Origin of Word
The Hebrew root N-H-G (Hebrew: נ-ה-ג) means primarily "to drive" or, by extension, "to conduct (oneself)".
The actual word minhag appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, both times in the same verse:
And the watchman told, saying: 'He came even unto them, and cometh not back; and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.' (II Kings 9:20, KJV)Homiletically, one could argue that the use of the word minhag in Jewish law reflects its Biblical Hebrew origins as "the (manner of) driving (a chariot)". Whereas Halakha (law), from the word for walking-path, means the path or road set for the journey, minhag (custom), from the word for driving, means the manner people have developed themselves to travel down that path more quickly.
The present use of minhag for custom may have been influenced by the Arabic minhaj, though in current Islamic usage this term is used for the intellectual methodology of a scholar or school of thought (cf. Hebrew derech) rather than for the customs of a local or ethnic community.
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