society
border
At a glance
In short
Gevul is the Biblical word, and on Rav Hirsch's reading it names the whole territory inside the line: when Hashem warns that He will strike Pharaoh's whole gevul with frogs (Shemos 7:27), the whole country is meant. Techum is the Targum's rendering of gevul and the Mishnaic word for the bounded area (techum Shabbos). Meitzar (plural mitzarim) is the Rabbinic word for a boundary, as between adjoining fields. Ibn Kuraish holds it unrelated to the Biblical meitzar, straits, while Ibn Ezra and Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim connect the two. Sfar typically names what sits near the line, the frontier or border region exposed to what lies outside. Rashi reads bein hametzarim two ways: as the Three Weeks, taking mitzarim from tzarah, "sorrow"; and, in the plain sense, as "between the boundaries."
Distinctions
Gevul (גבול)
Root ג-ב-ל. The Torah uses gevul and its inflections fourteen times in the twelve pesukim laying out the borders of Eretz Yisrael (Bamidbar 34:1-12). The root also means to limit: Hashem tells Moshe to bound the people off (v'higbalta) around Har Sinai (Shemos 19:12; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah there).
Rav Hirsch (to Shemos 7:27): gevul at its core is the whole area within the borders. Hashem strikes Pharaoh's whole gevul with frogs (Shemos 7:27) and brings locusts into his gevul (Shemos 10:4); chametz is forbidden "in all your borders" (Shemos 13:7). The frogs fill the whole country, and the last two cases likewise take in a whole country (see Yerios Shlomo p. 836 and HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Shemos 13:7). Rav Hirsch links gevul to yevul, produce, what one brings inside one's bounds, on the gimmel/yud interchange.
Radak (Sefer HaShorashim) adds givlim, "stonecutters" (Melachim I 5:32), for giving stones a bound by cutting them to size, or a gentilic for men of Geval (Yechezkel 27:9); Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg proposes a metathesis of galav, "barber," both trades being cutting. Two further etymologies: Rabbi David Golumb reads ג-ב-ל as a metathesis of ב-ל-ג, "strengthening" (Amos 5:9, Tehillim 39:14, Iyov 9:27, 10:20), since what sits on a border needs fortifying. Rabbi Avraham Rivlin raises the opposite problem: in Rabbinic Hebrew the same root means to knead and mix (Ohalos 2:2, Shabbos 24:3, Bava Metzia 10:5, Parah 9:5), which unifies rather than divides. He answers that the border separating one land from another is what unites that land as one; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah (to Shemos 19:12) answers that a gevul is the point of convergence, where one domain ends the other begins, so that it both separates and merges. Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein adds a third possibility of his own: Hebrew roots not uncommonly carry a sense and its opposite, shoresh (root) beside l'sharesh (to uproot), since a word stands in for the abstract concept it represents, and opposites are conceptually related, inversely.
Outside the parshanut, philologists such as Wilhelm Gesenius have long taken gevul as cognate with the Arabic jabal, "mountain," mountains serving as natural borders between two polities or even between two plains. The Yemenite Jewish surname Jibli/Gibli, from that Arabic word, is the equivalent of the Hebrew surname Harari and the Yiddish/German Berg, all of them meaning "mountain."
Techum (תחום)
The standard Targumic rendering of gevul (Targum to Bereishis 10:19, 23:17, Shemos 19:12, 19:23, Devarim 19:4), and in Mishnaic Hebrew the word for what falls inside a bound: techum Shabbos, the two thousand amos outside the city within which one may walk on Shabbos (Eruvin 5:5, Beitzah 4:2, Sotah 5:3).
- Rabbi Ernest Klein, in his etymological dictionary of Hebrew, takes the Rabbinic Hebrew techum as a loanword from that Aramaic word, which he in turn sees as borrowed from the Akkadian tahumu.
- Rabbi Benzion Chaim Lubetzki (Midrash Safah Echas) reads it as a metathesis of chasum, "sealed," the space inside being sealed off by what rings it.
- Rabbi Golumb sets the tav aside and takes the core root as ח-ו-ם, "brown/red," again from the fortifying a frontier needs; Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein records the derivation without being able to reconstruct how Rabbi Golumb gets from the color to the border.
Meitzar (מיצר) and mitzarim (מצרים)
- Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Kuraish (Risala) identifies mitzarim in Eichah 1:3 as the plural of the Rabbinic meitzar, "boundary," as in dina d'bar meitzra, the neighbor's right of first refusal on an adjoining field (Kesubos 44a). He notes that this is not the Biblical meitzar of "from the straits I called out to Hashem" (Tehillim 118:5), which belongs to tzar, narrowness, and denotes something slightly different.
- Some commentators, among them Ibn Ezra (to Eichah 1:3) and Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim (Cheshek Shlomo), do connect the two.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein suggests the connection can be accounted for thematically: a border serves to narrow down the contours of a given plot.
Rashi to Eichah 1:3, following Eichah Rabbah 1:29, reads bein hametzarim as the three weeks bookended by Shivah Asar B'Tammuz and Tishah B'Av, taking mitzarim as a cognate of tzarah, "sorrow," "suffering"; he then gives the contextual, plain-sense reading, that the Jews were caught where they could not escape, penned between two fences, and glosses with gevul, while Targum and Mahari Kara gloss with techum. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz turns on the same narrowness: there is no Zohar on Matos, Masei and Devarim, the three parshiyos always read in the bein hametzarim, because in those weeks our minds are constricted and made small by mourning the tragedies we have suffered, and a narrowed mind is no place for the hidden parts of the Torah. Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Shain (Birkas Ish) theorizes that the name Mitzrayim (Bereishis 10:6, Divrei HaYamim I 1:8) comes from this sense of boundary: Cham, set on sparing his sons the in-fighting he had known with his own brothers, and that Kayin and Hevel had known, took pains to mark out Kush's territory clearly once his second son was born.
Sfar (ספר)
The word typically refers to something located near the border: an ir hanidachas at the sfar is not destroyed, lest the gap invite the neighboring nations in (Sanhedrin 1:5), and eglah arufah is not done for a corpse found near the sfar (Sotah 9:2). Targum uses it likewise (Bereishis 49:13, Devarim 1:7, Tzefaniah 2:5-6). In the sense of "border" the word seems to belong only to later Rabbinic Hebrew; there is one possible Biblical appearance, sefarah in Bereishis 10:30, where the land of Shem's descendants stretches from Meisha (Mecca, per Rabbi Saadia Gaon) to its sfar at Har HaKedem, and Targum Onkelos renders with sfar. On that basis Rabbi Mecklenburg (HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Vayikra 23:16; Iyun Tefillah to Tehillim 147:5) calls it the only instance of sfar in Biblical Hebrew, though most other commentators appear to take sefarah there as a place name.
The etymology is not immediately clear.
- Rabbi Golumb conjectures that sfar comes from perazi, used of a city-wall fortification, by samech/zayin interchange and metathesis, border cities having been especially fortified.
- Elsewhere (Targumna to Shemos 9:29 and Vayikra 14:9) Rabbi Golumb takes the core meaning of the string ס-פ-ר as "circle" or "round," related to the Greek sphere: a city near the border is said to be on the sfar because such cities are typically surrounded all around by a city wall that protects them from invasion.
- Rabbi Moshe Shapiro holds that all words from ס-פ-ר are interrelated: as a sippur joins many details into one holistic unit, a sfar, whether the border of a country or the city limits, confines everything within it and makes it one unit.
- Ramak (Pardes Rimonim, shaar 8 ch. 2) uses sfar to explain sefirah: as a border marks off the limits of an area, a sefirah is Hashem's influx as it reaches man in finite, bounded form, kin to mispar (number) and sippur (what can be told, as Hashem Himself cannot).
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ג-ב-ל
A border; to border on, and where the verb takes an object, to set a bound; the גִּבְלִים, who cut stone to a set measure, or, as others explain, men of Geval.
The verb
אֲשֶׁר גָּֽבְלוּ רִֽאשֹׁנִים (Devarim 19:14), which the earlier men set as a border; וְהַיַּרְדֵּן יִגְבֹּֽל ־אֹתוֹ (Yehoshua 18:20), and the Yarden borders it; and וְגַם־חֲמָת תִּגְבָּל ־בָּהּ (Zecharyah 9:2), and Chamas too, which he glosses as being a border to it. Where it takes an object, וְהִגְבַּלְתָּ אֶת־הָעָם (Shemos 19:12), and you shall set bounds for the people, and הַגְבֵּל אֶת־הָהָר (Shemos 19:23), set bounds about the mountain, which he glosses as setting a border.
The nouns and the adjective
The noun is גְּבוּל, as לֹא תַסִּיג גְּבוּל רֵעֲךָ (Devarim 19:14), do not move your fellow's border; in וּגְבוּלָהּ אֶל־שְׂפָתָהּ סָבִיב (Yechezkel 43:13), and its border at its lip round about, it is the border of the cubit, that is, the frame round about, a span wide. The adjective מִגְבָּלֹת, in מִגְבָּלֹת תַּֽעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם (Shemos 28:14), you shall make them bordered, is formed like וְהֶֽעָרִים הַמִּבְדָּלוֹת (Yehoshua 16:9), the cities set apart; the noun in the feminine is וְכֻסֶּמֶת גְּבֻלָתֽוֹ (Yeshayahu 28:25), and spelt in its border, with the plural גְּבֻלוֹת יַשִּׂיגוּ (Iyov 24:2), they move borders; and in another pattern שַֽׁרְשֹׁת גַּבְלֻת (Shemos 28:22), chains of border work, formed like עַבְדּוּת, servitude.
The stonecutters
The גִּבְלִים, in וַיִּֽפְסְלוּ בֹּנֵי שְׁלֹמֹה וּבֹנֵי חִירוֹם וְהַגִּבְלִים (Melachim I 5:32), and the builders of Shlomo and the builders of Chirom and the גִּבְלִים hewed, are those who cut the stone by line and measure, as the corners of a house are cut by line and measure, setting a red thread at the end of their measure or ruling a line and cutting the stone from there. It is of the sense of border: they set a border to the stone's measure. Others explained גִּבְלִים as the men of Geval, who were craftsmen in stone, and so זִקְנֵי גְבַל וַֽחֲכָמֶיהָ (Yechezkel 27:9), the elders of Geval and its wise men, who were craftsmen in stone.
לֹא תַסִּיג גְּבוּל רֵֽעֲךָ (דברים יט, יד), וּגְבוּלָהּ אֶל־שְׂפָתָהּ סָבִיב (יחזקאל מג, יג), גבול האמה כלומר המסגרות סביב תהיה זרח. והקבוץ שֹׁד וָשֶׁבֶר בִּגְבוּלָיִךְ (ישעיה ס, יח). והפעל ממנו אֲשֶׁר גָּֽבְלוּ רִֽאשֹׁנִים (דברים יט, יד), וְהַיַּרְדֵּן יִגְבֹּֽל־אֹתוֹ (יהושע יח, כ), וְגַם־חֲמָת תִּגְבָּל־בָּהּ (זכריה ט, ב), פירוש תהיה לה גבול. והכבד [הִפְעִיל] וְהִגְבַּלְתָּ אֶת־הָעָם (שמות יט, יב), הַגְבֵּל אֶת־הָהָר (שמות יט, כג), פירוש תשים גבול. והתאר מִגְבָּלֹת תַּֽעֲשֶׂה אֹתָם (שמות כח, יד) בפלס וְהֶֽעָרִים הַמִּבְדָּלוֹת (יהושע טז, ט). והשם בלשון נקבה וְכֻסֶּמֶת גְּבֻלָתֽוֹ (ישעיה כח, כו), והקבוץ גְּבֻלוֹת יַשִּׂיגוּ (איוב כד, ב). ובמשקל אחר שַֽׁרְשֹׁת גַּבְלֻת (שמות כח, כב) בפלס עַבְדּוּת. וַיִּֽפְסְלוּ בֹּנֵי שְׁלֹמֹה וּבֹנֵי חִירוֹם וְהַגִּבְלִים (מלכים א' ה, ל), הם פוסלי האבן בקו ומדה כמו שפוסלין פנות הבית בקו ובמדה ונותנין חוט של סיקרא בסוף מדתם או משרטטין בשרטוט ומשם יפסלו האבן והוא מענין גבול כלומר ששמים גבול למדת האבן. ומפרשים פירשו גִּבְלִים אנשׁי גְּבַל שהיו אומני אבן. וכן זִקְנֵי גְבַל וַֽחֲכָמֶיהָ הָיוּ בָךְ מַֽחֲזִיקֵי בִּדְקֵךְ (יחזקאל כז, ט), שהיו אומני אבן.
ס-פ-ר
To count; to tell; and to write, a סֵפֶר being a book and a סֹפֵר a scribe. In another sense, סַפִּיר, a stone the authorities identify differently.
Counting
סָפַר אֶת הָעָם (Shmuel II 24:10), he counted the people, and וְסָפַרְתָּ לְךָ (Vayikra 25:8), you shall count for yourself. אַיֵּה סֹפֵר אַיֵּה שֹׁקֵל (Yeshayahu 33:18), where is he who counted, where is he who weighed, he explains: you will still fear, even though Melech HaMashiach has already come, and your heart will still muse on the terror of the kings of the nations, who counted and weighed the silver they took from Yisrael as tax, or counted Yisrael by the head and took the tax from them by weight. The nouns are מִסְפַּר, a number, and הַסְּפָר, the count itself, whose plural he gives as בִּינֹתִי בַּסְּפָרִים (Daniel 9:2), I understood by the counts. His father files that pasuk under writing, and on that reading the סְפָרִים are the deed of purchase and the open deed that Yirmiyahu wrote. The adjective is in כִּי לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סְפֹרוֹת (Tehillim 71:15), for I do not know סְפֹרוֹת: it describes the righteousness and the salvation the pasuk has just named, I did not know that they could be counted; or its singular is סְפוֹרָה, and the sense is that I do not know numbers for them.
Telling
In the sense of telling and relating, ספור and הגדה, the verb always takes the heavy form: סַפְּרוּ נָא לִי (Bereishis 40:8), tell it to me. That form can still mean counting, as אֲסַפֵּר כָּל עַצְמוֹתָי (Tehillim 22:18), I count all my bones, from how lean I have grown. The difference between telling and relating he sets out under נָגַד.
Writing
The sense of all of these, he says, is writing: סֵפֶר, a book or a written document, and סֹפֵר, a scribe, as בָּרוּךְ בֶּן נֵרִיָּהוּ הַסֹּפֵר (Yirmiyahu 36:32), Baruch son of Neriyahu the scribe. לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סֵפֶר (Yeshayahu 29:12) he glosses: I do not know how to read it. Among them are נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה אָתָּה (Tehillim 56:9), You have recorded my wandering, and יִסְפֹּר בִּכְתוֹב עַמִּים (Tehillim 87:6), Hashem shall record in the writing of the peoples. Some take those two in the second sense, telling; the two senses lie close, since writing a book is itself the telling of the matter. And זֶה סֵפֶר תּוֹלְדֹת אָדָם (Bereishis 5:1), this is the סֵפֶר of the generations of Adam, can be read as a word of telling.
Three readings of Iyov 38:37
מִי יְסַפֵּר שְׁחָקִים בְּחָכְמָה (Iyov 38:37), who in wisdom יְסַפֵּר the skies, is read three ways, and he does not choose. Some take it from the sense he has just named, telling. Rabbi Yonah takes it from writing. Radak's father takes it from סַפִּיר: on that reading He made them like sapphire, as in וְתַחַת רַגְלָיו כְּמַעֲשֵׂה לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר (Shemos 24:10), and under His feet like the work of a sapphire brick.
What a sapphire is
Which stone it is he leaves open. Some say the precious stone called zafir in the vernacular, and if so, the comparison in סַפִּיר גִּזְרָתָם (Eichah 4:7), their form was sapphire, is one of worth and greatness and not of appearance, since a man is praised for his appearance only by redness or whiteness. Ibn Ezra says it is a precious red stone. The Gaon says it is white, the one called crystal. And the Midrash in Eichah Rabbah tells of a man who went to sell a sapphire in Rome: the buyer set it on an anvil and struck it with a hammer, and the anvil split and the hammer broke while the stone stood where it was. By that midrash, he says, it is the diamond, white and clear.
אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵן סָפַר אֶת־הָעָם (שמואל ב' כד, י), וְסָֽפְרָה־לָּהּ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים (ויקרא טו, כח), וְסָֽפַרְתָּ לְךָ (ויקרא כה, ח), שִׁבְעָה שָֽׁבֻעֹת תִּסְפָּר־לָךְ (דברים טז, ט). אַיֵּה סֹפֵר אַיֵּה שֹׁקֵל אַיֵּה סֹפֵר אֶת־הַמִּגְדָּלִֽים (ישעיה לג, יח), כלומר שתירא ותפחד עדיין אף על פי שכבר בא מלך המשיח עדיין יהגה לבך אימה ממלכי האומות שהם סופרים ושוקלים הכסף שהיו לוקחים מס מישראל או שהיו סופרים לישראל לגלגלת ולוקחים המס מהם במשקל. סִפְרוּ מִגְדָּלֶֽיהָ (תהלים מח, יג). והנפעל אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־יִסָּֽפְרוּ וְלֹא יִמָּנוּ מֵרֹֽב (מלכים א' ח, ה). והשם בתוספת מ"ם אֶת־מִסְפַּר יָמֶיךָ אֲמַלֵּֽא (שמות כג, כו). ובלא תוספת אַֽחֲרֵי הַסְּפָר אֲשֶׁר סְפָרָם דָּוִיד (דברי הימים ב' ב, טז). והקבוץ ממנו בִּינֹתִי בַּסְּפָרִים (דניאל ט, ב). והשם בענין המקור וּמִסְפָּר אֶת־רֹבַע יִשְׂרָאֵל (במדבר כג, י), כלומר ולספור רובע ישראל, כי הוא קמוץ ואיננו סמוך, ועוד מלת אֶת מורה על שאיננו סמוך, אם כן הנכון בו שיהיה שם במקום מקור כמו וּלְמַסַּע אֶת־הַֽמַּֽחֲנֽוֹת (במדבר י, ב). והתאר כִּי לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סְפֹרֽוֹת (תהלים עא, טו), והוא תאר לצדקתך ותשועתך שהזכיר אמר לא ידעתי שיוכלו להיות ספורות. או יהיה יחידה סְפוֹרָה בשקל בְּשֹוֹרָה, כלומר לא ידעתי להם מספרים. ענין הכל והדומה להם מנין. ובא פעל הכבד [פִּעֵל] מזה הענין אֲסַפֵּר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָי (תהלים כב, יח), פירוש אמנה כל עצמותי מרוב כחשותי. סִפַּרְתִּי כֹּל מִשְׁפְּטֵי־פִֽיךָ (תהלים קיט, יג), סַפֵּר אַתָּה לְמַעַן תִּצְדָּֽק (ישעיה מג, כו), סַפְּרוּ־נָא לִֽי (בראשית מ, ח). ושלא נזכר פעלו [פֻּעַל] אֲשֶׁר לֹֽא־סֻפַּר לָהֶם (ישעיה נב, טו). והשם אֶת־מִסְפַּר הַֽחֲלוֹם וְאֶת־שִׁבְרוֹ (שופטים ז, טו), כלם והדומה להם ענין ספור והגדה [וכבר כתבנו בשרש נָגַד ההפרש שיש בין ספור להגדה]. וזה הענין לעולם מהבנין הכבד הדגוש. ויש מפרשים מזה הענין מִֽי־יְסַפֵּר שְׁחָקִים בְּחָכְמָה (איוב לח, לז). והחכם רבי יונה פירשו מענין כתיבה. ואדוני אבי ז"ל פירשו מענין סַפִּיר רוצה לומר שעשאם כעין ספיר כמו שאמר וְתַחַת רַגְלָיו כְּמַֽעֲשֵׂה לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר (שמות כד, י). וכן פירש מזה אָז רָאָהּ וַיְסַפְּרָהּ (איוב כח, כז). וָֽאֶכְתֹּב בַּסֵּפֶר (ירמיה לב, י), בחמש נקדות. בְּסֵפֶר הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (דברים כח, סא), אֶל־יוֹדֵעַ הסֵפֶר [סֵפֶר] (ישעיה כט, יא), כְּבֹא הַסֵּפֶר הַזֶּה אֲלֵיכֶם (מלכים ב' י, ב), לֹא יָדַעְתִּי סֵֽפֶר (ישעיה כט, יב), לא ידעתי לקראו. מִֽסִּפְרְךָ אֲשֶׁר כָּתָֽבְתָּ (שמות לב, לב). וכתב אדוני אבי ז"ל מזה בִּינֹתִי בַּסְּפָרִים (דניאל ט, ב), והם ספר המקנה וספר הגלוי שכתב ירמיהו. ובה"א הנקבה סִפְרָה, ועם הכנוי הֲלֹא בְּסִפְרָתֶֽךָ (תהלים נו, ט). בָּרוּךְ בֶּן־נֵֽרִיָּהוּ הַסֹּפֵר (ירמיה לו, לב), וַיִּקָּרְאוּ סֹפְרֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ (אסתר ג, יב), נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה אָתָּה (תהלים נו, ט), י"י יִסְפֹּר בִּכְתוֹב עַמִּים (תהלים פז, ו). ענין הכל והדומה להם ענין כתיבה. וּֽלֲלְמְּדָם סֵפֶר וּלְשׁוֹן כַּשְׂדִּֽים (דניאל א, ד), פירוש כתיבת כשדים ולשון כשדים. ויש מפרשים נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה אָתָּה, י"י יִסְפּוֹר מענין השני. ושני הענינים קרובים כי כתיבת הספר הוא סיפור הדברים. ויש לפרש זֶה סֵפֶר תּֽוֹלְדֹת אָדָם (בראשית ה, א), לשון ספור. וענין אחר נֹפֶךְ סַפִּיר וְיָֽהֲלֹֽם (שמות לט, יא), כְּמַֽעֲשֵׂה לִבְנַת הַסַּפִּיר (שמות כד, י), סַפִּיר גִּזְרָתָֽם (איכה ד, ז), יש מפרשים האבן היקרה שקורין לו בלע"ז צפי"ר, ואם כן הוא אין והערך אליו במראה אלא ביקר וגדולה כמו המסולאים בפז כי לא יערכו האדם לשבח במראה אלא באודם או בלובן. והחכם רבי אברהם אבן עזרא פירש כי היא אבן אדומה יקרה כמו שכתבנו בשרש לָבֵן. והגאון פירש כי הספיר לבן. ואמר שהוא שקורין בלע"ז קרישֹט"ל. ובמדרש (איכה רבתי א"ב רביעאה) מעשה באדם אחד שהלך למכור ספיר ברומי אמר לו הלוקח על מנת לבדקו אקחנו נתנו על גבי הסדין והתחיל מכה עליו בפטיש נבקע הסדן ונחלק הפטיש והספיר עמד במקומו ולפי זה המדרש היא האבן שקורין לה דיאמנט"י והיא לבנה וזכה.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Matos/Masei: On the Border," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 3 August 2024.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Haircut Time," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 2 April 2022.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Pesach: Telling the Story," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 13 April 2019.
Cited in the essay: Eichah 1:3 with Eichah Rabbah 1:29, Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Targum and Mahari Kara; Bamidbar 34:1-12; Shemos 7:27 with Rav Hirsch, 10:4, 13:7, 19:12, 19:23; Bereishis 10:6, 10:19, 10:30, 23:17, 49:13; Devarim 1:7, 19:4; Melachim I 5:32; Yechezkel 27:9; Tzefaniah 2:5-6; Amos 5:9; Tehillim 39:14, 118:5, 147:5; Iyov 9:27, 10:20; Divrei HaYamim I 1:8; Kesubos 44a; Mishnah Eruvin 5:5, Beitzah 4:2, Sotah 5:3 and 9:2, Sanhedrin 1:5, Ohalos 2:2, Shabbos 24:3, Bava Metzia 10:5, Parah 9:5; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Rabbi Yehuda Ibn Kuraish, Risala; Yerios Shlomo p. 836; Cheshek Shlomo; HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Shemos 13:7, 19:12 and Vayikra 23:16; Iyun Tefillah to Tehillim 147:5; Targumna to Shemos 9:29 and Vayikra 14:9; Midrash Safah Echas; Birkas Ish; Imrei Pinchas HaShaleim, Bein HaMitzarayim §356; Pardes Rimonim shaar 8 ch. 2; Rabbi Ernest Klein's etymological dictionary; Wilhelm Gesenius.