Numbers 10:5 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east parts shall go forward. When ye blow an alarm - תרועה teruah, probably meaning short, broken, sharp tones, terminating with long ones, blown with both the trumpets at once. From the similarity in the words some suppose that the Hebrew teruah was similar to the Roman taratantara, or sound of their clarion.