כּוּשִׁית
𐤊𐤅𐤔𐤉𐤕
Kushit
H3571 noun
SILEX Entry
Definition
A female person of Kushite origin; specifically, a woman ethnically associated with the ancient region of Kush (Cush), located south of Egypt (primarily Nubia). The term designates her ethnic and, sometimes, geographic origin as a Kushite. In biblical contexts, it is used to identify women as belonging to or descended from the Kushite people, distinguishing them from Israelite or other neighboring populations.
Semantic Range
Kushite woman, woman of Kushite origin, female from the region of Kush, female Nubian, occasionally rendered as 'Ethiopian woman' in translations
Root / Etymology
Feminine adjectival/nomen gentilic form from the root כוּשׁ (Cush), which denotes the region/people of Kush (Nubia). The suffix -ית (-ît) forms the feminine of gentilic nouns; thus, כּוּשִׁית means 'female Kushite.' Root is כוּשׁ, 'Cush/Kush.'
Historical & Contextual Notes
In biblical usage, כּוּשִׁית appears rarely and almost exclusively to describe a woman’s ethnic background, notably in Numbers 12:1, referring to the wife of Moses as 'the Kushite woman.' The translation 'Ethiopian' stems from later Greek and Latin renderings, but in its original context, Cush refers to the region roughly corresponding to ancient Nubia (modern southern Egypt and Sudan), and thus 'Ethiopian' reflects later Greek use of Aithiops, not the biblical conception. The term functions strictly as an ethno-geographic identifier and should not be conflated with later religious or political identities. The masculine כּוּשִׁי (Kushite man; H3569) is more frequent, and together they form a gentilic pair. The biblical use does not carry modern connotations associated with race but rather denotes origin from the territory or people of Kush. Later uses—especially in translation—sometimes collapsed multiple African identities under 'Ethiopian,' which is not a precise equivalent in this context.
Original Strong's Gloss (1890)
feminine of כּוּשִׁי; a Cushite woman; Ethiopian.
Bantu Hebrew
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כושׁ (k-w-š) — to be from Kush, to be associated with Kush/Nubia, blackness
Word Forms
2 distinct forms
| SIDANCE | Surface | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3571-02 |
כֻשִׁ֖ית | khushit | HNgfsa |
Cushite | Kushite woman | 1 |
H3571-01 |
הַ/כֻּשִׁ֖ית | hakushit | HTd/Ngfsa |
the Cushite | the Kushite woman | 1 |
Occurrences in Scripture
2 total occurrences
| SIDANCE | Reference | Word | Transliteration | Morphology | Common | SIBI-P1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
H3571-01 |
Numbers 12:1 | הַ/כֻּשִׁ֖ית | hakushit | HTd/Ngfsa |
the Cushite | the Kushite woman |
H3571-02 |
Numbers 12:1 | כֻשִׁ֖ית | khushit | HNgfsa |
Cushite | Kushite woman |