lion

וְאָרוּהָ כָּל־עֹבְרֵי דָֽרֶךְ (Tehillim 80:13), and all who pass along the way have gathered her, and אָרִיתִי מוֹרִי (Shir HaShirim 5:1), I have gathered my myrrh: the sense is לקטוה, they gathered her, and לקטתי, I gathered. Some explain נָשִׁים בָּאוֹת מְאִירוֹת אוֹתָהּ (Yeshayahu 27:11), women come and gather it, from this sense, though the word is of another root. On that reading, when the boughs break the women come and gather it, since it is not the way of women to climb the tree to gather; and Radak has already explained the pasuk at the root אור.

וְאֻֽרָוֹת לְכָל־בְּהֵמָה וּבְהֵמָה (Divrei HaYamim II 32:28), troughs for every kind of beast; in construct, אֻרְוֹת סוּסִים (Melachim I 5:6), troughs for horses; with a yud in place of the last root letter, אֻרְיוֹת סוּסִים (Divrei HaYamim II 9:25), troughs for horses. Their sense is feeding troughs, and the Targum of אֵבוּס בְּעָלָיו (Yeshayahu 1:3), his master's trough, is אוֹרְיָא דִמְרוֹהִי, the same in Aramaic.

אַרְיֵה שָׁאָג (Amos 3:8), a lion has roared; without the heh, וְכַֽאֲרִי יִתְנַשָּׂא (Bamidbar 23:24), and like a lion he lifts himself up; the plural אֲרָיוֹת (Melachim I 10:19) and, in masculine form, אֲרָיִים (Melachim I 10:20), both lions. Of the word itself he says only that it is known.

אֶת־אַרְגֹּב וְאֶת־הָאַרְיֵה (Melachim II 15:25) are the names of two warriors who came with Pekach and helped him strike the king, and fifty men of the Giladim came with him besides.

ארי, the lion, joined to the word אל gives אֲרִיאֵל, the name of the mizbeach, and Yerushalayim was called by it for the mizbeach in her. הוֹי אֲרִיאֵל אֲרִיאֵל קִרְיַת חָנָה דָוִד (Yeshayahu 29:1), "woe, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped": as blood is thrown on the mizbeach, so the whole city will be full of blood of those killed in her markets and streets, which is וְהָיְתָה לִּי כַּֽאֲרִיאֵֽל (Yeshayahu 29:2), "she shall be to Me like an Ariel".

It seems to him that the mizbeach is called so for what Chazal said (Yoma 21b), that the holy fire which came down from heaven crouched upon it like a lion. Chazal said too (Middos, end of chapter 4) that the Heichal is narrow behind and wide in front and so resembles a lion, as it says הוֹי אֲרִיאֵל אֲרִיאֵל, woe, Ariel, Ariel: as the lion is narrow behind and wide in front, so is the Heichal.

הוּא הִכָּה אֵת שְׁנֵי אֲרִיאֵל מוֹאָב (Shmuel II 23:20), "he struck the two Ariels of Moav", meaning the two great warriors of Moav; so the Targum renders תְּרֵין רַבְרְבֵי מוֹאָב, the two great ones of Moav. The great and mighty are called so because the lion is great and mighty and strong among beasts, and אֵל is a term of force and strength, as יֶשׁ־לְאֵל יָדִי (Bereishis 31:29), "it is in the power of my hand"; which is why the word is compounded of ארי and אל. With the alef turned to a heh and the yud dropped, the pasuk says of the mizbeach וְהַֽהַרְאֵל אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת (Yechezkel 43:15), and the Harel, four amos.

גּוּר אַרְיֵה יְהוּדָה (Bereishis 49:9), "Yehudah is a lion's cub"; בְּתוֹךְ כְּפִרִים רִבְּתָה גוּרֶֽיהָ (Yechezkel 19:2), "among young lions she raised her cubs"; הֵינִיקוּ גּוּרֵיהֶן (Eichah 4:3), "they nursed their cubs"; with a cholam, כְּגוֹרֵי אֲרָיֹֽות (Yirmiyahu 51:38), "like lions' cubs"; and for the females, בְּדֵי גֹֽרוֹתָי (Nachum 2:13), "enough for his female cubs". The young of beasts while still small are called גורים.

וְגָר זְאֵב עִם־כֶּבֶשׂ (Yeshayahu 11:6), "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb"; עִם־לָבָן גַּרְתִּי (Bereishis 32:5), "I have dwelt with Lavan"; מִי־ יָגוּר בְּאָהֳלֶךָ (Tehillim 15:1), "who shall dwell in Your tent"; and אֲשֶׁר־אֲנִי מִתְגּוֹרֵר עִמָּהּ (Melachim I 17:20), "with whom I dwell", ענין דירה, dwelling. גָּרִים יֹאכֵֽלוּ (Yeshayahu 5:17) is "those who come to dwell there shall eat", and may also be read as כרים, lambs. The nouns are בְּגֵרוּת (Yirmiyahu 41:17), "in the lodging", and, in another form, יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי (Bereishis 47:9), "the days of the years of my sojourning".

וּבֵין גֵּרֽוֹ (Devarim 1:16), "and between him and his ger", means his neighbour who dwells beside him. לַגֵּר אֲשֶׁר־בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ (Devarim 14:21), "to the ger who is in your gates", is the foreigner living in Eretz Yisrael who took upon himself not to serve avodah zarah; so too וְנִמְכַּר לְגֵר תּוֹשָׁב (Vayikra 25:47), "and he is sold to a resident ger", and so every ger the Torah names as living in Eretz Yisrael. One who converted outright is the ger whom the Torah charges with the mitzvos, as הָֽאֶזְרָח וְהַגֵּר (Vayikra 16:29), "the native and the ger".

לֹא תָגוּרוּ מִפְּנֵי־אִישׁ (Devarim 1:17), "do not fear any man"; גּוּרוּ לָכֶם מִפְּנֵי־חֶרֶב (Iyov 19:29), "fear the sword for yourselves". The nouns are כִּי אִם־ מָגוֹר מִסָּבִֽיב (Yirmiyahu 20:10 in his edition), "but fear all around", and מְגוֹרַת רָשָׁע הִיא תְבוֹאֶנּוּ (Mishlei 10:24), "what the wicked fears shall come upon him"; they are ענין פחד, fear. מְגוּרֵי אֶל־חֶרֶב הָיוּ אֶת־עַמִּי (Yechezkel 21:17) means the fears of the sword were upon My people. לוּלֵי כַּעַס אוֹיֵב אָגוּר (Devarim 32:27), "were it not that I feared the enemy's anger", is in this sense too, though the translator took the word from אָֽגְרָה בַקָּצִיר (Mishlei 6:8), "she gathers in the harvest".

יָגוּרוּ עָלַי עַזִים (Tehillim 59:4), "the strong gather against me"; עַל־דָּגָן וְתִירוֹשׁ יִתְגּוֹרָרוּ (Hoshea 7:14), "over grain and wine they gather themselves"; ענין אסיפה וקבוץ, gathering and assembling. מִי־גָר אִתָּךְ (Yeshayahu 54:15) is who will gather with you to fight, said of Gog and Magog, of whom it says עָלַיִךְ יִפּֽוֹל, "he shall fall upon you", and elsewhere עַל־הָרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל תִּפּוֹל (Yechezkel 39:4), "you shall fall on the mountains of Israel".

הַעוֹד הַזֶּרַע בַּמְּגוּרָה (Chaggai 2:19), "is the seed still in the granary", and with two mems נֶֽהֶרְסוּ מַמְּגֻרוֹת (Yoel 1:17), "the granaries are broken down". They are the place where the grain is gathered. His father wrote that the first mem is a servile letter, and that is why the second is doubled, with a pasach in place of a chirik, as לְמַבָּרִֽאשׁוֹנָה (Divrei HaYamim I 15:13), "because at the first". Radak says כִּֽי־רָעוֹת בִּמְגוּרָם (Tehillim 55:16), "for evils are in their dwelling", may be read from this sense too, meaning in the place where they gather.

הַעוֹד הַזֶּרַע בַּמְּגוּרָה (Chaggai 2:19) is a question: have you seed left in the granary to lean on? You have only what is sown in the ground, and so you need His blessing; and if they have begun building the Bayis, His blessing is to be known at once, the blessing He will send you in what is sown and in the fruit of the tree. Rabbeinu Shlomo explained that they had not yet sown that year, the seed being still in the granary and the trees not yet setting their fruit, and from now they would sow in a time of blessing, for building the Bayis brings blessing on the work of their hands.

סַעַר מִתְגּוֹרֵר (Yirmiyahu 30:23) may be read from this sense of gathering, and so Targum Yonasan renders עִלְעוּל מִתְכְּנַשׁ, a storm gathering itself; the Mesorah says of the word that it occurs twice in two senses.

וְכָפַרְתָּ אֹתָהּ מִבַּיִת וּמִחוּץ בַּכֹּפֶר (Bereishis 6:14), and you shall coat it within and without with the kofer, which is what is called קפ"ר in Arabic, a kind of mortar. Some explain it as pitch, from Chazal's word כופרא (Shabbos 67a). From this sense the כַּפֹּרֶת is named, וְעָשִׂיתָ כַפֹּרֶת (Shemos 25:17), and you shall make a cover, since it was a covering for the aron.

אֲכַפְּרָה פָנָיו (Bereishis 32:21), I will remove his anger; לֹא תֽוּכְלִי כַּפְּרָהּ (Yeshayahu 47:11), you will not be able to remove it and annul it. Atonement is from this sense too, since atonement is the removing of sins: וְכִפֶּר אַֽהֲרֹן (Shemos 30:10), and Aharon shall atone: by putting the blood on the horns of the mizbeach he removes the sins of Yisrael, so that they find favour before Hashem. The noun is in יוֹם כִּפֻּרִים (Vayikra 23:28), the day of atonement.

Chazal say מִזְבֵּחַ מזיח מכפר (Kesubos 10b), the mizbeach dislodges and atones. The question is asked whether dislodging and atoning are not one thing, and the answer is מזיח גזירות, it dislodges decrees, מכפר עונות, it atones for sins. Both are words of removal, since מזיח is from וְלֹֽא־יִזַּח הַחֹשֶׁן מֵעַל הָֽאֵפֽוֹד (Shemos 28:28), and the choshen shall not come loose from the ephod. Chazal use the word for removing in many places, as when they say מכפר ליה בבליתא דפרסא (Chullin 8b), which means one takes off its fat, passing it over a coarse cloth to wipe it.

אִישׁ כֹּפֶר נַפְשׁוֹ (Shemos 30:12), each man the redemption of his soul, which he explains as the removing of his soul's sin, that is, his redemption; so too אִם־ כֹּפֶר יוּשַׁת עָלָיו (Shemos 21:30), if a redemption is laid upon him.

וּכְפַר הָֽעַמֹּנָי (Yehoshua 18:24), and the village of the Ammonite, and נָלִינָה בַּכְּפָרִֽים (Shir HaShirim 7:12), let us lodge in the villages. The Targum renders העיר ובנותיה, the city and its daughter towns, with וְכַפְרָנָהָא, and its villages, which are houses outside the city, for villagers and for those who work the land.

אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר (Shir HaShirim 1:14), a cluster of kofer, is what is called אלחנ"א in Arabic, and so כְּפָרִים עִם־נְרָדִֽים (Shir HaShirim 4:13), kefarim with nard. Some hold that כְּפָרִים עִם־נְרָדִֽים is a spice of its own and not the same as אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר. Ibn Ezra wrote that אֶשְׁכֹּל הַכֹּפֶר is the cluster of the date palm, since the palm has names that change as its season changes, and it has a season whose Arabic name is this one, and it has a good scent.

כְּפִיר אֲרָיוֹת (Shoftim 14:5), a young lion, and הַכְּפִירִים שֹֽׁאֲגִים לַטָּרֶף (Tehillim 104:21), the young lions roaring for prey: these are the young in days among the lions and the wild beasts, and a כְּפִיר is bigger than a גור, a cub. By way of figure, כְּפִיר גּוֹיִם נִדְמֵיתָ (Yechezkel 32:2), you were likened to a young lion of the nations, means their great and mighty one. דַּק כַּכְּפֹר עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ (Shemos 16:14), fine as the frost on the ground: the frost is what falls at dawn in the days of cold. וְלִכְפוֹרֵי הַזָּהָב (Divrei HaYamim I 28:17), and for the golden pans: these are כפות זהב, pans of gold. Chazal explained them as basins, saying (Zevachim 25a): the blood of the knife, with what does one wipe it? On the rim of the basin, as it is written כפורי זהב. They are called so because the knife is wiped clean of blood on them, as in מכפר ליה בבליתא דפרסא, whose sense is wiping, as explained above.

כְּלָבִיא שָׁכֵן (Devarim 33:20), "he dwells like a lavi". It is the lion.

מָה אִמְּךָ לְבִיָּא (Yechezkel 19:2), "what is your mother, a lioness". Its proper form is לְבִיאָה, the yud standing in place of the alef and the alef in place of the heh.

נַפְשִׁי בְּתוֹךְ לְבָאִם (Tehillim 57:5), "my soul is among lions"; the correct form is לְבִיאִים, as נָבִיא, prophet, gives נְבִיאִים, prophets. The feminine plural is וּמְחַנֵּק לְלִבְאֹתָיו (Nachum 2:13), "and strangling for his lionesses".

לַיִשׁ אֹבֵד מִבְּלִי־טָרֶף (Iyov 4:11), "the layish perishes for lack of prey"; לָבִיא וָלַיִשׁ (Yeshayahu 30:6), "lion and layish". It is the great lion.

עַל־שַׁחַל וָפֶתֶן תִּדְרֹךְ (Tehillim 91:13), "you shall tread on shachal and pesen"; וָאֱהִי לָהֶם כְּמוֹ־שָׁחַל (Hoshea 13:7), "I was to them like a shachal". It is the lion.

נָטָף וּשְׁחֵלֶת (Shemos 30:34), "nataf and shecheles". It is the spice called in the language of the Mishnah צפורן, a fingernail (Kerisos 6a), being smooth and glossy like a nail; and so the Targum says, וְטוּפְרָא, and nail.

הוּא מֶלֶךְ עַל־כָּל־בְּנֵי־שָׁחַץ (Iyov 41:26), he is king over all the sons of pride; לֹא־הִדְרִיכֻוהוּ בְנֵי־שָׁחַץ (Iyov 28:8), the sons of pride have not trodden it. The sense is ענין גאוה, pride.

Chazal too said (Shabbos 62b) that the people of Yerushalayim were אנשי שחץ. That they are men of pride and coarseness of spirit is his own gloss on their words.