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וְאָרַח לְחֶבְרָה עִם פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן (Iyov 34:8), and he goes his way in company with workers of iniquity, is the verb, and the noun it is taken from is אֹרַח, whose sense is דרך, a way: וּכְאֹרַח אִישׁ יַמְצִאֶנּוּ (Iyov 34:11), and according to a man's way He will let it find him, and אָרְחִי וְרִבְעִי זֵרִיתָ (Tehillim 139:3), my way and my lying down You encompass. In the plural, חָדְלוּ אֳרָחוֹת (Shoftim 5:6), the ways ceased, he glosses as those who pass along the ways ceased, and אֳרָחוֹת עֲקַלְקַלּוֹת stands in the same pasuk, crooked ways. וְתִשְׁמוֹר כָּל אָרְחוֹתָי (Iyov 13:27), and You watch all my ways, has a kamatz in Ben Asher's reading and a cholam in Ben Naftali's.

לָאֹרֵחַ הַבָּא לוֹ (Shmuel II 12:4), the traveller who came to him: he is one going, עוֹבֵר אוֹרַח, passing along the way from place to place.

אֹרַח כַּנָּשִׁים (Bereishis 18:11), the way of women, he glosses מנהג כנשים, the custom of women; and likewise כִּי דֶרֶךְ נָשִׁים לִי (Bereishis 31:35), for the way of women is upon me.

אֹרְחַת יִשְׁמְעֵאלִים (Bereishis 37:25), a caravan of Yishmaelim, is as the Targum renders it, שְׁיָרַת עֲרָבָאֵי, a caravan of Arabians; and likewise אֹרְחוֹת דְּדָנִים (Yeshayahu 21:13), caravans of Dedanim. Because caravans are always going along the ways and roads, they themselves were named for the ways.

וַאֲרֻחָתוֹ אֲרֻחַת תָּמִיד (Melachim II 25:30) he glosses as his meal and his upkeep, a continual one, and טוֹב אֲרֻחַת יָרָק (Mishlei 15:17), better a meal of herbs. These, he says, do not fall outside the first sense but are counted within it.

אֲשֶׁר דָּֽרַךְ־בָּהּ (Devarim 1:36), which he trod upon, דָּרַךְ כּוֹכָב מִֽיַּֽעֲקֹב (Bamidbar 24:17), a star has trodden forth from Yaakov, and אֲשֶׁר תִּדְרֹךְ כַּֽף־רַגְלְכֶם (Yehoshua 1:3), that the sole of your foot shall tread. The added form is intransitive in לֹֽא־הִדְרִיכֻוהוּ בְנֵי־שָׁחַץ (Iyov 28:8), that is, the proud beasts have not trodden in it, and in וְהִדְרִיךְ בַּנְּעָלִֽים (Yeshayahu 11:15), and one will tread in sandals. It is transitive in יַדְרֵךְ עֲנָוִים בַּמִּשְׁפָּט (Tehillim 25:9), He makes the humble tread in judgment, and הַדְרִיכֵנִי בַֽאֲמִתֶּךָ (Tehillim 25:5), make me tread in Your truth; and מְנוּחָה הִדְרִיכֻהוּ (Shoftim 20:43) is ממנוחה הדריכוהו, from rest they made him tread, and so Targum Yonasan renders it, מִבֵּית נְיַחֲהוֹן טְרָדוּנוּן, from the house of their rest they drove them. וְהִדְרִיךְ בַּנְּעָלִֽים may also be transitive, to make others tread in sandals. With an added mem, מִדְרַךְ כַּף־רָגֶל (Devarim 2:5), the treading of the sole of a foot; and in this sense תִּדְרְכִי נַפְשִׁי עֹֽז (Shoftim 5:21), tread, my soul, in strength, which lacks the beis of service and means you shall trample the enemies in strength.

דֶּרֶךְ הַמֶּלֶךְ נֵלֵךְ (Bamidbar 20:17), we will go by the king's way, and זֶה הַדֶּרֶךְ לְכוּ בוֹ (Yeshayahu 30:21), this is the way, walk in it. לַעֲשׂוֹת דַּרְכּֽוֹ (Shoftim 17:8), to make his way, is to make his way on from them and to stay there. In פֶּן־יֶאֱנַף וְתֹאבְדוּ דֶרֶךְ (Tehillim 2:12), lest He be angry and you perish, the word דרך means that you will perish on account of the way, that is, because your way is one that perishes, as it says וְדֶרֶךְ רְשָׁעִים תֹּאבֵֽד (Tehillim 1:6), and the way of the wicked shall perish. In the same manner נֹבֶלֶת עָלֶהָ (Yeshayahu 1:30), withering of leaf, is one whose leaves wither.

אָֽנֹכִי הֹלֵךְ בְּדֶרֶךְ כָּל־הָאָרֶץ (Melachim I 2:2), I am going in the way of all the earth, is according to custom; in כִּֽי־הִשְׁחִית כָּל־בָּשָׂר אֶת־דַּרְכּוֹ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ (Bereishis 6:12), for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth, the way is its custom; and כִּי־דֶרֶךְ נָשִׁים לִי (Bereishis 31:35), for the way of women is upon me, is the custom of women, which is niddah, and so אֹרַח כַּנָּשִֽׁים (Bereishis 18:11), the way of women. וּמַטֵּהוּ יִשָּֽׂא־עָלֶיךָ בְּדֶרֶךְ מִצְרָֽיִם (Yeshayahu 10:24), and he will lift his staff over you in the way of Mitzrayim, is after the custom of Mitzrayim, as the Egyptians used to strike you. So too וּנְשָׂאוֹ בְּדֶרֶךְ מִצְרָֽיִם (Yeshayahu 10:26) is after His custom, what He did in Mitzrayim, and the great hand He showed against them. וּנְשָׂאוֹ may mean He will lift him off you and make an end of him; or it may be said of the staff, that He will raise His staff over him as He did in Mitzrayim, and so ומטהו על הים, and His staff over the sea, is that He will rouse His staff over him as He roused it over the sea when the Egyptians drowned.

וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ מֵֽעֲשׂוֹת דְּרָכֶיךָ (Yeshayahu 58:13), and you honour it by not doing your ways; דְּרָכַי סִפַּרְתִּי וַֽתַּֽעֲנֵנִי (Tehillim 119:26), I told of my ways and You answered me; and וּדְרָכֶיךָ לַמְחוֹת מְלָכִֽין (Mishlei 31:3), nor your ways to what destroys kings. These are all one sense, since a man's desires, his dealings and whatever he exerts himself in are all called דֶּרֶךְ; and so are the mitzvos and the aveiros, as אֶת־הַדֶּרֶךְ יֵלְכוּ בָהּ (Shemos 18:20), the way they shall walk in, and דֶּרֶךְ צַדִּיקִים (Tehillim 1:6), the way of the righteous. In דַּֽרְכֵי עַמִּי (Yirmiyahu 12:16), the ways of My people, the dalet is held by a ga'ya, and the Mesorah notes it as the only one with a ga'ya.

כְּדֹרֵךְ בְּגַֽת (Yeshayahu 63:2), as one treading in a winepress; אַתָּה תִדְרֹֽךְ־זַיִת וְלֹֽא־תָסוּךְ שֶׁמֶן (Michah 6:15), you shall tread olives and not anoint with oil, which Ben Asher reads with a cholam and Ben Naftali with a kamatz chatuf; and דֹֽרְכִים גִּתּוֹת בַּשַּׁבָּת (Nechemiah 13:15), treading winepresses on Shabbos. כְּגֹרֶן עֵת הִדְרִיכָהּ (Yirmiyahu 51:33) is like a threshing floor at the time of its treading, and the sense of these is trampling and threshing. So too דָּרַכְתָּ בַיָּם סוּסֶיךָ (Chavakuk 3:15), You trod Your horses in the sea, means that as You trod them in the sea, so they trod in the mire of many waters; or else that You trod in the sea upon Your horses, which are the clouds.

In the sense of drawing and bending the bow, דָּרַךְ קַשְׁתּוֹ (Eichah 2:4), he drew his bow, and וְכָל־קַשְּׁתֹתָיו דְּרֻכוֹת (Yeshayahu 5:28), and all his bows are drawn. Since in drawing the bow the arrow is drawn as well, it is said of the arrow too: דָּרְכוּ חִצָּם דָּבָר מָֽר (Tehillim 64:4), they drew their arrow, a bitter word. The heavy form is וַֽיַּדְרְכוּ אֶת־לְשׁוֹנָם (Yirmiyahu 9:2), and they bend their tongue, which by rule would be וידריכו.

יְפַלֵּס נָתִיב לְאַפּוֹ (Tehillim 78:50), He levelled a path for His anger; נָתִיב לֹֽא־יְדָעוֹ עָיִט (Iyov 28:7), a path the bird of prey has not known; הַדְרִיכֵנִי בִּנְתִיב מִצְוֹתֶיךָ (Tehillim 119:35), lead me in the path of Your mitzvos.

וְדֶרֶךְ נְתִיבָה אַל־מָֽוֶת (Mishlei 12:28), and the way of her path is no death, where the heh is weak though it should have carried a mappik. With the feminine heh: וּבְמַיִם עַזִּים נְתִיבָֽה (Yeshayahu 43:16), a path in mighty waters, and מְנַע רַגְלְךָ מִנְּתִֽיבָתָֽם (Mishlei 1:15), keep your foot from their path. The plural is בִּנְתִיבוֹת לֹא־יָדְעוּ אַדְרִיכֵם (Yeshayahu 42:16), in paths they have not known I shall lead them. Its sense is as a way.

Rabbi Yonah set down under this root several different senses: one for סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ הַֽמְסִלָּה (Yeshayahu 62:10), clear, clear the highway; another for סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּֽעֲרָבוֹת (Tehillim 68:5), extol Him who rides in the plains, and עֽוֹדְךָ מִסְתּוֹלֵל (Shemos 9:17), you still exalt yourself; and another for the mesillos of the house of Hashem (Divrei HaYamim II 9:11). Radak holds that they are all one sense, that of raising and lifting high.

On his own reading, סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ הַֽמְסִלָּה is lift the stones and the stumbling blocks out of the way; and because it is usual to clear the stones and lift the obstacles from a road, the road itself came to be called מְסִלָּה. So דֶּרֶךְ לֹא סְלוּלָֽה (Yirmiyahu 18:15), a way not cleared, is one whose obstacles have not been lifted from it.

Radak's father explains מְסִלָּה as a road raised with stones laid into it, and brings סַקְּלוּ מֵאֶבֶן (Yeshayahu 62:10) with it, the sense being that they built the road of strong stones. On his father's reading, so too it says וּמְסִלֹּתַי יְרֻמֽוּן (Yeshayahu 49:11), and My highways shall be raised, and in the same way סֹלּוּ סֹלּוּ is that they should raise the highway.

The timber on which stones are lifted and thrown into a city is called סֹלְלָה: כִּרְתוּ עֵצָה וְשִׁפְכוּ עַל־יְרֽוּשָׁלַם סֹֽלְלָה (Yirmiyahu 6:6), cut down her trees and pour out a siege work against Yerushalayim, and הַסֹּֽלְלוֹת בָּאוּ הָעִיר לְלָכְדָהּ (Yirmiyahu 32:24), the siege works have reached the city to take it. Yonasan renders וְצָבְרִין מִלֵיתָא, and they heap up a mound, מליתא being a heap of earth in the words of Chazal (Bava Basra 54a), and every סֹלְלָה he renders so. At הַנְּתֻצִים אֶל־הַסֹּֽלְלוֹת (Yirmiyahu 33:4), the houses torn down for the mounds, he renders that they tear them down and heap up mounds to strengthen the wall against those who kill with the sword. Radak explains that the townsmen would pull down the houses and make heaps of the stones against the wall from within to strengthen it, and says Yonasan's explanation is correct. Of the same matter is וַיִּצְבֹּר עָפָר וַיִּלְכְּדָֽהּ (Chavakuk 1:10), he heaped up earth and took it.

סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּֽעֲרָבוֹת, extol Him who rides in the plains, is exalt Him and magnify Him, and so מְסִלּוֹת בִּלְבָבָֽם (Tehillim 84:6), exaltations in their heart. So too the four-letter word with its first root letter doubled, סַלְסְלֶ֥הָ וּתְרֽוֹמְמֶ֑ךָּ (Mishlei 4:8), exalt her and she will raise you, and מִסְתּוֹלֵל בְּעַמִּי (Shemos 9:17), exalting yourself over My people, that is, lifting himself up over them and taking pride against them so as not to send them out.

The mesillos of the house of Hashem (Divrei HaYamim II 9:11) can be read as ceilings, called so for their height, or as steps, called so because they are like a road that men tread always. But since Melachim has מסעד, a support, for the house of Hashem where this has מְסִלּוֹת, Radak explains מסילות in the sense of a support: the ceiling, as he said, being a support too, or else some other structure, like pillars, made for support and strength.

Another sense altogether is סִלּוֹן מַמְאִיר (Yechezkel 28:24), a pricking thorn, and כִּי סָֽרָבִים וְסַלּוֹנִים (Yechezkel 2:6), for briers and thorns, whose sense is like a thorn.

Radak says at the outset that וַיָּסֹלּוּ may be another sense, though Rabbi Yehudah and Rabbi Yonah brought it under this root. Radak himself counts it as the simple verb of the thorn sense, and so wrote the sage Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra, Rabbi Yehudah ben Balaam, and Radak's father. The two pesukim are וַיָּסֹלּוּ עָלַי דַּרְכָּם (Iyov 19:12), their way against me, and וַיָּסֹלּוּ עָלַי אָרְחוֹת אֵידָֽם (Iyov 30:12), against me the paths of their ruin; Radak does not say what the verb means in either.

עָגֹל סָבִיב (Melachim I 7:35), round about, and מְרֻבָּעוֹת לֹא עֲגֻלּוֹת (Melachim I 7:31), square and not round.

The noun is וְשָׁאוּל שֹׁכֵב בַּמַּעְגָּל (Shmuel I 26:5), and Shaul lay in the מַעְגָּל, which is the place of the camp; with a heh added, וַיָּבֹא הַמַּעְגָּלָה (Shmuel I 17:20), and he came to the camp. It is called so because in a camp they encamp around, in a ring. In יָשָׁר מַעְגַּל צַדִּיק תְּפַלֵּס (Yeshayahu 26:7), You level the straight way of the righteous, and the plural בְמַעְגְּלֵי צֶדֶק (Tehillim 23:3), in ways of righteousness, the sense is the way and the highway.

עָגִיל is an ear ornament: טַבַּעַת עָגִיל (Bamidbar 31:50), ring, earring, and so וַעֲגִילִים עַל אָזְנָיִךְ (Yechezkel 16:12), and earrings on your ears. עֵגֶל בֶּן בָּקָר (Vayikra 9:2), a calf of the herd. עֶגְלָה מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת (Bereishis 15:9), a heifer, threefold, is three heifers; it cannot mean one three years old, since at three years she would be called a פרה, a cow. עֲגָלָה חֲדָשָׁה (Shmuel I 6:7), a new wagon: the wagon is called so because it is round.

רָחַב פִּי עַל־אוֹיְבַי (Shmuel I 2:1), my mouth is opened wide over my enemies. On וּפָחַד וְרָחַב לְבָבֵךְ (Yeshayahu 60:5), your heart shall fear and grow broad, Radak explains that they will fear the honoured Name when they see the abundance of good, as at Hoshea 3:5, where they come trembling to Hashem and to His goodness; and broad after the troubles they were in at first, for now the heart will be broad and glad.

וְרֹחַב לֵב כַּחוֹל (Melachim I 5:9), breadth of heart like the sand, means that in everything needing understanding he had a broad heart. Radak argues that כַּחוֹל, like the sand, does not describe the breadth of heart itself, since what describes breadth is a measure and not a number, as in וּרְחָבָה מִנִּי־יָֽם (Iyov 11:9), broader than the sea. Rather the sand describes all the things that need understanding, which are as the sand on the seashore, and Shlomo had breadth of heart for them all. So too לִתְבוּנָתוֹ אֵין מִסְפָּֽר (Tehillim 147:5), of His understanding there is no number, means that the things He understands are without number, since what describes understanding itself is searching, as in אֵין חֵקֶר לִתְבוּנָתֽוֹ (Yeshayahu 40:28), His understanding is past searching.

וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת רֹחַב (Shemos 27:1), five amos broad; לְאָרְכָּהּ וּלְרָחְבָּהּ (Bereishis 13:17), to its length and to its breadth. וְאֶתְהַלְּכָה בָרְחָבָה (Tehillim 119:45), I shall walk in a wide place, is a name for the broad ground; כִּי בָֽרְחוֹב נָלִֽין (Bereishis 19:2), we shall spend the night in the square; the plural, in the feminine form, בְּתוֹךְ רְחֹבוֹת אֵֽרָצֵֽחַ (Mishlei 22:13), I shall be slain in the streets; and וַיּוֹצִיאֵנִי לַמֶּרְחָב (Tehillim 18:20), He brought me out to open ground.

וּרְחַב יָדָיִם (Tehillim 104:25), broad of hands; רְחַב ־נֶפֶשׁ יְגָרֶה מָדוֹן (Mishlei 28:25), the broad of soul stirs up strife; for the feminine רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹֽד (Tehillim 119:96), Your mitzvah is exceedingly broad, and וְהָאָרֶץ רַֽחֲבַת יָדַיִם (Divrei HaYamim I 4:40), the land was broad of hands.

הִרְחִיבָה שְּׁאוֹל נַפְשָׁהּ (Yeshayahu 5:14), she'ol has widened her appetite; בַּצָּר הִרְחַבְתָּ לִּי (Tehillim 4:2), in straits You gave me room; הַרְחֶב ־פִּיךָ וַֽאֲמַלְאֵֽהוּ (Tehillim 81:11), open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.

צָרוֹת לְבָבִי הִרְחִיבוּ (Tehillim 25:17), the troubles of my heart have widened, is also a verb that takes an object: the troubles of my heart have widened their place and border within my heart by their number, pressing on my heart and widening their place and border in it. Radak notes that the pasuk speaks with elegance here, joining two words in one matter, the one being the opposite of the other.

שְׁבִילֵי עוֹלָם (Yirmiyahu 18:15), the ancient ways, and וּשְׁבִילְךָ בְּמַיִם רַבִּים (Tehillim 77:20), Your way in the great waters: it is the way.

From it the leg, or the shin, is called שֹׁבֶל: חֶשְׂפִּי שֹׁבֶל (Yeshayahu 47:2), bare the leg, as the pasuk goes on גַּלִּי שׁוֹק עִבְרִי נְהָרוֹת, uncover the shin, cross rivers. The Midrash Chazis explains it from שבולת, the current of the river: חשפי שובל is קלופי שבלתא דנהרא, strip off the current of the river. Rabbi Yonah wrote it from the ear of grain, uncover the locks of your hair, by way of likeness.

וָאֲלַקֳטָה בַשִּׁבֳּלִים (Rus 2:2), let me glean among the ears of grain, whose sense is known. The rush of water, the place where water runs down with force, is called שִׁבֹּלֶת as well: אַל תִּשְׁטְפֵנִי שִׁבֹּלֶת מַיִם (Tehillim 69:16), let not the rush of water sweep me away. That is why the test was אֱמָר נָא שִׁבֹּלֶת וַיֹּאמֶר סִבֹּלֶת (Shoftim 12:6), say now shibboles, and he said sibboles: at that place there was a rush of water, running there with force, and they tried a man by what was there where they stood.

שַׁבְּלוּל תֶּמֶס יַהֲלֹךְ (Tehillim 58:9), a snail that melts as it goes: it is a creeping thing, the snail. Chazal say (Shabbos 77b) that of all the Holy One created in His world He created nothing for nothing, and He created the snail for the כתית, a wound. This means that the snail is crushed and laid on the wound, and it is a remedy for it. The כתית is the wound called סמיטא in the language of Chazal (Avodah Zarah 28a), and it is known.

מִי מָדַד בְּשָׁעֳלוֹ מַיִם (Yeshayahu 40:12), who measured the waters by his fistful. In another pattern לִשְׁעָלִים לְכָל הָעָם (Melachim I 20:10), fistfuls for all the people, and בְּשַׁעֲלֵי שְׂעֹרִים (Yechezkel 13:19), for fistfuls of barley. Their sense is like a fist, that is, a fistful.

בְּמִשְׁעוֹל הַכְּרָמִים (Bamidbar 22:24), in the path of the vineyards, is a path. From the sense of this root the vineyard path is called משעול, because it is a narrow road with no more width to it than the measure a man needs to walk along it.

From this sense Targum Yonasan renders לִשְׁעָלִים לְכָל הָעָם אֲשֶׁר בְּרַגְלָי, fistfuls for all the people at my feet, as לְמֵיסַב בִּשְׁעוֹלֵי פַרְסַת רִגְלֵי עַמָא דְעִמִי, to take up in the hollows of the soles of the feet of the people who are with me. Radak explains this as the dust that clings to the soles of their feet.

אִם־יַֽעֲלֶה שׁוּעָל וּפָרַץ (Nechemiah 3:35), if a fox goes up he will breach it, and שֽׁוּעָלִים קְטַנִּים (Shir HaShirim 2:15), little foxes. Radak says the animal is known, and gives it no further gloss.