Heavenly Bodies

Shabbos 156a, among other sources, lists 7 heavenly bodies visible from the earth. Chamah, the Sun, is so called because it is the source of heat. Levana, the moon, is so called because it looks white. Nogah, Venus, is so called because it is the brightest of the "smaller bodies" visible from earth. Ma'adim, Mars, appears red from earth because its surface is covered in rust. Shab'tai, Saturn, has the 7th longest cycle out of the heavenly bodies (as it has the longest orbit - Uranus, Neptune, and the Kuiper-belt-object-nee-planet Pluto are not visible with the naked eye).

Mercury is known as Kochav, meaning "Star". According to Wikipedia, this term is short for "Kochav Chamah", the Star of the Sun, since Mercury is the closest to the Sun.

The remaining heavenly body is Jupiter, known as Tzedek, righteousness. It seems that this would have to do with the planet's largest size amongst the other smaller bodies, which led a number of ancient peoples to tag the planet with the name of their chief deity. Perhaps Tzedek was therefore a euphemism to avoid using an idolatrous name for the planet.

Chanukah 1 - Oil and Eight

A few years back, someone posted a question on a mailing list that I subscribe to:

It appears that the Hebrew words for "oil" and for "eight", "shemen" and "shemoneh", share the common root Sh-M-N. Is this pure coincidence? Does it have anything to do with the miracle of the oil, and Chanukah being 8 days long?

I responded:

Edward Horowitz suggests in his /How the Hebrew Language Grew/ that certain letters in the Hebrew alphabet - ayin, chet, shin, zayin, and tzadi - each represent what used to be two or three distinct sounds in the Hebrew language. This idea explains how certain seemingly identical three-letter roots result in words with meanings that are unrelated.

The sounds contained in those first two letters, for each a "harsh" sound and a "mild" sound, have maintained their independent identities in the Arabic alphabet (My own Arabic comprehension is non-existent, so this is secondhand information).

The additional sounds that are contained in the latter three letters can be seen from the letter swaps that occur in Hebrew-Aramaic conversions. Tzadi represents a tet-like sound (natzar, watch, becomes natar), an ayin-like sound (eretz, land, becomes ar'a), and the traditional tzadi sound. Zayin sometimes represents a hard /th/ sound, which is most similar to a contemporary dalet (Zahav, gold, becomes dahava). Shin sometimes represents a soft /th/ sound, which is most similar to a contemporary tav. To use the example under consideration, Shemen simply becomes Shamna, while Sh'moneh becomes Tamnei.

Based on this, it would appear that the similar roots of the two words in written Hebrew is not based on any connection between the two words, as their first letters represent different sounds.

Gershayim

Why is the name of the trop "gershayim" usually pronounced mil'ra, with the accent on the ultimate syllable (ger-sha-YIM), rather than mil'el, with the accent on the penultimate syllable (ger-SHA-yim)? The word is clearly a dualized form of the name of the trop "geresh", as the symbol for gershayim is merely a geresh adjacent to another geresh, and all other similar dualizations have accents on the penultimate syllable: yaDAyim, ragLAyim, Sh'naSAyim.

In searching for the answer to this question, I was referred to _Chanting the Hebrew Bible: The Art of Cantillation_, by Joshua Jacobson, which I've found to be a wondeful references in answering the "why"s of the ta'amim and explaining how the trop of a passuk reflects its structure.

Dr. Jacobson notes that the trop gershayim is, without exception, found on words that are accented on the ultimate syllable. Therefore, in order to parallel the name of the trop to the words upon which it is found, the trop, too, is purposely mispronounced mil'ra, with the accent on the ultimate syllable. S'fardim, though, solve the problem a different way, by calling the trop "ger'shim", using the basic plural form of the word rather than the dual form, so that the accent does not have to be artifically changed.

High Holy Days

What is the origin of the phrase High Holy Days, as opposed to the more accurate translation "Awesome Days"?

I spoke to several people who are knowledgable about language, and came out with the following information. German uses the phrase "Hohe Feiertage", which means "high celebration days". Yiddish, interestingly, does not appear to have any similar phrase in it - nor do any other languages, to the knowledge of my source, have equivalent terminologies referring to the yamim nora'im. Hence, the phrase most likely jumped over from German, but the origins of the phrase are still unclear.

Etymology of Konam

The first mishnah of Nedarim mentions the concept of kinuyim, slang words that can be used to execute a neder or other types of verbal obligations. On Nedarim 10a, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish argue over the origin of these kinuyim. Rabbi Yochanan says that kinuyim are foreign terminologies (לשון אומות), while Reish Lakish says that they are artificial terms invented by Chazal. The RaN explains that לשון אומות does not mean that they're foreign words, but rather that they're mangled forms of the correct Hebrew words, as spoken by foreigners who are not so familiar with the Hebrew language. (The Rambam in Hil. Nedarim 1:16 explains similarly, except that he implies that the words were coined by Jews of different regions who mangled the words).

At first glance, I wondered how one arrived at "konam" from "korban". However, it's actually a very logical linguistic evolution. The bet in "korban" could easily shift into a mem, as both are libial sounds, changing the word to "korman". Next, the two final letters of the word can interpose to transform the word into "kornam". From here, the dropping of the gutteral reish would change the word fairly neatly into "konam". The mishnah (1:2) also mentions kinuyim such as konas and konach; I'm not sure how this evolution would have occurred, nor how nazir would become nazik or nazi'ach, nor how cheirem could become cheirek, cheirech, or cheiref, but at least these are only off by one sound (and a terminal one, at that), so the jump is less odd.

Teiku

One of the basic words in the vocabulary of the Gemara is Teiku, a word that is used to express the idea that a question that was asked cannot be answered using the knowledge that we have. But what does the word literally mean?

Someone pointed me to the Aruch on the root Teik. The Aruch says that Teiku is derived from the word "teik", meaning pouch, referring to the idea that the answer is, so to speak, placed in a pouch whose contents are unknown to us (Schroedinger's teirutz, as it were). He then quotes "Binyamin" (which, I was told, refers to the Mosaf HaAruch) who says that it's a contraction of "isht'ku", meaning "be silent". This is an interesting twist on the word, in that it does not only acknowledge our inability to answer the question, but actually implies that we should not even try to answer it, that any time expenditure on the topic is not worthwhile. Next, he quotes R' Yaakov Sisportas of Oran, who says that it's a contraction of "teikum", meaning "let it stay as it is", unanswered; the Aruch then states that this third answer is the correct one.

The Aruch notes that the famous d'rash of the word as being an acronym for "Tishbi Yitareitz Kushios V'havayos" is merely a siman, and not the true definition of the word.

Hachnasas Orchim

R' Gil Student has a post in which he noted a Rema on Hilchos Shabbos which states that Hachnasas Orchim, and the kulos that are invoked by this halachic situation, only applies to a guest who is staying in his house (or in someone else's house), but not to a friend whom he merely invites over for a meal. Over the following 6 hours, there were a number of comments expressing surprise at this ruling, but as I noted in a comment there, the ruling makes perfect sense.

The view of the Rema simply follows the meaning of the word Orchim, milashon Orach, road or path.

The mitzvah of Hach"O seems to be to invite those who are traveling on the road and are tired/dirty/hungry into your home for hospitality of some sort. Avraham's guests came from the road, so his hospitality was Hachnasas Orchim, even though they didn't sleep by him. The form of the hospitality doesn't matter; the ikkar seems to be the fact that they're away from their hometown and thus are in need of assistance. Chesed is still chesed, but the kula of the Rema is specifically for wayfarers.

It's interesting that people can be familiar with a halachic concept, yet not understand the etymology behind the name of this concept, which is often essential to understanding the parameters of this concept.