[Mesorah] two questions about words

[Mandel, Seth]

Although the name of this group quite literally means that we are talking about the T'NaKh, I am taking the liberty of addressing a couple of questions that have been perplexing me about Chazal Hebrew.  If the managers of the list think it is not appropriate, I will send it elsewhere.

The first is the word אבוקה, meaning a torch.  The word does not appear in the T'NaKh; instead, there is a word לפיד, which occurs about a dozen times.  The Targum translates that a בעורא. and no forms of אבוקה appear in Aramaic.  The Rambam, following the usage in Chazal, has the word אבוקה several times, and the word לפיד only once, in Kelim 18:6, which quotes the Mishna in Kelim.  From the Rambam's comments, it appears that אבוקה was the word for a torch, and לפיד in the Mishna refers not to a normal torch, but to a implement made out of pottery consisting of a long stick with a couple of metal containers on top that hold burning rags.

I am not asking about what that word in the Mishna means.  From all the other sources in Chazal it is clear that a normal torch, made out of wood or some other materials with burning rags or without.

But what is the source of the word? It does not exist in any other language as far as I have been able to determine, not any Aramaic, not Greek, not Latin.  No one seems to know.  At most there are some conjectures that perhaps it is from the root חבק, but het does not turn into an aleph anywhere else.  I even asked the Akademiah of the Hebrew Language, and they did not have any information.

I am happy to hear any ideas.


My second question is about another word in L'shon Chazal, the forms of the verb ארע. The word appears a few times in l'shon Chazal, for instance in the Mishna B'rakhot 4:2

רבי נחוניה בן הקנה היה מתפלל בכניסתו לבית המדרש וביציאתו תפילה קצרה... אמר, בכניסתי אני מתפלל שלא תארע תקלה על ידי

The Kaufman ms. of the Mishnah punctuates it as a Qal verb:

תֶאֱרַע
Another ancient vocalized ms. has תֵארַע. Jastrow, based on the German dictionaries, insists that the verb is always in the Nif‘al.

Many dictionaries claim the verb is from the verb ערע, which is very common in the Targum, and it means "to happen," and is always in the Pa‘el (equivalent of the Hebrew Pi‘el.  That verb means "to happen, occur," and so it matches the meaning of the verb in L'shon Chazal.  So they theorize that there was dissimilation, and that the first ‘ayin became an aleph.  The Syriac form, however, is also ארע.

The Aramaic verb is in the Qal.


Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel
Rabbinic Coordinator
The Orthodox Union

Voice (212) 613-8330     Fax (212) 613-0718     e-mail mandels at ou.org
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