paz

The lexica (BDB, HALOT, DCH, Klein), TDOT (Kedar-Kopfstein), and NIDOTTE (Wakely) broadly agree that פַּז denotes fine, refined, brilliant gold, functioning as a poetic-register intensive rather than a technical metallurgical term. The strongest internal evidence is the Chronicler's substitution of זָהָב טָהוֹר "pure gold" (2 Chr 9:17) for the זָהָב מוּפָז of the parallel 1 Kgs 10:18, which makes the participle of the same root effectively synonymous with טָהוֹר "pure." The word occurs only 9x, all in poetry, and is absent from priestly inventories, temple descriptions, and prose treasure-reports, where high-grade gold is instead זָהָב סָגוּר or זָהָב טָהוֹר; commentators including Berlin (Lamentations, OTL), Clines (Job, WBC), and Pope (Song of Songs, AB) make this register-observation explicit. Etymology is the genuinely open question: פַּז is an isolate with no secure Semitic cognate (Akkadian and Ugaritic use ḫurāṣu/ḫrṣ = חָרוּץ; Egyptian supplies loanwords for כֶּתֶם but nothing suitable for פַּז), and the standard lexica distinguish two homonymous roots פזז, "to leap, be agile" (Arabic فَزَّ; Gen 49:24; 2 Sam 6:16) versus "to be refined" (the participle מוּפָז), with BDB flagging the latter as dubious and Klein treating the noun as primary and the verb as denominative. The medieval single-root intuition linking the two through "brilliance, shimmer" is philologically unsupported. The ancient versions already vary (LXX renders variously χρυσίον, λίθος τίμιος, τοπάζιον, and even transliterates φάζ at Song 5:11), agreeing that the term is high-grade gold but differing on whether the nuance is purity, value, or gem-like preciousness. A minority color theory (Yeivin) treating פַּז as "lustrous without hue" is not adopted by HALOT, TDOT, NIDOTTE, or the major commentators.