action
drinking
At a glance
In short
Lishtos is to drink, the act itself. It appears over 220 times in Tanach and is said only of people and animals. Lehashkos is to give to drink, to water. It names the providing and not the drinking, and so it is almost always in hifil; its more than 60 appearances cover watering the ground as well as people and beasts. Mashkeh is the beverage, sometimes with the implication of an alcoholic one. Hagmieini is the servant's word, something along the lines of let me drink; Rashi ties its root to the Mishnaic word for swallowing. In the Rivkah narrative the Torah alternates the two roots.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein asks why Hebrew should have two different roots for drinking and giving to drink, when eating and feeding come from one root (א-כ-ל, lechol and leha'achil), and why the active lishtos should be confined to man and beast while the causative lehashkos reaches even to plants. He has wondered about these questions for years and has not yet found a satisfactory answer. The etymologies of the words give some insight into the words themselves, but they do not answer those questions.
Distinctions
Lishtos (לשתות)
Ibn Chayyuj, Ibn Janach and Radak give ש-ת-ה; Menachem Ibn Saruk (Machberes Menachem) gives the biliteral ש-ת. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim reads that biliteral as putting a thing in its proper place, gathering shasos (a foundation deliberately set beneath a structure, Tehillim 11:3), shes (the body's own foundation), shesi (the warp running the length of a weave; Rav Hirsch to Vayikra 13:48), and mashtin and shesen. In Cheshek Shlomo he applies it to drinking: liquid helps the digestive system settle food into its place and draw its full nourishment, which is why wherever Tanach juxtaposes the two verbs, drinking follows eating. In Yerios Shlomo he puts it slightly differently: drinking restores the innards shriveled and constricted by thirst to their settled state. On that second reading he also considers that shesen may itself derive from lishtos, urine being the liquid waste that is a byproduct of drinking. On either reading lishtos names what happens inside the drinker.
Lehashkos (להשקות) and mashkeh (משקה)
The act of providing drink, hence the hifil; it ranges over flora as well as man and beast: "a mist rose from the ground and watered (hishkah) the face of the earth" (Bereishis 2:6).
- Rabbi Aharon Marcus: from the biliteral ש-ק, movement. So teshukah is the motivation that sets a man moving, shok is the thigh that moves the leg, shuk is the marketplace everyone strives toward, meshek gevim (Yeshayahu 33:4) is the marching of locusts in unison, shaked, diligence or the almond tree, is consistent and diligent movement, and Eliezer as Avraham's meshek (Bereishis 15:2) is the manager who keeps a household in motion. The opposite pole of the same root is sheket, the stillness of no movement at all.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: the same biliteral ש-ק, but its core is making consecutive sounds. Shokek is roaring, sound after sound like a metronome; liquids are named for the noise they tend to make when moved, especially when poured from vessel to vessel. Secondarily teshukah, since desire makes the heartbeat audible and regular; then neshikah, a kiss, either as teshukah realized or for its sound; and even neshek, weaponry, since combatants closing on each other resemble lovers closing for a kiss, or for the sound the weapon makes.
- Shadal: the root ש-ו-ק means liquid first of all, and the verb lehashkos, to pour into a mouth or onto a field, is the action most bound up with liquid; from thirst, the natural desire, came teshukah for desire of any kind, and from the shok shok of pouring came the sound sense, with shokek the noise of a hungry, tired bear on the hunt, shok the thigh both moving and sounding, and shuk the busy noisy market. On meshek (Bereishis 15:2) he agrees it is the manager who directs the household's movement and logistics, notes it appears only there because it is set beside the similarly spelled Damesek, and cites the French historian Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy for the reading that meshek relates to mashkeh in the sense of a cup-bearer, which Shadal rejects on the grounds that in Tanach only kings have cup-bearers and Avraham was no king.
- On the bear that is shokek (Mishlei 28:15): the Vilna Gaon (there) takes it as the bear's roar and relates it to shokek in the sense of desire, because a bear is always hungry and desires food. Other commentators, like Ibn Janach and Radak, explain that shokek is not a roar at all but the bear's sauntering gait, and Radak relates it to shok (more accurately the calf than the thigh), which moves as one walks.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim's summary of the pair: lishtos is about what drinking does to the body, so it is the act itself; lehashkos is about the sound of liquid not yet drunk, so it is everything before the act, the preparing and providing.
- Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 40:23; Bamidbar 33:52) reads ש-ק-ה as quenching, filling to the maximum, and groups with it ש-כ-ח (forgetting, a mind so full there is no room left), ש-ג-ה (inadvertence, acting without proper focus), ש-ג-ע (insanity, the delusional conceptions of a crazed man), and ש-ג-ח (watching, an intense and focused looking).
Hagmieini (הגמיאיני)
The servant's word at Bereishis 24:17, meaning something along the lines of "let me drink."
- All the early lexicographers, the biliteralist Menachem Ibn Saruk included, give the root ג-מ-א.
- Rashi (there) takes another approach and connects ג-מ-א to ג-מ-ע, possibly via the interchange of aleph and ayin; ג-מ-ע does not appear in Tanach but does in the Mishnah (Shabbos 8:1, 14:4) and elsewhere in rabbinic literature, including the Targum to Iyov 39:30, for swallowing. Rashi's comparison rests on the Gemara (Shabbos 77a), which debates whether that Mishnaic word takes an aleph or an ayin and adduces the pasuk of hagmieini as proof for the aleph.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim instead traces it to the biliteral ג-ם, spongy or absorbent material, which gives gome, the spongy reed of marshy wetlands: the request is to drink the way a reed soaks up water.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein offers two further possibilities of his own.
- First, that the term may be related to the Mishnaic guma, a pit or hole (Chullin 2:9; Parah 2:5), drinking being a pouring of things down the hole of one's mouth, on the order of the English "down the hatch."
- Second, a suggestion he credits to his wife, Shira Yael Klein, that the root is onomatopoeic, rendering the sound of glugging, gulping or slurping down a drink.
He adds that the rabbinic lugma (a cheekful) and legimah (a sip) may well be related to hagmieini, although Rabbi Ernest Klein writes that the origin of the rabbinic ל-ג-ם is unknown and may in fact be borrowed from the Greek lygmos, "swallowing."
How the parashah uses them
Bereishis 24 runs all three through one episode: lishtos of the servant (24:14, 24:18, 24:44, 24:46) and of his camels (24:19, 24:22); lehashkos of the servant (24:18, 24:19, 24:43, 24:45) and of the camels (24:14, 24:46); and hagmieini once, in the servant's own request (24:17).
Also discussed in
- Animal soundsשוקק / shokek (ש-ק)
- Hookהגמיאיני / גומא / אגמון (ג-מ-א, ג-מ)
- Mealמשתה / שתיה (ש-ת-ה)
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ג-מ-א
To give to drink; likewise drinking up the ground, said of great lightness and speed; and גֹּמֶא, a very light wood, which may also be explained from Chazal's גמי.
Giving to drink
הַגְמִיאִינִי נָא מְעַט־מַיִם מִכַּדֵּךְ (Bereishis 24:17), please give me a little water to drink from your pitcher, the word meaning השקיני, give me to drink.
Drinking up the ground
Likewise בְּרַעַשׂ וְרֹגֶז יְגַמֶּא־אָרֶץ (Iyov 39:24), with tumult and fury he drinks up the ground: as though for his great lightness and speed he would drink up the ground.
His father on מְגַמַּת פְּנֵיהֶם
His father explains מְגַמַּת פְּנֵיהֶם קָדִימָה (Chavakuk 1:9) in the same sense. By his reading it is the heavy form, built as the verbs whose last letter is heh are built, with מְגַמַּת in construct. Radak explains the phrase: the east wind drinks their faces; that is, they come with brazen faces, as though the east wind, which is fierce, had drunk their faces or given them to drink.
גֹּמֶא, a light wood
הֲיִגְאֶה־גֹּמֶא בְּלֹא בִצָּה (Iyov 8:11), can the gome grow tall without a marsh, תֵּבַת גֹּמֶא (Shemos 2:3), an ark of gome, and וּבִכְלֵי־גֹמֶא (Yeshayahu 18:2), and in vessels of gome: it is a wood exceedingly light. They may also be explained from the word גמי in the words of Chazal (Kelim 10:4), since small boats are made of גמי and coated with pitch so that the water should not come in, and they are light upon the face of the water.
[הִפְעִיל] הַגְמִיאִינִי נָא מְעַט־מַיִם מִכַּדֵּֽךְ (בראשית כד, יז), השקיני. וכן בְּרַעַשׂ וְרֹגֶז יְגַמֶּא־אָרֶץ (איוב לט, כד), כאילו מרוב קלותו ומהירותו ישתה הארץ. וכן פירש אדני אבי עליו השלום מְגַמַּת פְּנֵיהֶם קָדִימָה (חבקוק א, ט), והוא מן הפעל הדגוש [פִּעֵל]. ובא כדרך בעלי הה"א, תאמר הבנין ממנו גִמָּה, גִּמִּיתָ, מְגַמֶּֽה, מְגַמָּה, ובסמוך מְגַמַּת פניהם רוצה לומר כי רוח קדים שותה פניהם, כלומר יבאו בעזות פנים כאילו רוח קדים שהיא עזה שתתה פניהם או השקתה. הֲיִגְאֶה־גֹּמֶא בְּלֹא בִצָּה (איוב ח, יא), תֵּבַת גֹּמֶא (שמות ב, ג), וּבִכְלֵי־גֹמֶא (ישעיה יח, ב), הוא עץ קל עד מאד. ויש לפרשם מלשון גמי בדברי רבותינו ז"ל (כלים פרק י, משנה ד) כי עושין מן הגמי ספינות קטנות וזופהין אותן בזפת שלא יכנסו בהם המים והם קלים על פני המים.
ש-ת-ה
To drink, with מִשְׁתֶּה, a feast, and הַשְּׁתִיָּה, the drinking; and in the same letters שְׁתִי, the warp, the thread that runs the length of a garment.
Drinking
וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתָה (Shemos 34:28), and he drank no water; אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁתֶּה אֲדֹנִי בּוֹ (Bereishis 44:5), from which my master drinks; וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן־הַיַּיִן (Bereishis 9:21), and he drank of the wine; וּשְׁתוּ בְּיַיִן מָסָֽכְתִּי (Mishlei 9:5), and drink of the wine I have mixed; and בַּל־ יִשְׁתָּיֽוּן (Tehillim 78:44), that they could not drink; and in the passive, וְכָל־מַשְׁקֶה אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׁתֶה (Vayikra 11:34), any drink that is drunk. The word is known.
One who has drunk
Chazal said (Eruvin 64a) שָׁתוּי אל יתפלל, one who has drunk should not pray. There שתוי is an adjective and not a passive, for it is the water or the wine that is drunk, שתוי as a passive participle or נשתה as a passive verb; but the שתוי they spoke of is an adjective, like עָצוּם, mighty. They used this word to keep him apart from the שִׁכּוֹר, the drunkard. The שתוי has not drunk as much as the drunkard, so if he prayed his prayer is a prayer, since he could still speak before a king; the drunkard has drunk so much that he could not speak before a king, so if he prayed his prayer is an abomination.
The feast
מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָֽה (Esther 9:22), feasting and joy; in the plural, וּמִיֵּין מִשְׁתָּיו (Daniel 1:5), and from the wine of his drinking, and וְיֵין מִשְׁתֵּיהֶם (Daniel 1:16), and the wine of their drinking; and with a heh, וְהַשְּׁתִיָּה כַדָּת (Esther 1:8), and the drinking was according to the law.
Strength, and not drinking
בִּגְבוּרָה וְלֹא בַשְּׁתִֽי (Koheles 10:17), in strength and not in drinking: even at the hour they eat, their heart and mind are on strength and not on drinking. In אוֹ בִֽשְׁתִי אוֹ בְעֵרֶב (Vayikra 13:48), either in the warp or in the woof, the שְׁתִי is the thread that runs the length of the garment, and the ערב the one that runs across it. Some explain בִּגְבוּרָה וְלֹא בַשְּׁתִֽי from that word: that is, not in confusion and mixing, as the warp is mixed with the woof, meaning their mind is not muddled with food and delights but clear in strength.
Counted from this root
עַד שְׁתֽוֹתֵיהֶם (Shmuel II 10:4) is from this root, on the pattern of בְּנוֹתֵיהֶם, their daughters, and שְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם, their names; Radak has already explained it at the root שׁוּת.
וּמַיִם לֹא שָׁתָה (שמות לד, כח), אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁתֶּה אֲדֹנִי בּוֹ (בראשית מד, ה), וַיֵּשְׁתְּ מִן־הַיַּיִן (בראשית ט, כא), וּשְׁתוּ בְּיַיִן מָסָֽכְתִּי (משלי ט, ה), בַּל־יִשְׁתָּיֽוּן (תהלים עח, מד). ומה שאמרו רבותינו ז"ל (עירובין סד, ע"א) שָׁתוּי אל יתפלל הוא שם תאר לא פעול, כי המים או היין הוא שתוי על דרך פעול או נשתה על דרך נפעל, אבל מה שאמרו הם שתוי הוא תאר כמו עָצוּם. ואמרו בלשון הזה להפריד בינו ובין שִׁכּוֹר, כי השתוי לא שתה כל כך כמו השכור לפיכך אם התפלל תפלתו תפלה שהרי יכול לדבר בפני המלך, אבל השכור הוא ששתה כל כך שאינו יכול לדבר בפני המלך לפיכך אם התפלל תפלתו תועבה. והשם מִשְׁתֶּה וְשִׂמְחָֽה (אסתר ט, כב). והקבוץ משתים, וּמִיֵּין מִשְׁתָּיו (דניאל א, ה), וְיֵין מִשְׁתֵּיהֶם (דניאל א, טז). ומשקל אחר בִּגְבוּרָה וְלֹא בַשְּׁתִֽי (קהלת י, יז), פירוש אפילו בעת שיאכלו לבם ודעתם בגבורה, לא בשתיה. ועם ה"א וְהַשְּׁתִיָּה כַדָּת (אסתר א, ח). והנפעל וְכָל־מַשְׁקֶה אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׁתֶה (ויקרא יא, לד), ידוע. אוֹ בִֽשְׁתִי אוֹ בְעֵרֶב (ויקרא יג, מח), הוא החוט ההולך לאורך הבגד והערב הוא ההולך לרחבו, ויש מפרשים מזה בִּגְבוּרָה וְלֹא בַשְּׁתִֽי, כלומר לא בבלבול ובערוב כמו השתי שהוא מעורב עם העיב כלומר שאין דעתם מבולבל במאכל ובתענוגים אלא דעתם זך בגבורה. ומן השרש הזה עַד שְׁתֽוֹתֵיהֶם (שמואל ב' י, ד), בשקל בְּנוֹתֵיהֶם, שְׁמוֹתֵיהֶם. וכבר פירשנו אותו בשרש שׁוּת.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Chayei Sarah: Take a Drink," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 12 November 2022.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Vayakhel/Pekudei: Animal Sounds," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 13 March 2021.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 2:6, 15:2, 24:14-24:46, 40:23; Vayikra 13:48; Bamidbar 33:52; Yeshayahu 33:4; Tehillim 11:3; Mishlei 28:15 with the Vilna Gaon; Iyov 39:30; Shabbos 8:1, 14:4, and 77a; Chullin 2:9; Parah 2:5; Machberes Menachem; Cheshek Shlomo; Yerios Shlomo; Shadal, citing Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy; Rabbi Ernest Klein.