[Avodah] The root peh-ayin-mem

[Akiva Miller]

On our sister list "Mesorah", someone recently asked:

> Can anyone make a connection for me between the words
>
> pa'am, (Hapa'am odeh es Hashem),
> pa'amosav (four taba'os on the four "pa'amosav" of the shulchan
> vatipo'em (Vyhi vaboker vatipo'em rucho.

I'd like to move that conversation to Avodah, by posting this plug for the "Etymological Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew" (Feldheim, 1999) by Rabbi Matityahu Clark, father of former listmember Eli Clark. Rabbi Clark went through the writings of Rav SRHirsch, and some others, and listed the meanings of many many roots, in sequence by their three-lettered roots. I was very surprised by the many varied meanings and contexts in which this root appears, and so I will share it with the chevra now:

(Rabbi Clark begins here)

PEH-AYIN-MEM -- BEAT DOWN, STRIDE STRONGLY
1: knocking against; stunning (Ps 77:5 "nif'amti v'lo adaber" also Gn 45:17)
2: striding; striking ground while walking (Ps 17:5 "bal namotu f'amai" also Gn 16:13)
3: anguishing; being emotionally stricken (Gn 41:8 "vatipaem rucho")
4: period of the year (Ex 23:17 "shalosh p'amim bashana" also Ex 23:14)
5: anvil (Is 41:7 in Mendel Hirsch "machlik patish et holem pa'am)
6: bell (Ex 28:33 "upa'amonei zahav")
7: corner (Ex 25:12 "al arba pa'amotav")
8: at last; this time (Gn 2:23 "zot hapa'am")

(Rabbi Clark ends here)

The basic meaning that I get from these varied contexts corresponds very closely to the English "beat", which is both a noun connoting regularity (as in music) as also a verb connoting a strong impact done repeatedly. For example, a bell could be formed by being hammered repeatedly against an anvil. The regularity of the thrice per year is obvious, and it is my wild guess that the singular "this one time" was adapted from there.

Akiva Miller

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