[Avodah] Translation of Makos

[Zev Sero]

On 21/06/2012 3:54 PM, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
> In the thread "Translation of Yayyin", R' Zev Sero wrote:
>
>> "Hamakos" refers to the drops of wine, not to
>> the plagues that happened to the Mitzrim!
>
> Where do you get this?

It is simply how we refer to what we do -- we "pour the makos", and
thus we refer to that which is poured as "makos".  And "shofchin
le'ibud" very plainly means "spill out and waste".  The mistranslation
comes from misparsing the Hebrew, and thinking it's giving a reason
rather than merely an instruction.


> Where do you have "makos" referring to the spilled wine?

Common idiom.


> To be clear, I'm not really disagreeing. It sounds like a cute little
> vort, possibly originating with an alternate pronunciation of "mee-kos"
> -- "from the cup".

No, nothing to do with that.  The name simply transferred from what
is said while pouring to that which is poured.


-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon