body
sleep
At a glance
In short
Sheinah is ordinary sleep, and doubles as the general term. Tardeimah is deep sleep, the sleep that overpowers a man rather than being chosen. Tenumah is drowsiness or dozing, the half-asleep state in which one still answers to his name. Linah, technically speaking, means leaving something overnight rather than sleeping, though it generally takes in the hours people sleep; it is said of meat and of a corpse as readily as of a guest. Ibn Ezra ranks tenumah under sheinah under tardeimah, and Radak, Peirush HaRokeach, Rabbi Sternbuch, Rabbi Wertheimer and Rabbi Yosef Nechemias follow that ranking or a similar one; the Netziv disagrees with it and makes tardeimah the lighter sleep of one just dropping off, which is why it precedes vayishan. Both readings stand.
Distinctions
Sheinah (שינה)
- The triliteral lexicographers, Ibn Chayyuj (945-1000), Ibn Janach (990-1050) and Radak (1160-1235), give the root י-ש-ן.
- Rabbi Yitzchak Zeldin (18th-century Germany, Shoresh Yesha) notes the root carries both "sleep" and "old" and says the two meanings are one and the same; Rabbi Klein calls the remark a bit unclear and reads it, tentatively, as Rav Hirsch's point (to Bereishis 24:1), that the older a man gets the more his energy is sapped and the more he needs sleep.
- The biliteralist Menachem Ibn Saruk (920-970), in Machberes Menachem, gives ש-ן, whose core meaning Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim defines as "doubling" (shnayim, shanah to repeat, shinun sharpening by repeated rubbing, shinui change, shein the tooth because most people grow two sets, shanah the year, yashan the old); sheinah belongs there because a sleeping man rehashes the day's thoughts a second time.
- Rav Hirsch: sheinah is ordinary sleep, the senses weakened and languid but not wholly severed, and he groups yashein with yashan, ishon laylah (Mishlei 7:9, "the black of night") and ishon bas ayin (Tehillim 17:8, the pupil), all words for the lack of something, sleep being a lack of sentience and animation though not a total blackout.
Rabbi Aharon Marcus (1843-1916) locates the core of sheinah in the letter shin alone, which he claims is universally associated in all languages with quiet and silence, as in the onomatopoetic shushing of a person. Rabbi Klein takes Rabbi Marcus's point to be, seemingly, that a sleeping man is silent, so the very word for sleep carries quietness.
Tardeimah (תרדמה)
All the early lexicographers, Ibn Saruk this time included, give ר-ד-ם.
- Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 2:21) links it to ר-ת-ם, tying, through the dalet-tav interchange: in tardeimah all the bodily senses are metaphorically tied down and the man loses his ability to move about consciously, as though fettered. Rav Hirsch further speculates that when Eliyahu HaNavi asked Hashem to take his life he sat under a rosem tree (I Melachim 19:4) because that tree has some narcotic effect conducive to falling asleep.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim derives it from the biliteral ר-ד, descending or downward movement (yeridah), the root of rodeh (governing by keeping subordinates down so they cannot assert themselves, Bereishis 1:28; Vayikra 25:43) and meridah (rebellion, the plebs breaking free of that yoke); tardeimah is accordingly sleep that overpowers a man and lords itself over him, taking him unwilling in the middle of whatever else he was doing, and Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Tedeschi-Ashkenazi (1821-1898) reads it similarly.
In Modern Hebrew the cognate radum is a person sedated or tranquilized, who may still technically be awake and lucid.
Bereishis Rabbah 17:5 and 44:17: tardeimah appears in three contexts, ordinary slumber (Adam), prophetic slumber (Avraham, Bereishis 15:12), and mortima, which some commentators explain as a death-like slumber, taking the word as a loan from the Latin mortis, forebear of English mortal, mortuary, mortician and mortgage, while others see it as an animal's winter hibernation. Radal and Yidei Moshe (to Bereishis Rabbah there) suggest emending the Midrash to read durmitah instead of mortima.
Tenumah (תנומה)
Root נ-ו-ם (Ibn Chayyuj, Ibn Janach, Radak) or the biliteral נ-ם (Ibn Saruk, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim). The Mishnah's misnamnem (Yoma 1:7; Pesachim 10:8; Megillah 2:2) is its diminutive, formed by doubling the two core consonants, and the Gemara defines it (Megillah 18b): nim velo nim, tir velo tir (nim being an Aramaic form of tenumah, tir "awake"), a state in which a man called by name answers, cannot give a logical answer to a question, but can recognize a correct one. Rabbi Tedeschi-Ashkenazi ties the word to ne'um, "the word of," since one in that state can still talk coherently; he reads sheinah, by contrast, as onomatopoeia, its original form yashein deriving from the snoring sound a sleeper makes.
The piyyut Melech Elyon of Rosh Hashanah contrasts human kings, who are subject to tenumah and tardeimah, with the King of Kings, whose potency lasts forever without respite. Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky (1927-2021) finds an allusion to this in Bereishis Rabbah 8:10, that when Hashem first created man the ministering angels took him for God, so Hashem made him fall asleep and they saw he was a mere mortal.
The three ranked
- Ibn Ezra (to Bereishis 2:21; Koheles 12:2): tardeimah deeper than sheinah, sheinah deeper than tenumah. Radak (to Bereishis 2:21, Tehillim 121:4, and Sefer HaShorashim) cites this and adds that the vayishan following tardeimah in one pasuk is a later stage, ordinary sleep during which Adam could feel, while he recovered. Peirush HaRokeach (to Bereishis 2:21) likewise makes tardeimah an especially strong sheinah, under which Adam would not feel the rib removed, and (to Bereishis 15:12) explains that Hashem brought a tardeimah on Avraham before the Bris Bein HaBesarim so that he would not wake before receiving the whole prophecy.
- Rambam (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4) sets the two together in the shofar charge: awake, sleepers, from your sheinah, and let the slumberers rouse themselves from your tardeimah, search your deeds and return in teshuvah. Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch (Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem) infers two types of sinner from that wording, following Ibn Ezra's model: one who serves Hashem properly in general and has lately fallen out of line, easily roused, and one long astray in a deeper way who takes more effort to wake. Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer cites a similar explanation and ties the pair to the two shofar sounds, the plain tekiah for those in sheinah and the broken teruah for those in the deeper tardeimah.
- Rabbi Yosef Nechemias (to Mishlei 6:11), also following Ibn Ezra's basic approach, counts five terms, adding linah as the time for sleeping and shechivah as the act of lying down to sleep.
- The Vilna Gaon (1720-1797, to Mishlei 6:4): in sheinah a man is so deeply immersed that he has lost the capacity for thinking, in tenumah the lids are shut but the mind is still at work; elsewhere (to Berachos 60b), the eyes are at rest in sheinah and, though closed, not technically at rest in tenumah. Rabbi Klein admits he is not sure what exactly the Gaon means, and wonders whether the Gaon was alluding to the two modes of sleep neurologists recognize, one of them marked by rapid eye movement.
- Rabbi Avraham Bedersi (Chosam Tochnis), the earliest scholar to work on Hebrew synonyms, makes it circumstantial, not a matter of depth: sheinah goes with rest and tranquility, tenumah with indolence and laziness, and tardeimah he first defines as the end of a long sleep and then suggests is the sleep one falls into in a state of extreme fright, his proof-text being the pasuk where a tardeimah falls on Avraham and a dark dread falls on him immediately after (Bereishis 15:12). Elsewhere in that work Bedersi compares sheinah, whose meaning he asserts is well known, with hozim (Yeshayahu 56:10), which he takes for an especially long-lasting slumber like a dog that oversleeps; he admits that most other commentators explain hozim as people who say exaggerated or unrealistic things in a sort of delirium (compare Modern Hebrew hazui). Rabbi Tedeschi-Ashkenazi synthesizes the two: hozim are people who say nonsensical things in passing ecstatic bouts of insanity, those who talk in their sleep included.
- Malbim (1809-1879, to Yeshayahu 5:27): sheinah is the regular, naturally-occurring sleep, tenumah sleep caused by extraordinary exhaustion; elsewhere (Tehillim 121:4) he varies this slightly, making sheinah the umbrella term covering every kind of sleep and tenumah one kind under it, the kind induced by extraordinary tiredness.
- The Netziv (1816-1893, HaEmek Davar to Bereishis 2:21) disagrees with Ibn Ezra's ranking: tardeimah denotes not a deeper but a lighter sleep, that of one just dropping off, which is why in Adam's case it precedes vayishan. Rabbi Wertheimer entertains possible support for this position from Targum Onkelos to Bereishis 2:21, but ultimately rejects that proof.
- Rabbi Ezra Reuven Dangoor (1848-1930), Chief Rabbi of Baghdad, similarly makes tenumah the first stage of sheinah; he does not explicitly say it is a lighter quality of sleep, only that it is an earlier chronological stage in the cycle. Rabbi Wertheimer infers the same from Rambam's commentary to the Mishnah (Pesachim 10:8), arguing further that sheinah is the general term for sleeping while tenumah is specifically the beginning of it.
- Dr. Alexander Kohut (1842-1894) cites a passage from the then-unpublished Ikkarei HaTalmud of Rabbi Avraham Zacut (1450-1515): tenumah is lighter than sheinah, the broken sleep of one whose suffering keeps him from falling fast asleep, perhaps an insomniac; sheinah is the natural sleep most people get nightly; and tardeimah is the deep sleep that befalls one so subsumed in his suffering that he has no other recourse but to sleep, as a suicidal person gives up on life and dies.
Linah (לינה) and durmita (דורמיטא)
Roots ל-ו-ן and ל-י-ן (or ל-ן per Ibn Saruk); Shadal (to Bereishis 24:23) already clarifies that both roots mean exactly the same thing despite the different middle letter. Eliezer asked whether there was room lalin and Rivkah answered that there was place lalun (Bereishis 24:23-24), that is, room to stay the night. But technically linah has nothing to do with sleeping; it is leaving something overnight, which generally includes the hours people sleep without entailing sleep at all. Hence it governs sacrificial meat left past its time (Shemos 23:18, 34:25; Devarim 16:4), a day-worker left unpaid overnight (Vayikra 19:13), and an executed criminal's body left hanging (Devarim 21:23), where the subject is not even a living person. Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim ties linah etymologically to laylah, tracing both to the biliteral ל-ל (see also HaKsav VeHaKabbalah to Devarim 21:23). Malon, from the same root, is any place one stays overnight (Bereishis 42:27; Shemos 4:24; Yehoshua 4:3; Yeshayahu 10:29), and in Modern Hebrew a hotel. The root ל-ו-ן also gives "complaining," a wholly different concept, which Rav Hirsch (to Shemos 15:24) bridges as the common notion of seeking protection and safety: in linah safe lodging for the night, in complaining the solace of airing one's grievances in the hope that someone will help.
As for durmita, the Zohar (Vayigash 207b, see also Naso 142b) uses the word and associates it with misah, death, presumably on the phonetic similarity, though durmita is spelled with a tes and misah with a tav. Rabbi Chaim Vital (1543-1620) claims durmita is the Zoharic Aramaic for sleep, implying the Targum uses it to render tardeimah. The Aderet, Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim (1843-1905), correctly points out that the Targumim never do: Targum consistently renders tardeimah with an Aramaicized form of the Hebrew sheinah, sheinsa (Bereishis 2:21; Mishlei 19:15; Iyov 4:13, 33:15). Durmita is not an Aramaic word at all, appearing nowhere in the Talmud or any other Aramaic document.
So what is it? Rabbi Klein's own answer, as far as he can tell: durmita is of Romance etymology. He theorizes that the word is related to the Latin dormire, "sleeping," ancestor of English dormant and dormitory (French dormant, Spanish durmiendo, Catalan dorment). Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak (Jared) Greenblatt, a prominent Aramaicist, concurred, adding that when Greek or Latin words are borrowed into Hebrew or Aramaic the t-sound is typically written with tes rather than tav, as here (see also Rema, Even HaEzer 129:31). Rabbi Klein floats a further thought: linguists say the Latin dormire derives from the Proto-Indo-European root drem-, and since drem- uses the same three consonants as tardeimah with the first two switched, perhaps the connection between durmita and tardeimah should be reconsidered after all. Linguists agree that the English word dream has nothing to do with any of this.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
י-ש-ן
To sleep, with sleep and the sleeper; in another sense old, as in יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן, very old: ישן of last year, נושן of three years.
Sleeping
יָשַׁנְתִּי אָז יָנוּחַֽ לִֽי (Iyov 3:13), "I would have slept, then it would be restful for me", and וְיָֽשְׁנוּ שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יָקִיצוּ (Yirmiyahu 51:39), "and they shall sleep an everlasting sleep and not awake".
The noun, and שֵׁנָֽא with an alef
אַל־תֶּֽאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן־תִּוָּרֵשׁ (Mishlei 20:13), "do not love sleep lest you be dispossessed"; in כֵּן יִתֵּן לִֽידִידוֹ שֵׁנָֽא (Tehillim 127:2), "so He gives His beloved sleep", the alef stands in place of a heh. Without smichus it takes a tav: אִם־אֶתֵּן שְׁנָת לְעֵינָי (Tehillim 132:4), "if I give sleep to my eyes".
One who is asleep
The adjective in וַיִּקַץ כְּיָשֵׁן י"י (Tehillim 78:65), and Hashem awoke as one who sleeps, and אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר (Shir HaShirim 5:2), I am asleep but my heart is awake.
Putting to sleep
The heavy form, whose sense is known: וַתְּיַשְּׁנֵהוּ עַל־בִּרְכֶיהָ (Shoftim 16:19), and she put him to sleep on her knees.
Old, and older still
Another sense: וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּם יָשָׁן (Vayikra 26:10), and you shall eat what is old, and חֲדָשִׁים גַּם־ יְשָׁנִים (Shir HaShirim 7:14), new ones and also old. יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן (Vayikra 26:10) means very old: ישן is of last year, נושן of three years.
יָשַׁנְתִּי אָז יָנוּחַֽ לִֽי (איוב ג, יג), לָבֶטַח וְיָֽשְׁנוּ בַּיְּעָרִֽים (יחזקאל לד, כה), וְיָֽשְׁנוּ שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם וְלֹא יָקִיצוּ (ירמיה נא, לט), וַיִּישָׁן וַֽיַּֽחֲלֹם שֵׁנִית (בראשית מא, ה), כִּי לֹא יִֽשְׁנוּ אִם־לֹא יָרֵעוּ (משלי ד, טז), היו"ד מעמדה בגעיא. עוּרָה לָמָּה תִישַׁן י"י (תהלים מד, כד), אֵינֶנּוּ מַנִּיחַֽ לוֹ לִישֽׁוֹן (קהלת ה, יא), והתאר וַיִּקַץ כְּיָשֵׁן י"י (תהלים עח, סה), אֲנִי יְשֵׁנָה וְלִבִּי עֵר (שיר השירים ה, ב). והשם אַל־תֶּֽאֱהַב שֵׁנָה פֶּן־תִּוָּרֵשׁ (משלי כ, יג), כֵּן יִתֵּן לִֽידִידוֹ שֵׁנָֽא (תהלים קכז, ב), האל"ף תמורת ה"א. מְתוּקָה שְׁנַת הָֽעֹבֵד (קהלת ה, יא), שְׁנַת־עוֹלָם (ירמיה נא, לט). ובלי סמיכות עם התי"ו אִם־אֶתֵּן שְׁנָת לְעֵינָי (תהלים קלב, ד), וּשְׁנָתוֹ נִֽהְיְתָה עָלָֽיו (דניאל ב, א). והפעל הכבד [פִּעֵל] וַתְּיַשְּׁנֵהוּ עַל־בִּרְכֶיהָ (שופטים טז, יט), ידוע. וענין אחר וַֽאֲכַלְתֶּם יָשָׁן (ויקרא כו, י), חֲדָשִׁים גַּם־יְשָׁנִים (שיר השירים ז, יד). והנפעל ממנו [אולי ט"ס] וְנֽוֹשַׁנְתֶּם בָּאָרֶץ (דברים ד, כה). יָשָׁן נוֹשָׁן (ויקרא כו, י), רוצה לומר ישן מאד, ישן של אשתקד, נושן של שלש שנים. צָרַעַת נוֹשֶׁנֶת היא (ויקרא יג, יא), ידוע.
ל-ו-ן
To lodge for the night; some hold it is said also of constant persistence. A second sense, to complain, holding a grievance, mostly takes a dagesh to keep the two apart.
Lodging the night
"And he lodged that night" (Bereishis 32:22), "and we shall lodge in Givah" (Shoftim 19:13), where the root's nun is swallowed into the dagesh of the plural nun. As an adjective, "why do you lodge over against the wall" (Nechemyah 13:21) and "and it shall lodge in the midst of his house" (Zecharyah 5:4), where a segol stands in place of a kamatz. Further: "and Yehoshua lodged" (Yehoshua 8:9), "and he lodged there that night" (Bereishis 32:14), "and they lodged there" (Shoftim 18:4), "for we shall lodge in the street" (Bereishis 19:2), "only do not lodge in the street" (Shoftim 19:20).
Lodging as persistence, as some hold
In the holy tongue, some hold, the word for lodging comes in the sense of persistence: "strength lodges in his neck" (Iyov 41:14), "he shall lodge satisfied, not visited by evil" (Mishlei 19:23), "how long shall it lodge within you" (Yirmiyahu 4:14), and so "and it shall lodge in the midst of his house" (Zecharyah 5:4), and those like them. Their sense is not the night's lodging alone but constant persistence.
My eye and their provocations
וּבְהַמְּרוֹתָם תָּלַן עֵינִֽי (Iyov 17:2), and on their provocations my eye lodges, means that he did not sleep because his companions defied his words and condemned him. Some read it from persistence on a matter, taking "my eye" as his attention: he thinks and dwells on their provocation always. On that reading, since the night's lodging is a ceasing from all business and an applying of oneself to sleep and rest, Iyov said that he was awake at night and his persistence was on their provocations.
What does not lodge with a man
"And man, with what is precious to him, does not lodge" (Tehillim 49:13) means that the precious thing a man has, his money, does not lodge with him at his death, but he leaves it behind; and so at the close of the mizmor, "man with what is precious to him, who does not understand" (Tehillim 49:21), that he does not understand while he is still alive with his money. Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi read it that there is with a man something precious that will not lodge, meaning that it will not lie down and die, and that is the soul; and a man who has not learned and does not understand is therefore like the beasts; and on this reading נַפְשׁוֹ בְּטוֹב תָּלִין, his soul shall lodge in goodness, means that when he dies his soul will rest in goodness.
Causing to lodge, and the lodging place
The transitive: "they make the naked lodge without clothing" (Iyov 24:7), and מָקוֹם לָנוּ לָלִֽין (Bereishis 24:23), a place to lodge us, where לָלִֽין is as though it were לְהָלִין, to give lodging. The reflexive: "he shall lodge in the shadow of Shakai" (Tehillim 91:1). The nouns: "to the lodging place" (Bereishis 43:21), "a wayfarers' lodge" (Yirmiyahu 9:1), and with the feminine heh and a shuruk, "like a hut in a cucumber field" (Yeshayahu 1:8), "and it shall sway like a hut" (Yeshayahu 24:20). That is the watchman's booth, which he lodges in at night, and it is called מלונה because it is not for dwelling in but only for lodging in at night.
The other sense, complaint
"That you have complained against Me" (Bamidbar 14:29), "and the people complained against Moshe" (Shemos 17:3); and with a dagesh in place of the quiescent letter, "and they made the whole congregation complain against him" (Bamidbar 14:36), which is causative upon a third party, "that you complain against Him" (Shemos 16:8), "that you complain against us" (Shemos 16:7). Most of this sense comes with a dagesh, to keep it apart from the other. The noun is "I have heard the complaints" (Shemos 16:12), where the dagesh stands in place of the quiescent letter, for it should have been תְּלוּנוֹת, on the pattern of תְּבוּנוֹת, understandings, and תְּשׁוּבוֹת, answers. In yet another form, "and they complained against Moshe and against Aharon" (Bamidbar 14:2). A telunah is a grievance.
וְהוּא לָן בַּלַּֽיְלָה־הַהוּא (בראשית לב, כב). וְלַנּוּ בַגִּבְעָה (שופטים יט, יג), נו"ן השרש נבלעת בדגש נו"ן הרבים ומשפטו וְלַנְנוּ. והתאר מַדּוּעַ אַתֶּם לֵנִים נֶגֶד הַחוֹמָה (נחמיה יג, כא), בפלס אִם־כֵּנִים אַתֶּם (בראשית מב, יט), וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ (זכריה ה, ד), הסגול מקום קמץ. וכן וְהַזּוּרֶה תִּבָּקַע אֶפְעֶֽה (ישעיה נט, ה). והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] וַיָּלֶן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (יהושע ח, ט), וַיָּלֶן שָׁם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא (בראשית לב, יד), בְּֽצַוָּארוֹ יָלִין עֹז (איוב מא, יד), וַיָּלִינוּ שָֽׁם (שופטים יח, ד), כִּי בָֽרְחוֹב נָלִֽין (בראשית יט, ב), רַק בָּרְחוֹב אַל־תָּלַֽן (שופטים יט, כ), וּבְהַמְּרוֹתָם תָּלַן עֵינִֽי (איוב יז, ג), כמו תָּלִין, רוצה לומר שלא היה ישן בעבור המרות חביריו דבריו ומרשיעים אותו. ויש מפרשים תלן עיני מענין השקידה על הענין תמיד, ופירוש עֵינִי השגחתי, כלומר תמיד אני חושב ומעיין בהמרותם. ובא בלשון הקדש לשון לינה בענין השקידה כמו בְּֽצַוָּארוֹ יָלִין עֹז (איוב מא, יד), וְשָׂבֵעַ יָלִין בַּל־יִפָּקֶד רָֽע (משלי יט, כג), עַד־מָתַי תָּלִין בְּקִרְבֵּךְ (ירמיה ד, יד). וכן וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ (זכריה ה, ד), והדומים להם שאין ענינם לינת הלילה לבר אלא השקידה תמיד. ולפי שלינת הלילה היא בטול כל העסקים והשקידה על השינה והמנוחה אמר איוב כי היה עֵר בלילה והיתה שקידתו בהמרותם. וְאָדָם בִּיקָר בַּל־יָלִין (תהלים מט, יג), פירוש היקר שיש לאדם והוא הממון לא ילין עמו במותו רק יעזבנו. וכן אמר אחריו בסוף המזמור אָדָם בִּיקָר וְלֹא יָבִין (שם כא), פירוש שלא יבין בעודנו בחיים עם הממון. ורבי יהודה הלוי פירשו כן יש עם האדם יקר שלא ילין, והטעם שלא ישכב וימות והוא כבור הנשמה ואדם שלא למד ולא יבין על כן הם כבהמות. נַפְשׁוֹ בְּטוֹב תָּלִין כה, יג), כשימות נפשו תנוח בטוב. והפעל היוצא מזה עָרוֹם יָלִינוּ מִבְּלִי לְבוּשׁ (איוב כד, ז), מָקוֹם לָנוּ לָלִֽין (בראשית כד, כג), כמו לְהָלִין. וההתפעל בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָֽן (תהלים צא, א). והשם אֶל־הַמָּלוֹן (בראשית מג, כא), מְלוֹן אֹֽרְחִים (ירמיה ט, א). ובה"א הנקבה ובשורק כִּמְלוּנָה בְמִקְשָׁה (ישעיה א, ח), וְהִֽתְנוֹדְדָה כַּמְּלוּנָה (ישעיה כד, כ). והיא סוכת השומר שילין בה בלילה, ולפיכך נקראת מלונה כי אינה לדירה אלא שילין בה בלילה. וענין אחר מהכבד [הִפְעִיל] אֲשֶׁר הֲלִֽינֹתֶם עָלָֽי (במדבר יד, כט), וַיָּלֶן הָעָם עַל־מֹשֶׁה (שמות יז, ג). ובדגש תמורת הנח וַיַּלִּונוּ [וַיַּלִּינוּ] עָלָיו אֶת־כָּל־הָעֵדָה (במדבר יד, לו), והוא פעל יוצא לשלישי. אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּם מַלִּינִם עָלָיו (שמות טז, ח), כִּי תַלִּונוּ [תַלִּינוּ] עָלֵֽינוּ (שמות טז, ז). ובא רוב הענין הזה בדגש להפריש בינו ובין הענין האחר. והשם שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶת־תְּלוּנֹּת (שמות טז, יב). והדגש תמורת הנח, כי היה ראוי תְּלוּנוֹת בפלס תְּבוּנוֹת, תְּשׁוּבוֹת. והנפעל מזה הענין וַיִּלֹּנוּ עַל־מֹשֶׁה וְעַֽל־אַֽהֲרֹן (במדבר יד, ב). וענין התלונה תרעומת.
ל-י-ןhe files it under לון
To lodge for the night; some hold it is said also of constant persistence. A second sense, to complain, holding a grievance, mostly takes a dagesh to keep the two apart.
Lodging the night
"And he lodged that night" (Bereishis 32:22), "and we shall lodge in Givah" (Shoftim 19:13), where the root's nun is swallowed into the dagesh of the plural nun. As an adjective, "why do you lodge over against the wall" (Nechemyah 13:21) and "and it shall lodge in the midst of his house" (Zecharyah 5:4), where a segol stands in place of a kamatz. Further: "and Yehoshua lodged" (Yehoshua 8:9), "and he lodged there that night" (Bereishis 32:14), "and they lodged there" (Shoftim 18:4), "for we shall lodge in the street" (Bereishis 19:2), "only do not lodge in the street" (Shoftim 19:20).
Lodging as persistence, as some hold
In the holy tongue, some hold, the word for lodging comes in the sense of persistence: "strength lodges in his neck" (Iyov 41:14), "he shall lodge satisfied, not visited by evil" (Mishlei 19:23), "how long shall it lodge within you" (Yirmiyahu 4:14), and so "and it shall lodge in the midst of his house" (Zecharyah 5:4), and those like them. Their sense is not the night's lodging alone but constant persistence.
My eye and their provocations
וּבְהַמְּרוֹתָם תָּלַן עֵינִֽי (Iyov 17:2), and on their provocations my eye lodges, means that he did not sleep because his companions defied his words and condemned him. Some read it from persistence on a matter, taking "my eye" as his attention: he thinks and dwells on their provocation always. On that reading, since the night's lodging is a ceasing from all business and an applying of oneself to sleep and rest, Iyov said that he was awake at night and his persistence was on their provocations.
What does not lodge with a man
"And man, with what is precious to him, does not lodge" (Tehillim 49:13) means that the precious thing a man has, his money, does not lodge with him at his death, but he leaves it behind; and so at the close of the mizmor, "man with what is precious to him, who does not understand" (Tehillim 49:21), that he does not understand while he is still alive with his money. Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi read it that there is with a man something precious that will not lodge, meaning that it will not lie down and die, and that is the soul; and a man who has not learned and does not understand is therefore like the beasts; and on this reading נַפְשׁוֹ בְּטוֹב תָּלִין, his soul shall lodge in goodness, means that when he dies his soul will rest in goodness.
Causing to lodge, and the lodging place
The transitive: "they make the naked lodge without clothing" (Iyov 24:7), and מָקוֹם לָנוּ לָלִֽין (Bereishis 24:23), a place to lodge us, where לָלִֽין is as though it were לְהָלִין, to give lodging. The reflexive: "he shall lodge in the shadow of Shakai" (Tehillim 91:1). The nouns: "to the lodging place" (Bereishis 43:21), "a wayfarers' lodge" (Yirmiyahu 9:1), and with the feminine heh and a shuruk, "like a hut in a cucumber field" (Yeshayahu 1:8), "and it shall sway like a hut" (Yeshayahu 24:20). That is the watchman's booth, which he lodges in at night, and it is called מלונה because it is not for dwelling in but only for lodging in at night.
The other sense, complaint
"That you have complained against Me" (Bamidbar 14:29), "and the people complained against Moshe" (Shemos 17:3); and with a dagesh in place of the quiescent letter, "and they made the whole congregation complain against him" (Bamidbar 14:36), which is causative upon a third party, "that you complain against Him" (Shemos 16:8), "that you complain against us" (Shemos 16:7). Most of this sense comes with a dagesh, to keep it apart from the other. The noun is "I have heard the complaints" (Shemos 16:12), where the dagesh stands in place of the quiescent letter, for it should have been תְּלוּנוֹת, on the pattern of תְּבוּנוֹת, understandings, and תְּשׁוּבוֹת, answers. In yet another form, "and they complained against Moshe and against Aharon" (Bamidbar 14:2). A telunah is a grievance.
וְהוּא לָן בַּלַּֽיְלָה־הַהוּא (בראשית לב, כב). וְלַנּוּ בַגִּבְעָה (שופטים יט, יג), נו"ן השרש נבלעת בדגש נו"ן הרבים ומשפטו וְלַנְנוּ. והתאר מַדּוּעַ אַתֶּם לֵנִים נֶגֶד הַחוֹמָה (נחמיה יג, כא), בפלס אִם־כֵּנִים אַתֶּם (בראשית מב, יט), וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ (זכריה ה, ד), הסגול מקום קמץ. וכן וְהַזּוּרֶה תִּבָּקַע אֶפְעֶֽה (ישעיה נט, ה). והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] וַיָּלֶן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ (יהושע ח, ט), וַיָּלֶן שָׁם בַּלַּיְלָה הַהוּא (בראשית לב, יד), בְּֽצַוָּארוֹ יָלִין עֹז (איוב מא, יד), וַיָּלִינוּ שָֽׁם (שופטים יח, ד), כִּי בָֽרְחוֹב נָלִֽין (בראשית יט, ב), רַק בָּרְחוֹב אַל־תָּלַֽן (שופטים יט, כ), וּבְהַמְּרוֹתָם תָּלַן עֵינִֽי (איוב יז, ג), כמו תָּלִין, רוצה לומר שלא היה ישן בעבור המרות חביריו דבריו ומרשיעים אותו. ויש מפרשים תלן עיני מענין השקידה על הענין תמיד, ופירוש עֵינִי השגחתי, כלומר תמיד אני חושב ומעיין בהמרותם. ובא בלשון הקדש לשון לינה בענין השקידה כמו בְּֽצַוָּארוֹ יָלִין עֹז (איוב מא, יד), וְשָׂבֵעַ יָלִין בַּל־יִפָּקֶד רָֽע (משלי יט, כג), עַד־מָתַי תָּלִין בְּקִרְבֵּךְ (ירמיה ד, יד). וכן וְלָנֶה בְּתוֹךְ בֵּיתוֹ (זכריה ה, ד), והדומים להם שאין ענינם לינת הלילה לבר אלא השקידה תמיד. ולפי שלינת הלילה היא בטול כל העסקים והשקידה על השינה והמנוחה אמר איוב כי היה עֵר בלילה והיתה שקידתו בהמרותם. וְאָדָם בִּיקָר בַּל־יָלִין (תהלים מט, יג), פירוש היקר שיש לאדם והוא הממון לא ילין עמו במותו רק יעזבנו. וכן אמר אחריו בסוף המזמור אָדָם בִּיקָר וְלֹא יָבִין (שם כא), פירוש שלא יבין בעודנו בחיים עם הממון. ורבי יהודה הלוי פירשו כן יש עם האדם יקר שלא ילין, והטעם שלא ישכב וימות והוא כבור הנשמה ואדם שלא למד ולא יבין על כן הם כבהמות. נַפְשׁוֹ בְּטוֹב תָּלִין כה, יג), כשימות נפשו תנוח בטוב. והפעל היוצא מזה עָרוֹם יָלִינוּ מִבְּלִי לְבוּשׁ (איוב כד, ז), מָקוֹם לָנוּ לָלִֽין (בראשית כד, כג), כמו לְהָלִין. וההתפעל בְּצֵל שַׁדַּי יִתְלוֹנָֽן (תהלים צא, א). והשם אֶל־הַמָּלוֹן (בראשית מג, כא), מְלוֹן אֹֽרְחִים (ירמיה ט, א). ובה"א הנקבה ובשורק כִּמְלוּנָה בְמִקְשָׁה (ישעיה א, ח), וְהִֽתְנוֹדְדָה כַּמְּלוּנָה (ישעיה כד, כ). והיא סוכת השומר שילין בה בלילה, ולפיכך נקראת מלונה כי אינה לדירה אלא שילין בה בלילה. וענין אחר מהכבד [הִפְעִיל] אֲשֶׁר הֲלִֽינֹתֶם עָלָֽי (במדבר יד, כט), וַיָּלֶן הָעָם עַל־מֹשֶׁה (שמות יז, ג). ובדגש תמורת הנח וַיַּלִּונוּ [וַיַּלִּינוּ] עָלָיו אֶת־כָּל־הָעֵדָה (במדבר יד, לו), והוא פעל יוצא לשלישי. אֲשֶׁר־אַתֶּם מַלִּינִם עָלָיו (שמות טז, ח), כִּי תַלִּונוּ [תַלִּינוּ] עָלֵֽינוּ (שמות טז, ז). ובא רוב הענין הזה בדגש להפריש בינו ובין הענין האחר. והשם שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶת־תְּלוּנֹּת (שמות טז, יב). והדגש תמורת הנח, כי היה ראוי תְּלוּנוֹת בפלס תְּבוּנוֹת, תְּשׁוּבוֹת. והנפעל מזה הענין וַיִּלֹּנוּ עַל־מֹשֶׁה וְעַֽל־אַֽהֲרֹן (במדבר יד, ב). וענין התלונה תרעומת.
נ-ו-ם
To slumber; slumber is not strong the way sleep is, but comes only a little at a time.
Slumbering
"Your shepherds slumber, king of Ashur" (Nachum 3:18); נָמוּ שְׁנָתָם (Tehillim 76:6), they slumbered their sleep, which he explains as נמו בשנתם, they slumbered in their sleep; "behold, He neither slumbers nor sleeps" (Tehillim 121:4).
Slumber is only a little
"And slumber clothes a man in rags" (Mishlei 23:21); with an added tav, "nor slumber to your eyelids" (Mishlei 6:4); in the plural, "a little slumber" (Mishlei 6:10), "in slumberings upon the bed" (Iyov 33:15). Slumber is not strong like sleep but comes a little at a time, and he gives a la'az for it.
נָמוּ רֹעֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ אַשּׁוּר (נחום ג, יח), נָמוּ שְׁנָתָם (תהלים עז, ו), פירוש נמו בשנתם. הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן (תהלים קכא, ד). והשם וּקְרָעִים תַּלְבִּישׁ נוּמָֽה (משלי כג, כא). ובתוספת תי"ו וּתְנוּמָה לְעַפְעַפֶּֽיךָ (משלי ו, ד). והקבוץ מְעַט תְּנוּמוֹת (משלי ו, י) בִּתְנוּמוֹת עֲלֵי מִשְׁכָּֽב (איוב לג, טו), התנומה אינה חזקה כמו השינה רק היא מעט מעט פיזולי"ר בלע"ז.
ר-ד-ם
To fall into a heavy sleep; the noun תַּרְדֵּמָה, he says, is the strong sleep.
Sunk in sleep
נִרְדַּמְתִּי עַל־פָּנַי אָרְצָה (Daniel 8:18), I fell into a deep sleep on my face to the ground; וְהֽוּא־נִרְדַּם וַיָּעַף (Shoftim 4:21), and he had fallen fast asleep and was weary, with a patach, a past verb; נִרְדָּם וְרֶכֶב וָסֽוּס (Tehillim 76:7), chariot and horse lie fast asleep, with a kamatz, a participle; and וַיִּשְׁכַּב וַיֵּֽרָדַֽם (Yonah 1:5), and he lay down and fell fast asleep.
Tardemah
The noun is תַּרְדֵּמָה, as in "and Hashem Elokim cast a tardemah" (Bereishis 2:21); it is the strong sleep.
נִרְדַּמְתִּי עַל־פָּנַי אָרְצָה (דניאל ח, יח), וְהֽוּא־נִרְדַּם וַיָּעַף (שופטים ד, כא), פתח ועבר. נִרְדָּם וְרֶכֶב וָסֽוּס (תהלים עו, ז), קמץ ובינוני. וַיִּשְׁכַּב וַיֵּֽרָדַֽם (יונה א, ה). והשם וַיַּפֵּל י"י אֱלֹהִים תַּרְדֵּמָה (בראשית ב, כא), היא השינה החזקה.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Bereishit: Sleepy Words (Part 1/2)," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 25 September 2023.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Sleepy Words (Part 2/2)," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 19 October 2023.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 1:28, 2:21 with Ibn Ezra, Radak, Peirush HaRokeach, Rav Hirsch, Targum Onkelos and the Netziv's HaEmek Davar, 15:12 with Peirush HaRokeach, 24:1 with Rav Hirsch, 24:23-24 with Shadal, and 42:27; Shemos 4:24, 15:24 with Rav Hirsch, 23:18, 34:25; Vayikra 19:13, 25:43; Devarim 16:4, and 21:23 with HaKsav VeHaKabbalah; Yehoshua 4:3; Melachim I 19:4; Yeshayahu 5:27 with Malbim, 10:29, 56:10; Tehillim 17:8, and 121:4 with Radak and Malbim; Mishlei 6:4 with the Vilna Gaon, 6:11 with Rabbi Yosef Nechemias, 7:9, 19:15; Iyov 4:13, 33:15; Koheles 12:2 with Ibn Ezra; Mishnah Yoma 1:7, Pesachim 10:8 with the Rambam's commentary, Megillah 2:2; Megillah 18b; Berachos 60b with the Vilna Gaon; Bereishis Rabbah 8:10 with Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, 17:5, and 44:17 with Radal and Yidei Moshe; Zohar Vayigash 207b and Naso 142b; the piyyut Melech Elyon; Rambam, Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4, with Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch and Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer, Beiurei Shemos Nirdafim s.v. תרדמה, שינה, תנומה; Rema, Even HaEzer 129:31; Ibn Chayyuj, Ibn Janach and Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Menachem Ibn Saruk, Machberes Menachem; Rabbi Yitzchak Zeldin, Shoresh Yesha; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Cheshek Shlomo s.v. לל; Rabbi Aharon Marcus, Keses HaSofer to Bereishis 2:21; Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Tedeschi-Ashkenazi, Otzar Nirdafim os 241; Rabbi Avraham Bedersi, Chosam Tochnis, pp. 113 and 153; Rabbi Ezra Reuven Dangoor; Dr. Alexander Kohut, Aruch HaShalem s.v. רדם, with Rabbi Avraham Zacut's Ikkarei HaTalmud; Rabbi Chaim Vital; the Aderet, Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim; Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak (Jared) Greenblatt.