inbal

A reader asked about an Israeli grape juice called Inbalim ענבלים. I presume this is the brand:

He asked why the juice had that name. 

I don't have an actual answer to that question. It's a label from the Arza Winery, and I don't see any official explanation online for that choice. But I can speculate, and I can certainly give more background to the word עִנְבָּל inbal.

The word inbal has two meanings. Either the clapper of a bell (the swinging metal piece that hits the bell and makes the sound) or the uvula (the little dangling ball in the back of the throat). As you can probably imagine, the two are related, since they both are small hanging spheres.

An early appearance of the word inbal is in the Mishna, Nazir 6:2. The mishna is discussing what kind of grape components are forbidden to the nazirite. The biblical verse (Bamidbar 6:4) uses two terms - חַרְצַנִּים chartzanim and זָג zag. By the time of the mishna, it was unclear what each of those words meant - the inner or outer parts of the grape?. One opinion is given by Rabbi Yosei:

כְּזוֹג שֶׁל בְּהֵמָה, הַחִיצוֹן זוֹג וְהַפְּנִימִי עִנְבָּל:

It is like a bell [zog] worn by an animal, in which the outer part, which corresponds to the skin of a grape, is called zog, and the inner portion of the bell, the clapper, which corresponds to the seeds in a grape, is called inbal.

Rabbi Yosei is stating the zag is like zog - a bell, and therefore the chartzanim, the seeds, are like the inner portion of the bell, the clapper.

So this association between grapes and inbal might have given inspiration to the brand of grape juice. 

More such connections can be found in the etymology of inbal. In Ben-Yehuda's dictionary, there are two suggestions.

In the first, he quotes Musaphia who says it derives from the Greek word ἒμβολον. Klein accepts this suggestion:

עִנְבָּל m.n. PBH clapper of a bell. [From Gk. embolon (= lit.: ‘something thrown in’), from emballein (= to throw in), from en (= in) and ballein (= to throw)

The Greek ballein is the origin of a number of English words, including ballistics and metabolism. Interestingly, it's related to the word "ball", as in "dancing party", but not the round object "ball", which derives from a different Indo-European root (the etymologies of both appear here).

However, Ben-Yehuda rejects this etymology, favoring one with a Hebrew origin. He says it's more likely to come from עֵנָב einav - "grape," with the letter ל lamed added at the end. Other such words with a similar suffix may include barzel ברזל and karmel כרמל.

Possible support for this approach could be found in the etymology of the word "uvula," which, as we've seen, is a meaning of inbal:

late 14c., from Late Latin uvula, from Latin uvola "small bunch of grapes," diminutive of uva "grape," from PIE root *og- "fruit, berry." So called from fancied resemblance of the organ to small grapes.

So perhaps the inbal was also seen to look like a small grape, and from there got its name in Hebrew as well.

However, this etymology is questioned by the Academy of the Hebrew Language, who note that in some Talmudic text, inbal is spelled with an alef instead of an ayin, which would make the Greek etymology more likely. They also note that Inbal has become a popular first name in Israel, perhaps because of the similarity to the European name Annabelle (and that it should not be confused with the similar sounding name Inbar.)

After all this, I think it's less likely that the Arza Winery was concerned about the etymology or even ancient use of inbal, and more interested in a nice sounding name that at least includes the Hebrew word for grapes. But if I ever find out, I'll be sure to let you all know.

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