action
flogging
At a glance
In short
Makkah is a blow, and from there a wound and a plague. Cognates of makkah are the Torah's own language for judicial lashes, and the plural makkot names them. Malkut is the Mishnaic word for the same punishment, flogging, and the linguist Avraham Even-Shoshan derives it from the Aramaic root ל-ק-ה. On his account the two mean essentially the same thing in different languages, and in light of this and of Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur's understanding, Rabbi Klein posits that the masechta simply carries a Hebrew name and an Aramaic one. Two other authorities do read a real difference of scope into the pair, in opposite directions: for the Tiferes Yisrael makkot is the narrower word, since lakah can mean impaired rather than struck, and for Rabbi Elazar Rokeach makkot is the wider, covering any painful ordeal. In any case, makkeh is the one who strikes and lokeh the one struck (HaBachur).
Distinctions
Makkah / makkot (מכה, מכות)
The primary sense is striking another. From the act the word passes to the wound it leaves, and from there to a plague, so that the Ten Plagues are the Eser Makkos, literally ten strikings. This is the word the Torah uses for the court's flogging (Devarim 25:2-3), and, for Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Katz, hence the masechta's name.
The Zohar (Bamidbar 145b): makkah is from koh, so. Rabbi Moshe Shapiro builds on this: the prophets opened with koh amar Hashem, and the meaning of what they saw was often unclear and left to their interpretation; so a makkah always carries a Divine message to the one struck, whose meaning is not always plain. Moshe's prophecy, by contrast, opens zeh hadavar (Shemos 16:16, 16:32, 35:4; Vayikra 8:5, 9:6, 17:2; Bamidbar 30:2, 36:6), since Hashem spoke to him more clearly than to any other prophet (Bamidbar 12:6-8).
Malkut / lakah (מלקות, לקה)
Neither malkut nor lakah occurs in Tanach; both do appear in Mishnaic Hebrew.
- Avraham Even-Shoshan, in his dictionary, derives the word from the Aramaic root ל-ק-ה, "hit" or "damage," and compares it to the Akkadian laku, "weakened"; he adds that the vocalization malkut is commonly mispronounced malkot.
- Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (Meturgeman and Sefer HaTishbi) gives the Targum's rule: wherever the Torah's makkah means striking someone to punish or chastise him, the Targum renders it with a word from lakah; where the striking is meant simply to hurt or even to kill, the Targum uses words unrelated to lakah. He adds that lakah is not a perfect translation of makkeh, the one being struck and the other striking.
Rabbi Klein adds an observation of his own on the English side: the verb "lick" in "to lick one's enemies" (built on Bamidbar 22:4) means to smite or defeat, and "to lick the whip" is to taste punishment, so the Germanic lick covers both smiting and passing the tongue over something. He notes at once that linguists would say the resemblance to the Semitic ל-ק-ה ("hitting") and ל-ק-ק ("licking") is simply chance.
Modern Hebrew says leharbitz or marbitz for hitting, spanking, or beating someone up, from ר-ב-ץ, which in Biblical Hebrew means crouching, stretching out, and lying down; the sense was later extended to beating a man down so that he is left spread out on the floor.
Where the authorities disagree
Which of the two is the wider word. Three readings, the first two opposed and both bearing on the question of why the masechta is called Makkos, the third holding that the two essentially mean the same thing.
- Makkot is the narrower, so the better name. Tiferes Yisrael (Rabbi Yisrael Lipschutz): lakah is not specifically "hit" but a general word for breaking, damaging, or rendering defective, hitting being only one way to produce that. An eclipse is the luminary being lokeh (Sukkah 29a), and black blood is red blood that was lakah (Sukkah 33b). Makkot is therefore the more precise title.
- Makkot is the wider, so the better name. Rabbi Elazar Rokeach of Amsterdam (Maaseh Rokeach): malkut is only physical striking, while makkot covers any painful ordeal. The masechta treats galus as well as flogging, so Makkos is the name that takes in both punishments.
- The two are one word in two languages. Avraham Even-Shoshan, in his dictionary: malkut and makkot essentially mean the same thing, only in Aramaic and in Hebrew respectively.
Which term belongs to Torah lashes and which to rabbinic. Rabbi Shmuel Taieb (Shemen Tov): the Gemara commonly uses malkut for lashes ordained by the Torah and makkot for rabbinic ones, as in makkos mardus, lashes of rebellion. On his account the masechta, which treats Biblical lashes, "should" have been called Malkus, which is the question Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Katz answers.
Why the name is Makkos.
- Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Katz (Semichas Chachamim), two answers: the name follows the Torah's own language, since cognates of makkah occur five times in the flogging passage (Devarim 25:2-3) and malkut nowhere in Tanach; and מכות has the letters of כמות, "like death," alluding to the principle that flogging is in some respects a lesser death (Sanhedrin 10a).
- Rabbi Klein proposes: in light of HaBachur's and Even-Shoshan's understanding "we may posit" that the masechta has a Hebrew name and an Aramaic one, as Beitzah is also Bei'ah, and many Hungarian and chassidishe Jews indeed have the custom of saying Malkus.
The root of makkah.
- Menachem Ibn Saruk and Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: the one-letter root כ, "hitting."
- Ibn Chayyuj, Ibn Janach, and Radak reject monoliteral roots and give נ-כ-ה, the nun regularly dropping in conjugation.
Radak on this root
Sefer HaShorashim
נ-כ-ה
To strike: a man, a thing, the hand against the hand, or with the tongue; by borrowing, to tear a city down. Close to it in sense, נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם, lame in the feet.
Striking, and clapping
וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת־כָּל־זְכוּרָהּ (Devarim 20:13), you shall strike every male of it; וְהִכִּיתָ בַצּוּר (Shemos 17:6), you shall strike the rock; וַיַּךְ הַבָּרָד (Shemos 9:25), the hail struck. Of hands, אַכֶּה כַפִּי אֶל־כַּפִּי (Yechezkel 21:22), I will strike My palm against My palm, and וַיַּכּוּ־כָף (Melachim II 11:12), they clapped hands. Of the tongue, לְכוּ וְנַכֵּהוּ בַלָּשׁוֹן (Yirmiyahu 18:18), let us strike him with the tongue.
Roots that reach far
וְיַךְ שָׁרָשָׁיו (Hoshea 14:6) is that it strikes its roots this way and that, meaning its roots go far off; the word is used as in וּמָחָה עַל־כֶּתֶף יָם־כִּנֶּרֶת (Bamidbar 34:11), and it shall reach to the shoulder of the sea of Kinneres.
Striking a city, not its people
וַיַּכּוּ אֶת־צִקְלַג (Shmuel I 30:1), they struck Tziklag, is a borrowed use and means they tore it down, since the pasuk speaks of the city and not the people: it says in the same place מִקָּטֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל לֹא הֵמִיתוּ אִישׁ, from small to great they killed no man.
Whether מַכֶּה is masculine
Rabbi Yaakov ben Elazar wrote that there is a masculine noun מַכֶּה, with a segol under the kaf, on the pattern of מַטֶּה, a staff, its plural in מִן־ הַמַּכִּים אֲשֶׁר יַכֻּהוּ אֲרַמִּים (Melachim II 8:29), from the blows that the Arameans struck him; Radak's father wrote the same. Rabbi Yonah wrote that it is rather the plural of the feminine מכה, as חִטִּים from חִטָּה, wheat, and שָׁנִים from שָׁנָה, a year.
The blow, and the lame
The feminine noun is מַכָּה, a blow: מַכַּת־חֶרֶב (Esther 9:5), a blow of the sword, and מָה הַמַּכּוֹת הָאֵלֶּה (Zecharyah 13:6), what are these blows. A sense close to it is נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם (Shmuel II 4:4), lame in the feet, and נֶאֶסְפוּ עָלַי נֵכִים (Tehillim 35:15), stricken men gathered against me. A plural with an alef in place of the heh is in תֶּהְגּוּ אַךְ־ נְכָאִֽים (Yeshayahu 16:7), you shall moan, surely stricken, and another form of it is נִכְּאוּ מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ (Iyov 30:8), they were struck out of the land.
Pharaoh Necho
פַרְעֹה נְכֹה (Melachim II 23:29) may be of this sense, named so because he was נכה רגלים, lame in the feet; and so Targum Yonasan renders it פַּרְעֹה חֲגִירָא, Pharaoh the lame.
וְהִכָּה בַיָּם חֵילָהּ (זכריה ט, ד), וְהִכִּיתָ אֶת־כָּל־זְכוּרָהּ (דברים כ, יג), וְהִכִּתִיו וַֽהֲמִיתִּֽיו (שמואל א' יז, לה). בִּדְבַר י"י הַכֵּינִי נָא (מלכים א' כ, לה), נכתב ביו"ד מקום למ"ד הפעל. וְהִכִּיתָ בַצּוּר (שמות יז, ו), הַכֵּה תַכֶּה (דברים יג, טז), וְהִכֵּיתִי קַשְׁתְּךָ מִיַּד שְׂמֹאולֶךָ (יחזקאל לט, ג), וַיַּךְ אֶֽת־הַֽחֲנִית בַּקִּיר (שמואל א' יט, י), לְכוּ וְנַכֵּהוּ בַלָּשׁוֹן (ירמיה יח, יח), יַךְ וְיַחְבְּשֵֽׁנוּ (הושע ו, א), וַיַּךְ הַבָּרָד (שמות ט, כה), וָאַךְ אֽוֹתְךָ (שמות ט, טו), אַכֶּה כַפִּי אֶל־כַּפִּי (יחזקאל כא, כב), וְהַךְ כַּף אֶל־כָּף (יחזקאל כא, יט), וַיַּכּוּ־כָף (מלכים ב' יא, יב), וְהַךְ אֶת־עֲפַר הָאָרֶץ (שמות ח, יב). וְיַךְ שָׁרָשָׁיו (הושע יד, ו), כלומר יכה שרשיו הנה והנה רוצה לומר שילכו שרשיו לרחוק. ובא הלשון הזה, כענין וּמָחָה עַל־כֶּתֶף יָם־כִּנֶּרֶת (במדבר לד, יא). הִנֵּה אָֽנֹכִי מַכֶּה בַּמַּטֶּה אֲשֶׁר־בְּיָדִי (שמות ז, יז), הָֽאִשָּׁה הַמֻּכָּה (במדבר כה, טו), וְהִנֵּה עֲבָדֶיךָ מֻכִּים (שמות ה, טז). ועל דרך ההשאלה וַיַּכּוּ אֶת־צִקְלַג (שמואל א' ל, א), רוצה לומר ויהרסו כי על העיר הוא אומר ולא על העם שהרי אמר מִקָּטֹן וְעַד־גָּדוֹל לֹא הֵמִיתוּ אִישׁ (שמואל א' ל, א), ושלא נזכר פעלו ממנו [הָפְעַל] אֲשֶׁר הֻכָּה אֶת־הַמִּדְיָנִית (במדבר כה, יד). ונכתב בו"ו עם הדגש הוּכָּֽה־כָעֵשֶׂב וַיִּבַשׁ לִבִּי (תהלים קב, ה), עַֽל־מֶה תֻכּוּ (ישעיה א, ה). ושלא נזכר פעלו מהדגוש [פֻּעַל] וְהַפִּשְׁתָּה וְהַשְּׂעֹרָה נֻכָּתָה (שמות ט, לא), וְהַֽחִטָּה וְהַכֻּסֶּמֶת לֹא נֻכּוּ (שמות ט, לב). והנפעל וְשַׁבְתֶּם מֵאַֽחֲרָיו וְנִכָּה וָמֵֽת (שמואל ב' יא, טו). וכתב רבי יעקב בן אלעזר ז"ל שם בלשון זכר מַכֶּה בסגול הכ"ף בפלס מַטֶּה. והקבוץ מִן־הַמַּכִּים אֲשֶׁר יַכֻּהוּ אֲרַמִּים (מלכים ב' ח, כט). וכן כתב אדוני אבי ז"ל. ורבי יונה כתב כי הוא מקובץ מן מכה לשון נקבה כמו מן חִטָּה חִטִּים, שָׁנָה שָׁנִים, פָּנָה פָּנִים. והשם בלשון נקבה מַכָּה, מַכַּת־חֶרֶב (אסתר ט, ה), מָה הַמַּכּוֹת הָאֵלֶּה (זכריה יג, ו). וְהִפְלָא י"י אֶת־מַכֹּתְךָ (דברים כח, נט), בא בסימן ריבוי הנקבות לבד על נכון אבל לא על המנהג. וענין קרוב לזה נְכֵה רַגְלָיִם (שמואל ב' ד, ד), נֶאֶסְפוּ עָלַי נֵכִים (תהלים לה, טו). והקבוץ בהתחלף הה"א באל"ף נראית תֶּהְגּוּ אַךְ־נְכָאִֽים (ישעיה טז, ז). והנפעל ממנו נִכְּאוּ מִן־הָאָֽרֶץ (איוב ל, ח). ואפשר להיות מזה הענין פַרְעֹה נְכֹה (מלכים ב' כג, כט). וקראו כן לפי שהיה נכה רגלים. וכן תרגם יונתן פַּרְעֹה חֲגִירָא.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "That's a Flogging," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 1 February 2020.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "That’s a Flogging," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Devarim 25:2-3; Bamidbar 22:4; Sanhedrin 10a; Sukkah 29a and 33b; Menachem Ibn Saruk; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim; Ibn Chayyuj; Ibn Janach; Radak; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur, Meturgeman and Sefer HaTishbi; Rabbi Naftali HaKohen Katz, Semichas Chachamim; Rabbi Shmuel Taieb, Shemen Tov; Tiferes Yisrael; Rabbi Elazar Rokeach, Maaseh Rokeach; Avraham Even-Shoshan's dictionary; Zohar, Bamidbar 145b; Shemos 16:16, 16:32, 35:4; Vayikra 8:5, 9:6, 17:2; Bamidbar 12:6-8, 30:2, 36:6.