Humash

The Hebrew term Chumash (also Ḥumash; Hebrew: חומש‎, pronounced [χuˈmaʃ] or pronounced [ħuˈmaʃ] or Yiddish: pronounced [ˈχʊməʃ]) is a Torah in printed form (i.e. codex) as opposed to a sefer Torah, which is a scroll. The word comes from the Hebrew word for five, ḥamesh (חמש‎). A more formal term is Ḥamishah Ḥumshei Torah, "five fifths of Torah". It is also known by the Latinised Greek term Pentateuch in common printed editions.

The word "ḥumash" may be a vowel alteration of ḥomesh, meaning "one-fifth", alluding to any one of the five books: as the Hebrew חומש‎ has no vowel signs, it could be read either way. It could also be regarded as a back-formed singular of ḥumashim/ḥumshei (which is in fact the plural of ḥomesh).

In early scribal practice there was a distinction between a sefer Torah, containing the entire Pentateuch on a parchment scroll, and a copy of one of the five books on its own, which was generally bound in codex form, like a modern book, and had a lesser degree of sanctity. The term ḥomesh strictly applies to one of these. Thus, ḥomesh B'reshit strictly means "the Genesis fifth", but was misread as ḥumash, B'reshit and interpreted as meaning "The Pentateuch: Genesis", as if "ḥumash" was the name of the book and "Bereshit" the name of one of its parts. Compare the misunderstanding of "Tur" to mean the entirety of the Arba'ah Turim.

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