The English word “danger” comes from French, strangely related to Latin dominus “lord, master, dominant, one with power to harm.” Hebrew sakkanah is of obscure origin, possibly related to sakkin “knife.” The root s-k-n “to be dangerous”* appears only once in the Bible (Ecclesiastes 10:9) but is common in rabbinical literature.
Other related words: sikkun “risk, danger” (opposite of sikkuy “chance, prospect”); mesukkan “dangerous”; histaknut “risking, endangering oneself”; rabbinical sakkanat-nefashot, now more often called sakkanat-mavet/Hayyim “life-threatening; danger to life.”
*Apparently of a different origin from s-k-n “be in a habit of,” as in (Balaam’s donkey’s speech): Hasken hiskanti “Have I been in the habit (of doing so)?” (Numbers 22:30).
Yona Sabar is a professor of Hebrew and Aramaic in the department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures at UCLA.
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