הֲלָךְ
𐤄𐤋𐤊
hălâk
H1983 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
A journey or travel, particularly used in a mercantile or administrative sense to designate the act of moving goods or persons, and, by extension, the duty or toll imposed upon such travel or transport. In official contexts, refers specifically to the collection of customs, tolls, or transit taxes associated with the passage of caravan goods or merchandise through designated points.
Semantic Range
journey, travel, caravan procession, toll, transit tax, customs duty, fee for passage
Root / Etymology
Root: הלך. The root הלך in Hebrew primarily means 'to go, walk, travel.' In this nominal Aramaic form, the term develops the sense of 'the act of journeying,' especially in contexts regulating trade, and comes to signify the imposed fee or tax for such journeys. The Aramaic spelling distinguishes it from standard Biblical Hebrew forms.
Historical & Contextual Notes
The word הֲלָךְ appears in the Aramaic sections of the Hebrew Bible (notably in Ezra and Daniel), where it refers to the toll or tax exacted along trade routes or at city gates—a common administrative practice in the Achaemenid Persian period, when these books were composed or set. Unlike other Hebrew terms for tax or tribute such as מֶכֶס (mekhes), which refers generally to levy or tax, הֲלָךְ indicates a specific kind of transit or customs duty, highlighting the administrative context of the Persian Empire. English translations often render it as 'toll,' 'custom,' or 'tribute,' but 'customs duty' more precisely captures the word’s administrative nuance in these Aramaic texts. Its usage reflects the bureaucratic realities of the period, particularly concerning trade regulation and state revenues from commerce.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
(Aramaic) from הֲלַךְ; properly, a journey, i.e. (by implication) toll on goods at aroad; custom.
Bantu Hebrew
No Bantu Hebrew comparisons have been submitted for this word yet.
+ Add Bantu Hebrew WordRoot Family
הלך (h-l-k) — to go, walk, travel
| Strong's | Lemma | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|
| H1946 | הוּךְ | to go |
| H1973 | הָלְאָה | further on |
| H1978 | הָלִיךְ | my steps |
| H1979 | הֲלִיכָה | in their journeying |
| H1980 | הָלַךְ | I walk about |
Word Forms
1 distinct form
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H1983-01 |
וַ/הֲלָךְ֙ | vahalakhe | AC/Ncmsa |
and toll | and travel-duty | 3 |
Occurrences in Scripture
3 total occurrences