldiers.

In modern Hebrew Shani is a common name for girls (like "Gone with the Wind"'s Scarlet Ohara)


----------



## scriptum

Gadyc said:


> תקוות השני - is the red cloth hanged by Rahav in Jericho to signal her immunity to Joshua soldiers.


Hello,
Just one small remark: the biblical expression is תקוות חוט השני, not תקוות השני, so it means "the red string", not the red cloth.


----------



## Gadyc

You are right Scriptum, I wrote from my heart. 
This is why Hazal taught us "דברים שבכתב אי אתה רשאי לאמרם בעל פה".


----------



## scriptum

Gadyc said:


> This is why Hazal taught us "דברים שבכתב אי אתה רשאי לאמרם בעל פה".


Hi Gadyc,

Could you provide the quotation's source?

Thanks.


----------



## Gadyc

"דברים שבכתב אי אתה רשאי לאמרם בעל פה"

Talmud Bavly Gitim p.60b 

To search, I recommend the Machon-mamre site. 
http://www.mechon-mamre.org

or Bar-Ilan's Responce Project: http://www.responsa.co.il/


----------



## scriptum

Thanks Gadyc!


----------

