Words from this week's reading, traced to their roots by David Curwin, the Hebrew Language Detective. Each begins with the verse where the word appears and continues in his own words.
regel
וַתֵּ֨רֶא הָאָת֜וֹן אֶת־מַלְאַ֣ךְ יְהֹוָ֗ה וַתִּלָּחֵץ֙ אֶל־הַקִּ֔יר וַתִּלְחַ֛ץ אֶת־רֶ֥גֶל בִּלְעָ֖ם אֶל־הַקִּ֑יר וַיֹּ֖סֶף לְהַכֹּתָֽהּ׃
And the ass saw the angel of the LORD, and she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall; and he smote her again.
Another name for the pilgrimage festivals is regalim רגלים , or in the singular רגל regel. While this meaning is used extensively in rabbinic literature, it appears only once in the Tanach, and had a different connotation. As Klein writes:
The literal meaning of שלש רגלים is 'three feet, three steps', whence arose the meaning 'three times'. From שלש רגלים in the verse Exodus 23:14 שָׁלֹשׁ רְגָלִים, תָּחֹג לִי בַּשָּׁנָה ('Three times you shall keep a feast unto me in the year') developed in post-Biblical times the meaning of שלש רגלים as 'the three festivals of pilgrimage' (first used in this sense in the Mishnah), whence - through back formation - the singular רגל was also used in the sense of festival of pilgrimage.
While there are examples in the Rabbinic literature which connect the concept of regel as pilgrimage and the more basic meaning of regel as foot (see the first mishna in Chagiga), it is clear from the story of Bilaam that regel could mean "(a) time" without direct connection to feet. There, Bilaam's donkey asks "What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times (shalosh regalim)?" So we have an exact parallel with the verse in Shmot where we are commanded to have a feast "three times". (Milgrom in JPS Numbers quotes a source that perhaps the expression always used the number three.)
Since regel - foot - is a very basic word in a language, it is not surprising that a number of other meanings derive from it.
For example, the verb רגל means "to slander" or "to spy", just as a spy - a meragel מרגל - walks about on foot. A related verb is רכל - which means "to go about from place to place (for trade or gossip.)"
misken, sakana, and sochen
וַתֹּ֨אמֶר הָאָת֜וֹן אֶל־בִּלְעָ֗ם הֲלוֹא֩ אָנֹכִ֨י אֲתֹֽנְךָ֜ אֲשֶׁר־רָכַ֣בְתָּ עָלַ֗י מֵעֽוֹדְךָ֙ עַד־הַיּ֣וֹם הַזֶּ֔ה הַֽהַסְכֵּ֣ן הִסְכַּ֔נְתִּי לַעֲשׂ֥וֹת לְךָ֖ כֹּ֑ה וַיֹּ֖אמֶר לֹֽא׃
And the ass said unto Balaam: ‘Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden all thy life long unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?’ And he said: ‘Nay.’
In the beginning of Shemot, the Israelites were forced to build arei miskenot ערי מסכנות - "storage cities" (Shemot 1:11).
The root סכן is found in a number of Hebrew words going back to Biblical times - some still in use today, some less so. Let's first look at the different meanings, and then try to see if they are connected.
1) The verb סכן (in the kal form) can mean "was useful, benefited". This sense is found in Iyov 15:3, 22:2, 34:9, 35:3.
2) In the hifil form (הסכין), it means "was accustomed, was used to". This form appears in Bamidbar 22:30, Tehilim 139:3, and Iyov 22:21.
3) The familiar word sakana סכנה - "danger" does not appear in the Tanach (it appears frequently in Rabbinic Hebrew). But it does appear as a nifal verb once in Kohelet 10:9 יסכן - "will be harmed". In Rabbinic Hebrew we find the piel form, meaning "to expose to danger". Derivatives include sikun סיכון - "risk" and misukan מסוכן - which in the Talmud meant "in danger" but by Medieval Hebrew meant "dangerous".
4) The noun sochen סוכן is found in Yeshayahu 22:15, and as sochenet סוכנת in Melachim I 1:2,4. It is usually translated there as "steward" or "attendant". In Modern Hebrew, sochen means "agent" and sochnut סוכנות is "agency".
5) The word misken מסכן means "poor, miserable", and appears in Kohelet 4:13;9:15-16. The noun, miskenut מסכנות - "poverty" is found in Devarim 8:9.
aloe
וְהִנֵּ֡ה אִישׁ֩ מִבְּנֵ֨י יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל בָּ֗א וַיַּקְרֵ֤ב אֶל־אֶחָיו֙ אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִ֔ית לְעֵינֵ֣י מֹשֶׁ֔ה וּלְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־עֲדַ֣ת בְּנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְהֵ֣מָּה בֹכִ֔ים פֶּ֖תַח אֹ֥הֶל מוֹעֵֽד׃
And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting.
My previous post discussed cinnamon / kinamon - a word dating back to biblical times. In Mishlei 7:17, we find kinamon listed with two other spices:
מֹר אֲהָלִים, וְקִנָּמוֹן
The JPS translates this as "myrrh, aloes and cinnamon". We've already discussed mor / myrrh. Let's take a look now at ahal / aloe.
Just as with myrrh and cinnamon, aloe is said to derive from the Hebrew ahal אהל:
O.E. aluwan (pl.) "fragrant resin of an E. Indian tree," a Biblical usage, from L. aloe, from Gk. aloe, translating Heb. ahalim (pl., perhaps ult. from a Dravidian language). The Gk. word probably was chosen for resemblance of sound to the Heb., since the Gk. and L. words originally referred to a genus of plants with bitter juice, used as a purgative drug, a sense which appeared in Eng. 1398. The word was then mis-applied to the American agave plant in 1682.
However, what exactly were the ahalim (and ahalot)? This seems to be a matter of dispute.
In addition to the verse in Mishlei, we find the word ahal three other times. In Tehilim 45:9, we have מֹר-וַאֲהָלוֹת קְצִיעוֹת - "myrrh and aloes and cassia", and in Shir HaShirim 4:14 there is מֹר, וַאֲהָלוֹת, עִם, כָּל-רָאשֵׁי בְשָׂמִים - "myrrh and aloes - all the choice perfumes." The fact that ahal is grouped together here with mor each time, and that all are talking about fragrant trees, leads to a general consensus that these verses are referring to a certain type of tree.
Klein, in his CEDEL, explains that this is the agarwood tree - also known as lignum aloes (thanks Mike G for the lookup):
More from Balashon on Balak
At the table
- Read Numbers 22:25 aloud. Now that you know where רֶ֥גֶל comes from, what do you hear in the verse that you didn't before?
- Why might the Torah say הַֽהַסְכֵּ֣ן in Numbers 22:30? What would be lost with a more ordinary word?
- Which of this week’s words do you use in Modern Hebrew? Has the meaning moved since the Torah used it?