What’s in a Word?

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secret

סוד · רז · רזא · טמיר · כמוס · דבר סתר

Bottom line

Sod in Tanach is counsel or council (the circle of advisors and the advice they give: Radak, uniting Ibn Janach's two senses); only in Chazal does it become secret, the confidence shared with a few. The Biblical word for a secret proper is dvar seter, a hidden matter (Pappenheim). Kamus is stored away, sealed up (Devarim 32:34, once only): classified information. Raz (Aramaic, Daniel) is mystery, an idea closed off from the many (Rashi: seter, satum). Tamir is Aramaic hidden, Targum's word for most Hebrew hiding-words. The thing not to get wrong: in a pasuk, סוד is usually "counsel" or "assembly," not "secret"; in a Gemara or a mussar sefer it is "secret."

Distinctions

sod (סוד)

Root ס-ו-ד (Ibn Janach, Radak) or the biliteral SAMECH-DALET (Ibn Saruk, Pappenheim). Ibn Janach (Sefer HaShorashim): two senses, a gathering of people (Amos 3:7, Hashem reveals His sod to the prophets) and advice (Mishlei 15:22, plans fail without sod). Radak (Shorashim): one sense, the council one takes counsel from, like English "counsel/council." Hence the piyut rubric misod chachamim u'nevonim means "from the counsel of the sages," not from any secret. The Rabbinic sense follows: only intimates hear one's plans, so sod became confidential matter (Eruvin 65a, "wine in, sod out"; Pesachim 49b; Chagigah 14a; Yevamos 63b), and sod ha'ibbur (Rosh HaShanah 20b) is calendar lore taught in remazim (Rashi). Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 49:6): SAMECH/ZAYIN/TZADI-VAV-DALET all mean a plan fomenting in the depths of thought: nazid the simmering dish, meizid the premeditated act, tzad the trap carried out, sod the plan shared for consultation. Pappenheim: SAMECH-DALET is "foundation" (yesod); the axioms are yesodos and the less-apparent conclusions drawn from them are sodos, confined to one's own mind or a small circle. Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg starts instead from sad, the prisoner's fetter (Iyov 13:27): a sod is information "tied down" so it cannot escape, and a council is a body tied together.

dvar seter (דבר סתר) and kamus (כמוס)

Pappenheim: the true Biblical "secret" is dvar seter, Ehud's "hidden matter" for Eglon (Shoftim 3:19), from SAMECH-TAV-REISH, hiding. Kamus, KAF-MEM- SAMECH, is a hapax: "Is it not kamus with Me, sealed in My storehouses" (Devarim 32:34), what Hashem alone knows of Israel's deeds. Rav Hirsch (to Shemos 35:22, Vayikra 2:2, Devarim 32:34) joins it to kamatz, gathered and minimized: protected, classified information. Rabbi Avi Kobernick reads it with its metathesis SAMECH-MEM-KAF, "adjacent": a secret kept close. The compound sod kamus, "a closely kept secret," is a paytan's coinage (Rabbi Yitzchak Ibn Ghiyyat).

raz (רז, רזא)

Aramaic (Daniel 2:18-47, 4:6), perhaps once in Hebrew (Yeshayahu 24:16). Rashi (to Daniel 2:19, 2:47; Sanhedrin 94a) glosses seter; to Daniel 4:6, satum: an idea closed and sealed from the masses. Pappenheim and Malbim (to Iyov 15:12) trace rezem (Iyov 15:12) and Mishnaic remez (Gittin 5:7), hinting, to the biliteral REISH-ZAYIN, "hidden": a wink tells those in the know that one holds the secret; and roznim, nobles (Shoftim 5:3; Yeshayahu 40:23; Tehillim 2:2; Mishlei 8:15), are those privy to what the common people are not. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (Tishbi): the angel Raziel is named from raz, Hashem's keeper of secrets. The Chassidei Ashkenaz read zer and mashzar in the Mishkan as allusions to the razin within; Rabbi Dov Kook notes the gematria of raz/zar.

tamir (טמיר)

Aramaic. Targum uses it for tamun (Bereishis 35:4; Shemos 2:12; Yirmiyahu 13:5), kisui (Iyov 36:32), seter (Tehillim 10:11, 27:5, 32:7, 139:15), and mischabeh (Shmuel I 10:22); Targum Yonasan renders kamus as tumrah. Rabbi Ernest Klein relates it to Hebrew ט-מ-ן by nun/reish interchange. The Maggid of Rabbi Yosef Karo called Rabbeinu Yerucham "Yerucham Tamiri," and the Chida records that his works belong to "the secret of the Hidden World."

Rendering guidance

  • סוד in Tanach: "counsel," "council," "assembly" (סוד ה' ליראיו, "the counsel of Hashem is for those who fear Him"). Check Radak before writing "secret."
  • סוד in Chazal and mussar: "secret"; סודות התורה "the secrets of the Torah"; בסוד "in confidence." A whispered-among-a-few nuance is in the word (Ralash in the hidden entry: sod is spoken quietly, seter known to one alone).
  • דבר סתר: "a secret matter," "a private word." סתר alone: "secrecy," "hiding."
  • כמוס: "stored away," "sealed up," "kept secret"; סוד כמוס "a closely guarded secret."
  • רז: "mystery" (of Daniel, of Kabbalah); רזין דאורייתא "the mysteries of the Torah." Keep "mystery" for רז and "secret" for סוד so the two stay distinct.
  • רמז: "hint," "allusion"; never "secret," though the root is the same.
  • טמיר: "hidden," "concealed"; טמיר ונעלם "hidden and unknowable."
  • Trap: "secret" absorbs סוד, סתר, כמוס, and רז. In a list or a doubled pair (סוד ורז, נסתר וכמוס) give each its own English: counsel/secret, hidden, sealed up, mystery.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Sukkos - Bereishis - Revealing the Secret," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 13 Tishrei 5783 (2022-10-08): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/10130-sukkos-bereishis-revealing-the-secret.md. Primary loci the article cites: Ibn Janach and Radak, Sefer HaShorashim s.v. סוד; Amos 3:7; Mishlei 15:22; Rav Hirsch to Bereishis 49:6; Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo s.v. SAMECH-DALET and REISH-ZAYIN; Shoftim 3:19; Devarim 32:34 with Rav Hirsch and Targum Yonasan; Daniel 2:18-47, 4:6 with Rashi; Eruvin 65a; Pesachim 49b; Chagigah 14a; Yevamos 63b; Rosh HaShanah 20b with Rashi; Iyov 13:27 (sad), 15:12 (rezem); Gittin 5:7; Sefer Tishbi s.v. Raziel; Maggid Meisharim to Vayakhel and Tzav.