shamash
/ʃəˈmæʃ/ noun, proper noun
Forms shamashim shamashes shames shamos shammes shammos Šamaš
- noun (Judaism) The candle used to light the other eight candles of a Hanukkah menorah or hanukkiah.
- noun A sexton in a synagogue.
- proper noun The sun god and god of justice in Babylonia and Assyria, corresponding to Sumerian Utu.
Etymology
From Hebrew שַׁמָּשׁ (shamásh, “waiter, sexton”). Doublet of shammes, via Yiddish.
From Akkadian Šamaš, ultimately from Proto-Semitic *śamš-. Compare shin.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “shamash”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details