double: twice as much of something, a doubled amount
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintyStrong
This is the word for something counted twice over. It labels a plain doubled quantity, like the double money the brothers carry back to Egypt or the double portion of bread gathered before the Sabbath, and it also names a doubled measure handed back to someone, whether as reward or as penalty.
The reward side promises twice as much to make up for loss, as when a prophet promises a double share in place of shame, or the exiles are told they will be restored double. The penalty side threatens repayment twice over for wrongdoing. In every use the core idea holds steady: not merely more, but exactly two times the original.
Nuances
1atwice the usual amount: a plain double quantity of something
Gen 43:12Gen 43:15Exo 16:5Exo 16:22Deu 15:18Job 42:10
1ba double measure returned: twice as much given back, as reward or as penalty
Isa 61:7Jer 16:18Jer 17:18Zec 9:12
2
a copy: a written duplicate of a document
TranslatabilityDirectCertaintyStrong
When the object is a written text, the word means a copy: a fresh transcript that reproduces an original document. A king is told to write out for himself a copy of the law, and Joshua inscribes a copy of the law of Moses on stones.
This sense grows naturally out of the idea of doing something a second time. To copy a text is to write it again, so the same word that means twice as much can name the second written version of a document.
Deu 17:18*Jos 8:32
3
second: the one ranking next after the first, in position, birth, office, or grade
TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintyStrong
Applied to people and things arranged in order, the word marks whatever comes second. It can name a person who stands just below the top, like the official who is second to the king, and it can name a second-born son.
It also labels a whole class that ranks below the first: priests of the second order, temple musicians of the second rank, an officer second over a city. Stretched to objects, it can mean a second and lesser grade, such as bowls of a second sort. The thread through all of these is place in a sequence, not the first but the next one down.
Nuances
3aa deputy: the person who ranks just below the ruler, second-in-command
Gen 41:431Sa 23:172Ch 28:7Est 10:3
3bthe second-born: the second son by order of birth
TranslatabilityDirect
1Sa 8:21Sa 17:132Sa 3:3
3cof the second order: belonging to a second-ranking class of officials or servants
3dof a second grade: a second and usually lesser one of its kind
1Sa 15:9*2Ch 35:24Ezr 1:10
1Sa 15:9
Whether the Hebrew at 1 Samuel 15:9 reads a word meaning animals "of the second sort" (the inferior beasts) or should be corrected to a similar-looking word meaning "the fatlings" (the prime beasts).
contestedThe traditional Hebrew text stands, naming the second-rate animals Saul kept back alongside the best.; BDB, s.v. מִשְׁנֶה
contestedThe text should be corrected to a word meaning the fatlings, so the verse contrasts only the best against the worthless.; P. Kyle McCarter, I Samuel (Anchor Bible)
4
the Second Quarter: a district of Jerusalem
TranslatabilityPartialCertaintyStrong
As a place name the word refers to a specific part of Jerusalem, the quarter that grew up as a second or newer section of the city. The prophetess Huldah lived there, and one of the prophets pictures a cry going up from it on the day of judgment.
Because it is a proper name for a neighborhood, English Bibles either describe it as the Second Quarter or the New Quarter or simply keep the Hebrew name, the Mishneh.
The same Hebrew word stretches well beyond "double" to mean a written copy or a person of second rank, a range the English word does not have.Gen 41:43
Both
Both mean twice as much of something.Exo 16:22
Only double
English "double" can mean a stand-in or body double, or a fold in cloth, meanings this word does not carry.
In the source language the word for a copy grows out of the idea of writing a text a second time, tying it to repetition rather than mechanical reproduction.Deu 17:18
Both
Both name a written duplicate of an original document.Jos 8:32
Only copy
English "copy" suggests a photocopy or an exact mechanical reproduction, an idea foreign to the ancient world.
The word can name a deputy or second-in-command, a ranking role that plain English "second" does not suggest.Est 10:3
Both
Both mark the one that comes next after the first in a sequence.1Sa 8:2
Only second
English "second" also means a unit of time or the act of endorsing a proposal, senses this word never has.
How mishneh differs from similar Hebrew words
שֵׁנִיThe plain ordinal number "second" used for counting (the second day, the second son as a position in a list); this word instead names the thing or person that is second, or a doubling, rather than a spot in a count.
שְׁנַיִםThe cardinal number "two"; this word is the derived idea of two-ness, a doubled amount or the one that comes second.
mishneh in the other biblical languages
διπλοῦςGreek“double”The Greek adjective for "double, twofold," the closest counterpart to this word's "twice as much" sense.
δεύτεροςGreek“secondly”The Greek ordinal "second," matching this word's ranking and ordering sense but not its "double" or "copy" reach.
What scholars say about mishneh
מִשְׁנֶה is a noun formed from the root שׁנה (to repeat, to do a second time), and its uses radiate from that base idea in three main directions: a doubled quantity (twice as much, a double portion), a written copy or duplicate (Deuteronomy 17:18;Joshua 8:32), and the ordinal notion of second in rank, birth, office, or grade. The lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH) organize the material along these lines. Two verses carry recognized cruxes. At Deuteronomy 17:18 the phrase מִשְׁנֵה הַתּוֹרָה was rendered by the Septuagint as to deuteronomion (a second law), the source of the book's Greek title, but the consensus reading is a copy of the law rather than a distinct second law. At 1 Samuel 15:9 the Masoretic מִשְׁנִים (of the second sort) is frequently emended to מַשְׁמַנִּים (fatlings), a proposal argued by McCarter among others and reflected in several modern versions. As a toponym, הַמִּשְׁנֶה designates the Second (or newer) Quarter of Jerusalem (2 Kings 22:14;Zephaniah 1:10).
Sources
BDB, s.v. מִשְׁנֶהlexicon
HALOT, s.v. מִשְׁנֶהlexicon
DCH, s.v. מִשְׁנֶהlexicon
P. Kyle McCarter, I Samuel (Anchor Bible, 1980)commentary