money

לְמַעַן יַֽאֲמִינוּ (Shemos 4:5), that they may believe. All such forms are trust and acceptance, קרידינצא in his own vernacular, credence; and they come out of the sense of אמונה, since one who believes a thing gives it אמונה, credence, and holds it true.

בְּכָל־בֵּיתִי נֶֽאֱמָן הֽוּא (Bamidbar 12:7), in all My house he is faithful, and קִרְיָה נֶאֱמָנָה (Yeshayahu 1:21), a faithful city. וְאִישׁ אֱמוּנִים מִי יִמְצָֽא (Mishlei 20:6), but a man of truth, who can find, has the word as a noun; in כִּי־פַסּוּ אֱמוּנִים מִבְּנֵי אָדָֽם (Tehillim 12:2), for the true have ceased from among men, and in two pesukim like it, it is an adjective; and all of them are the sense of אמת, truth. So too אֵל אֱמוּנָה (Devarim 32:4), a God of truth, and וֶאֱמוּנָה עִנִּיתָֽנִי (Tehillim 119:75), which he explains ובאמונה עניתני, and in truth You afflicted me: their sense is truth.

In his own view אֱמֶת, truth, belongs to this root, its proper form being אֱמֶנֶת on the pattern of דְּבֶֽלֶת, the nun having fallen away for ease as it fell from בת, a daughter, whose proper form is בֶּֽנֶת; the dagesh it takes when suffixes are joined to it proves as much, and its plural is formed as בנות, daughters, is.

וְאָמַר כָּל־הָעָם אָמֵֽן (Devarim 27:17), and all the people shall say amen, is, it shall be true that whoever transgresses one of these shall be cursed, said either as a prayer or as acceptance, that they took the curse upon themselves should they transgress. So וְגַם־ אָמְנָה אֲחֹתִי בַת־אָבִי (Bereishis 20:12): and also, it is true that she is my sister, my father's daughter.

וְנֶֽאְמַן בֵּיתְךָ וּמַמְלַכְתְּךָ (Shmuel II 7:16), your house and your kingdom shall endure; יָתֵד בְּמָקוֹם נֶאֱמָן (Yeshayahu 22:23), a peg in a place strong and lasting; מַכּוֹת גְּדֹלֹת וְנֶאֱמָנוֹת (Devarim 28:59), great blows, strong and lasting; וַיְהִי יָדָיו אֱמוּנָה (Shemos 17:12), and his hands were steady, that is, they stayed raised, and they did not let them down until the sun set. אֲנַחְנוּ כֹּֽרְתִים אֲמָנָה (Nechemiah 10:1), we are making an אֲמָנָה, a thing made to stand; and וְאֶת־ הָאֹמְנוֹת אֲשֶׁר צִפָּה חִזְקִיָּה (Melachim II 18:16), and the אֹמְנוֹת that Chizkiyah had overlaid, are the pillars that held the building up. Yonasan renders it וְיַת סְקוֹפַיָא, that is, the thresholds of the gates.

כַּֽאֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא הָֽאֹמֵן אֶת־הַיֹּנֵק (Bamidbar 11:12), as the one who rears carries the suckling; וַתִּשָּׂאֵהוּ אֹֽמַנְתּוֹ (Shmuel II 4:4), and she who reared him carried him; הָאֱמֻנִים עֲלֵי תוֹלָע (Eichah 4:5), those reared on scarlet; וְאֶל־ הָאֹֽמְנִים אַחְאָב (Melachim II 10:1), and to the rearers of Achav, are those who reared him from his youth and were the men of his counsel, in whose charge the affairs of the kingdom lay. Here his father puts בָּנִים לֹֽא־ אֵמֻן בָּֽם (Devarim 32:20), children in whom there is no אֵמֻן, and Radak explains him to mean there is no upbringing in them, a perverse generation who do evil when they are done good, as it says וַיִּשְׁמַן יְשֻׁרוּן וַיִּבְעָט (Devarim 32:15), Yeshurun grew fat and kicked. Radak's own reading, given earlier in the entry, is children who do not believe, or in whom there is no truth.

וְאֵת יֶתֶר הָֽאָמֹון הֶגְלָה נְבֽוּזַרְאֲדָן רַב־טַבָּחִֽים (Yirmiyahu 52:15), and the rest of the הָאָמוֹן Nevuzaradan the chief of the guard exiled: the word here is as ההמון, the multitude.

Another sense: מַֽעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אָמָּֽן (Shir HaShirim 7:2), the work of the hands of a master craftsman: one who excels at a craft is called אומן. The Targum of חָרָשׁ וְחֹשֵׁב (Shemos 38:23), a craftsman and a designer, is נַגָּר וְאֳמָּן, a carpenter and a master craftsman.

Rabbi Yonah brought מֵסִיר שָׂפָה לְנֶאֱמָנִים (Iyov 12:20), He takes away the speech of the נֶאֱמָנִים, into this root. Radak holds it is from נאם and of its sense, as וַיִּנְֽאֲמוּ נְאֻֽם (Yirmiyahu 23:31), and they speak a speech, which is a term for speaking; the closing nun is added as the mark of an adjective, as in רחמן and נעמן, and men clear in their tongue who know the wisdom of speech are called נאמנים.

לֹא־דָמָה אֵלָיו בְּיָפְיוֹ (Yechezkel 31:8), none was like him in his beauty; and, transitive, הַנָּוָה וְהַמְּעֻנָּגָה דָּמִיתִי בַּת־צִיּוֹן (Yirmiyahu 6:2), to the comely and delicate one I have likened the daughter of Tzion. The noun is דְּמוּת, a likeness.

In אִמְּךָ כַגֶּפֶן בְּדָמְךָ (Yechezkel 19:10), your mother is like a vine in your likeness, בְּדָמְךָ is like בדמותך, as אֵצֶל פִּנָּהּ (Mishlei 7:8), near her corner, is like פנתה, and וְצוּרָם לְבַלּוֹת שְׁאוֹל (Tehillim 49:15), and their form for the grave to wear away, is like וצורתם, and their form. Or else it is another pattern, דַּם, on the measure of צַו and קַו. Rav Hai wrote that it means the moisture of nature, since whatever comes out of another thing and blossoms from it holds some of the moisture of its nature. Some take it instead from the sense of cutting off.

וְדָמִיתִי אִמֶּךָ (Hoshea 4:5), and I will cut off your mother, and נִדְמְתָה אַשְׁקְלֹון, Ashkelon is cut off: the sense of all of them is cutting off and destruction, and בִּדְמִי יָמַי אֵלֵכָה (Yeshayahu 38:10), in the cutting off of my days I shall go, is the noun. נִדְמֶה שֹֽׁמְרוֹן מַלְכָּהּ (Hoshea 10:7) stands under being like, and can also be read in this sense: Shomron, her king is cut off. Words not of this root may also be read in this sense: כִּי י"י אֱלֹהֵינוּ הֲדִמָּנוּ, for Hashem our God has cut us off, and וְנִדְּמָה־שָּׁם (Yirmiyahu 8:14), and let us be cut off there; יֵבשׁוּ רְשָׁעִים יִדְּמוּ לִשְׁאֽוֹל (Tehillim 31:18), let the wicked be ashamed, let them be cut off to the grave; and וְנָדַמּוּ נְאוֹת הַשָּׁלוֹם (Yirmiyahu 25:37), and the peaceful habitations are cut off. עֵינִי נִגְּרָה וְלֹא תִדְמֶה, my eye runs and does not cease, is of this sense too.

וְהוּא לֹא־כֵן יְדַמֶּה (Yeshayahu 10:7), but he does not think so: its sense is יחשוב, he will think. Likewise אַל־תְּדַמִּי בְנַפְשֵׁךְ (Esther 4:13), do not think in yourself. דִּמִּינוּ אֱלֹהִים חַסְדֶּךָ (Tehillim 48:10), we thought, Elokim, of Your kindness, is of this sense too, and may also be read in the sense of hope and expectation: we hoped, Elokim, for Your kindness.

אַל־דֳּמִי־לָךְ (Tehillim 83:2), let there be no silence for You, and דוּמִיָּה in its several places are all שתיקה, silence. לְךָ דֻמִיָּה תְהִלָּה (Tehillim 65:2), to You silence is praise, means that praise falls silent before Your mighty deeds, since praise does not reach You. Some read אוֹי־לִי כִּי־נִדְמֵיתִי (Yeshayahu 6:5), woe is me, for נִדְמֵיתִי, from this sense, that is, I have been silenced, I cannot speak a word; Radak lists it with the words of cutting off.

In מְזוּזָה the mem is an addition and the final heh is the feminine ending: וּמְזוּזָתָם אֵצֶל מְזוּזָתִי (Yechezkel 43:8), their doorpost beside My doorpost, and in the plural וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל־מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ (Devarim 6:9), you shall write them on the doorposts of your house. They are the cheeks of the gateways.

וְעָמַד עַל־מְזוּזַת הַשַּׁעַר (Yechezkel 46:2), and he shall stand by the doorpost of the gate, means next to the doorpost of the gate. But Targum Yonasan renders it as a threshold, ויקום על סקיפת תרעא, and he shall stand on the sill of the gate. So too עַל־מְזוּזַת הֵיכַל י"י (Shmuel I 1:9), by the doorpost of the Heichal of Hashem, means next to the doorpost of the gate; and so Targum Yonasan renders it, בִּסְטַר סִיפָא דְהֵיכְלָא דַיְיָ, at the side of the threshold of the Heichal of Hashem.

כְּאַרְיֵה יִכְסוֹף לִטְרוֹף (Tehillim 17:12), like a lion longing to tear, and לְמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ תִכְסֹף (Iyov 14:15), You will long for the work of Your hands. So נִכְסְפָה וְגַם־כָּלְתָה נַפְשִׁי (Tehillim 84:3), my soul longed and pined, and כִּי־נִכְסֹף נִכְסַפְתָּה לְבֵית אָבִיךָ (Bereishis 31:30), you longed sorely for your father's house. Their sense is desire and longing.

הַגּוֹי לֹא נִכְסָף (Tzefaniah 2:1) he puts with the rest, a nation that does not long. His father reads it otherwise, a nation that has no shame in it, from the word the Gemara uses (Bava Basra 111a) for a man ashamed.

זָהָב וָכֶסֶף (Shemos 25:3), gold and silver, and the plural כספים in וּלְהָשִׁיב כַּסְפֵּיהֶם אִישׁ אֶל־שַׂקּוֹ (Bereishis 42:25), to put back each man's money into his sack. The sense, he says, is known.

כִּי־מָכְרוּ מִצְרַיִם (Bereishis 47:20), for the Egyptians sold; וְכִי־יִמְכֹּר אִישׁ (Shemos 21:7), if a man sells; וַיִּמְכְּרֵם בְּיַד כּוּשַׁן רִשְׁעָתַיִם (Shoftim 3:8), He sold them into the hand of Kushan Rishasayim; מִכְרָה כַיּוֹם (Bereishis 25:31), sell, this very day. Of being sold: הֵן בַּעֲוֹנֹתֵיכֶם נִמְכַּרְתֶּם (Yeshayahu 50:1), behold, for your sins you were sold, and כִּי נִמְכַּרְנוּ אֲנִי וְעַמִּי (Esther 7:4), for we are sold, I and my people.

אֲשֶׁר הִתְמַכֵּר לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע (Melachim I 21:25), who sold himself to do evil, and הִתְמַכֶּרְךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת הָרַע (Melachim I 21:20), your selling yourself to do evil, are still the sense of selling: from how greatly he exerted himself at the work of sins, it is as though he had sold himself to that work. So also וְהִתְמַכַּרְתֶּם שָׁם לְאֹיְבֶיךָ (Devarim 28:68), and there you will put yourselves up for sale to your enemies.

לְבַד מִמְכָּרָיו עַל־הָאָבוֹת (Devarim 18:8), apart from his sales by the fathers, means apart from what the fathers sold one to another in the days of David and Shmuel, when the watches were fixed and they traded among themselves: you take your week and I will take mine.

In כְּלֵי חָמָס מְכֵרֹתֵיהֶם (Bereishis 49:5), instruments of violence, the last word has been explained as their dwellings, as though it were מגורותיהם, like מְכֹרֹתַיִךְ וּמֹלְדֹתַיִךְ (Yechezkel 16:3), your dwellings and your births, and like בְּאֶרֶץ מְכֻרוֹתַיִךְ (Yechezkel 21:35), in the land of your dwellings. The Targum goes that way: בַּאֲרַע תּוֹתָבוּתְכוֹן אֶתְפְּרַע מִנְכוֹן, in the land of your dwelling I will exact retribution from you. Yelamdenu, on Vayechi, says instead that in this phrase the word is Greek, for they call swords מכיר"י.

מוֹנֶה מִסְפָּר לַכּוֹכָבִים (Tehillim 147:4), counting the number of the stars, and וּמָנִיתִי אֶתְכֶם לַחֶרֶב (Yeshayahu 65:12), I will count you out to the sword. In לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע (Tehillim 90:12), to count our days, so make known, he takes the word as an infinitive; Rabbi Yonah wrote that it is a noun. In וְהַֽמְמַלְאִים לַמְנִי מִמְסָֽךְ (Yeshayahu 65:11), and those who fill mixed wine for מְנִי, Radak takes the noun as מִנְיָן, a count, that is, the count of the stars, which are the seven planets; some explain it as the name of a star.

Rabbi Yehudah set הַמָּנֶה יִהְיֶה לָכֶם (Yechezkel 45:12), the maneh shall be yours, under this sense, and Rabbi Yonah objected to it. Radak answers that even if a maneh is a weight, as his own explanation has it, as in שְׁלֹשֶׁת מָנִים זָהָב (Melachim I 10:17), three maneh of gold, there is still a known number in it: the maneh is sixty shekels and the shekel twenty gerah, and every weight has its known count of how many ounces are in it.

Chazal use מנה sometimes of a weight, the litra, saying מנה דבילה, a maneh of pressed figs, and sometimes of a number, בתולה גובה מאתים ואלמנה מנה (Kesubos 5:1), a virgin collects two hundred and a widow a maneh, which is a hundred zuz. It is one thing either way, since a weight is called a maneh only for the known number in it, those places reckoning a litra at twenty zuz.

עֲשֶׂרֶת מֹנִים (Bereishis 31:41), ten times, which he glosses פעמים, times, the word being used because they are a count.

אֲשֶׁר מִנָּה אֶת־מַאֲכַלְכֶם (Daniel 1:10), who appointed your food, וַיְמַן לָהֶם הַמֶּלֶךְ (Daniel 1:5), the king appointed for them, and וְלֵילוֹת עָמָל מִנּוּ־לִי (Iyov 7:3), nights of toil were assigned to me. In חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת מַן יִנְצְרֻֽהוּ (Tehillim 61:8), appoint kindness and truth, they will guard him, מַן is a shortened command, as צַו is, its full form being מַנֵּה. All of them are ענין הזמנה ומתנה, appointing and giving. The noun is a gift and portion, מְנָת־חֶלְקִי וְכוֹסִי (Tehillim 16:5), the portion of my lot and my cup, and וּמִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת (Esther 9:19), the sending of portions.

וַיִּקְרְאוּ בֵית־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־שְׁמוֹ מָן (Shemos 16:31), the house of Israel called its name mon, and וּמַנְךָ לֹא־מָנַעְתָּ מִפִּיהֶם (Nechemiah 9:20), You did not withhold Your mon from their mouth. Since they knew no name for it they called it מַן, that is, a gift and a portion from Hashem.

Close to the sense of appointing and giving are מְמֻנִּים עַל־הַכֵּלִים (Divrei HaYamim I 9:29), appointed over the vessels, and אֲשֶׁר מִנָּה שַׂר הַסָּֽרִיסִים (Daniel 1:11), whom the chief of the officers had appointed. The Targum of וַיִּפְקֹד שַׂר הַטַּבָּחִים (Bereishis 40:4), and the chief of the slaughterers appointed, is וּמַנֵּי רַב קָטוֹלַיָּא, and the chief of the killers appointed.