nature
cold
At a glance
In short
Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim treats the two as degrees of cold. Tzinah is ordinary coldness, the kind the body is built to withstand: cold, chill. Kor is the severe kind, the cold that hurts: bitter cold, freezing. Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg draws the line differently: kor is the drop in temperature, and tzinah a cold that surrounds and envelops a person, as snow does. Both words are rare in Tanach.
Distinctions
Kor (קור)
Cognates in Tanach: the annual season called kor (Bereishis 8:22); mayim karim, cold water, twice (Yirmiyahu 18:14, Mishlei 25:25); and karah, cold, five times more (Nachum 3:17; Mishlei 25:20; Iyov 24:7, 37:9; Tehillim 147:17, lifnei karaso mi yaamod), which Even Shoshan's concordance files under a separate entry, קרה. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim traces kor and kar to the biliteral ק-ר, a strong impact from concentrated mass or speed. Coldness fits because the body holds itself warm, so meeting something cold is a collision of opposed temperatures. The same root gives mikreh and keri, occurrence, the sudden collision of a person with new circumstances; and kir (wall), korah (beam) and tikrah (ceiling), all of them points where weight bears down.
On the scale: Pappenheim holds kor is the extreme, felt only on the coldest winter days, and it also describes a solid gone so cold that touching it hurts, cold metal or marble. Tanach names the winter season kor because that is when real kor is likeliest, though the season does not regularly reach that pitch.
Tzinah (צנה)
In this sense the word seems to appear only once: "like the tzinas sheleg on a harvest day, so is a trusty messenger to those who send him" (Mishlei 25:13).
- Rashi: the longing in harvest heat for the cold of the snow season.
- Rabbi Yosef Kimchi: a cool winter breeze blowing on a summer day.
- Ibn Ezra and Rabbi Yeshayah of Trani: the point of the mashal is that a touch of icy cold on a summer day gives the same relief as being able to rely on one's agent.
The word's other sense is "shield," and the two are linked in both directions.
- Rabbi Moshe Kimchi (in the Mishlei commentary mistakenly attributed to Ibn Ezra) suggests that cold is called tzinah because it shields from the summer heat.
- Abarbanel (Amos 4:2) runs it the reverse way, that a shield guards from the heat of battle.
- Shoresh Yesha links both to tzanua and tzenius: as the modest person keeps to himself, winter is the season of withdrawing indoors, and a shield likewise covers and conceals.
Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim traces tzinah to the biliteral צ-ן, whose core sense is a thorn. The tzinah shield is the spiked kind, used to strike as well as to guard; tzinah as cold is the stinging bite of frost, like the prick of a thorn. Rav Hirsch (Shemos 16:33) similarly: tzinah is primarily a painful cold. On the scale, though, Pappenheim puts tzinah at the bottom: the plain coldness that typically describes a solid kept from any heat source, or a liquid that simply feels cold, a natural cold that neither sickens nor injures.
Three further words are read by some as cognates: the Midbar Tzin (Bamidbar 13:21, 20:1, 27:14, 33:36, 34:3; Devarim 32:51; Yehoshua 15:1), which Rabbi David Golumb (Targumna to Shemos 17:1) explains as a notably cold place; the tzintzenes that held the manna (Shemos 16:33), which Rav Hirsch describes as an ice box keeping the manna cold; and tzinim in Mishlei 22:5, thorns to most commentators but cold to Rabbi Yosef Nechemias and to Radak in Sefer HaShorashim. Bamidbar 33:55 warns that the remaining Canaanites will be sikim in your eyes and tzninim in your sides: most read both as kinds of thorn, but Rashbam ties tzninim to tzinah, cold. Rashbam does not say how that fits the context; Rabbi Klein suggests, as his own reading, that the Torah may mean a sharp, stinging coldness that vexes a man and hampers what he can get done.
Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg of the Veromemanu Foundation uses the pairing of tzinah with sheleg, snow, in Mishlei 25:13 to join the word's two senses: just as snow covers a wide area and surrounds a person on every side, so does a tzinah, a shield or perhaps armor, cover a wide area and surround the man it protects. On that basis he argues that tzinah as coldness names an all-encompassing cold that covers a wide area and envelops a person entirely, where kor names the drop in temperature.
Tzonen (צונן), the rabbinic form
Radak: in rabbinic Hebrew the final nun doubled, giving tzonen. In the Mishnah tzonen is coldness, usually as the opposite of hot (Maasros 4:4; Shabbos 3:4-5, 22:4, 22:6; Pesachim 3:3-4; Yoma 3:5; Nedarim 8:7; Zevachim 11:7; Keilim 3:7; Mikvaos 10:6; Machshirin 5:10). The form spread: an animal that is metzuneness is not a tereifah (Chullin 3:5), which Rashi (Chullin 58b) explains as one sickened by cold; and Sanhedrin 39b says Achav was metzunan, frigid.
Also discussed in
- Thornsצנינים / צנים / צנה (צ-נ)
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
צ-נ-ן
Coldness; in another sense a thorn; and in a third the צִנָּה, a weapon of war like a shield.
Cold
כְּצִנַּת ־שֶׁלֶג בְּיוֹם קָצִיר (Mishlei 25:13), like the cold of snow in the day of harvest, whose sense is coldness. Chachamim use the doubled form of it: so that it should not cool, hot into cold (Pesachim 76a), and one separates from the warm for the cold and from the cold for the warm (Mishnah Demai).
Thorns
וְלִצְנִינִם בְּצִדֵּיכֶם (Bamidbar 33:55), and for thorns in your sides, and וְלִצְנִנִים בְּעֵֽינֵיכֶם (Yehoshua 23:13), and for thorns in your eyes: the sense is a thorn, explained as a hedge of thorns set round about to shut you in, so that none goes out and none comes in; or else it is a figure, like לְשִׂכִּים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם (Bamidbar 33:55), for pricks in your eyes.
Where the doubled letter drops
וְאֶל־ מִצִּנִּים יִקָּחֵהוּ (Iyov 5:5), and even from among the thorns he takes it, and צִנִּים פַּחִים בְּדֶרֶךְ עִקֵּשׁ (Mishlei 22:5), thorns and snares in the crooked way; and in the feminine וְנִשָּׂא אֶתְכֶם בְּצִנּוֹת (Amos 4:2), and he will carry you off with thorns. The Mishlei phrase may also be read from the cold: the cold is like snares in a crooked way.
The צִנָּה, like a shield
וְנֹשֵׂא הַצִּנָּה הֹלֵךְ לְפָנָֽיו (Shmuel I 17:7), the bearer of the shield went before him; עֹֽרְכֵי צִנָּה וָרֹמַח (Divrei HaYamim I 12:8 in his edition), men handling shield and spear; צִנָּה וְֽסֹחֵרָה אֲמִתּֽוֹ (Tehillim 91:4), His truth is a shield and a buckler; and the plural צִנּוֹת וּרְמָחִים (Divrei HaYamim II 11:12), shields and spears. It is a weapon of war like a shield, targa in the vernacular and al-daraqa in Arabic.
Carried off in boats
וְנִשָּׂא אֶתְכֶם בְּצִנּוֹת (Amos 4:2), he will carry you off in צנות, may belong here as well: the small boats made like a shield and a צִנָּה. So Chachamim read וְאַֽחֲרִֽיתְכֶן בְּסִירוֹת דּוּגָֽה, and your remnant in fishing boats (Bava Basra 73a): Sumchos says that one who sells a ship has sold its dugis, the small boat, and they said that Sumchos, being of Eretz Yisrael, calls it dugis, as it is written, and your remnant in fishing boats. Targum Yonasan takes בְּצִנּוֹת from the shield: the nations will carry you off on their shields, and your daughters in fishermen's boats.
כְּצִנַּת־שֶׁלֶג בְּיוֹם קָצִיר (משלי כה, יג), ענינו ענין קרירות. ומצאנו הכפל בדברי רבותינו ז"ל בשביל שלא תצטנן חם לתוך צונן (פסחים עו, ע"א), מפריש מן החמה על הצוננת ומן הצוננת על החמה (דמאי פרק חמישי ו משנה ג, דף טז, ע"ב). וענין אחר וְלִצְנִינִם בְּצִדֵּיכֶם (במדבר לג, נה), וְלִצְנִנִים בְּעֵֽינֵיכֶם (יהושע כג, יג), ענין קוץ ופירשו מסוכת קוצים הסובבת, לסגור ולכלוא אתכם מאין יוצא ומאין בא. או יהיה דרך משל כמו לְשִׂכִּים בְּעֵינֵיכֶם (במדבר לג, נה). ובחסרון אות הכפל וְאֶל־מִצִּנִּים יִקָּחֵהוּ (איוב ה, ה), צִנִּים פַּחִים בְּדֶרֶךְ עִקֵּשׁ (משלי כב, ה). ובלשון נקבה וְנִשָּׂא אֶתְכֶם בְּצִנּוֹת (עמוס ד, ב). ויש לפרש צנים פחים מענין קרירות כלומר הקרירות כפחים בדרך עקש. וענין אחר וְנֹשֵׂא הַצִּנָּה הֹלֵךְ לְפָנָֽיו (שמואל א' יז, ז), עֹֽרְכֵי צִנָּה וָרֹמַח (דברי הימים א' יב, ח), צִנָּה וְֽסֹחֵרָה אֲמִתּֽוֹ (תהלים צא, ד). והקבוץ וּבְכָל־עִיר וָעִיר צִנּוֹת וּרְמָחִים (דברי הימים ב' יא, יב), כלי מלחמה דומה למגן טרג"א בלע"ז. וכן בערבי אלדרק"ה. ויש לפרש מזה וְנִשָּׂא אֶתְכֶם בְּצִנּוֹת (עמוס ד, ב), והם הדוגיות הקטנות שהן עשויות כמגן וצנה. וכן פירשו רבותינו ז"ל וְאַֽחֲרִֽיתְכֶן בְּסִירוֹת דּוּגָֽה, שאמרו (בבא בתרא עג, ע"א) סומכוס אומר המוכר את הספינה מכר את הדוגית, ואמרו (שם) סומכוס דבר ארעא דישראל הוא קרי ליה דוגית כדכתיב ואחריתכן בסירות דוגה. וכן תרגם יונתן בְּצִנּוֹת מן צנה ומגן, וְיִטְלוּן יַתְכוֹן עַמְמַיָא עַל תְּרֵיסְהוּן וּבְנַתְכוֹן בְּדוּגִית צָיְדִין.
ק-ו-ר
To come as far as the source of the waters, and מְקוֹר, a spring; and, of this root, the spider's קוּרֵי, which he explains as sheets.
Drinking down to the source
אֲנִי קַרְתִּי וְשָׁתִיתִי מַיִם (Melachim II 19:24), I came as far as the source and drank water: that is, the speaker drank all the waters of the rivers and the streams until he came to their sources and drank their water. Targum Yonasan renders it אֲנָא הֲוֵיתִי חָפֵיר גוּבִין וְשָׁתֵי מַיְן, I was digging pits and drinking water.
The spring, and making water flow
מְקוֹר מַֽיִם־חַיִּים (Yirmiyahu 2:13), a spring of living water; and כְּהָקִיר, as a well makes its waters flow, כֵּן הֵקֵרָה רָעָתָהּ, so she makes her evil flow (Yirmiyahu 6:7).
The spider's weaving
Of this root, וְקוּרֵי עַכָּבִישׁ יֶאֱרֹגוּ (Yeshayahu 59:5), they weave the spider's sheets, and קֽוּרֵיהֶם לֹא־יִהְיוּ לְבֶגֶד (Yeshayahu 59:6), their sheets will not serve for a garment: קוּרֵי, he says, are sheets. His father explains them as like קֹרוֹת בָּתֵּינוּ (Shir HaShirim 1:17), the beams of our houses; Radak takes him to mean that the spider weaves to make a covering, as the beams do.
אֲנִי קַרְתִּי וְשָׁתִיתִי מַיִם (מלכים ב' יט, כד). מְקוֹר מַֽיִם־חַיִּים (ירמיה ב, יג). ופירוש קרתי באתי עד המקור, כלומר ששתיתי כל מימי הנהרות והיאורים מרוב חוליי עד שבאתי אל מקוריהם ושתיתי מימיה. ויונתן תרגם אֲנָא הֲוֵיתִי חָפֵיר גוּבִין וְשָׁתֵי מַיְן. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] כְּהָקִיר בַּוִר [בַּיִר] מֵימֶיהָ (ירמיה ו, ז), כֵּן הֵקֵרָה רָעָתָהּ (שם). ומזה השרש וְקוּרֵי עַכָּבִישׁ יֶאֱרֹגוּ (ישעיה נט, ה), קֽוּרֵיהֶם לֹא־יִהְיוּ לְבֶגֶד (ישעיה נט, ו), ופירושם יריעת. אדוני אבי ז"ל פירשם כמו קֹרוֹת בָּתֵּינוּ (שיר השירים א, יז), רצה לומר כמו העכביש שתארוג לכסות כמו הקורות.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Freezing Cold," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 11 December 2021.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Freezing Cold," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 8:22; Yirmiyahu 18:14; Mishlei 22:5, 25:13 with Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Yosef Kimchi, Rabbi Moshe Kimchi and Rabbi Yeshayah of Trani, 25:25; Amos 4:2 with Abarbanel; Shemos 16:33 with Rav Hirsch, 17:1 with Targumna; Bamidbar 13:21, 20:1, 27:14, 33:36, 33:55 with Rashbam, 34:3; Devarim 32:51; Yehoshua 15:1; Mishnah Maasros 4:4, Shabbos 3:4-5, 22:4, 22:6, Pesachim 3:3-4, Yoma 3:5, Nedarim 8:7, Zevachim 11:7, Chullin 3:5, Keilim 3:7, Mikvaos 10:6, Machshirin 5:10; Chullin 58b with Rashi; Sanhedrin 39b; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Shoresh Yesha; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo s.v. צן, and Yerios Shlomo (חוברת ז יריעה כג); Rabbi Yosef Nechemias; Rabbi Yehoshua Steinberg; Nachum 3:17; Mishlei 25:20; Iyov 24:7, 37:9; Tehillim 147:17; Even Shoshan's concordance s.v. קר and קרה.