cognition
straying and error
At a glance
In short
The two are pronounced essentially alike and spelled differently. The general assumption among the commentators is that תעה (tav) is "lost, stray" and טעה (tes) is "err, make a mistake", and throughout Rabbinic literature ta'us always means a mistake. Whether they differ is disputed. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur holds that the tav word is one who strayed off the path and ended up lost, and the tes word a mistake of heart or intellect. Rabbi Avraham Aharon Broide rejects that distinction: the tav word too means erring, and he notes that Radak himself calls the two the same word. Radak writes, too, that the tav is the preferred spelling in Scripture and the tes in Rabbinic sources. Rabbi Yaakov Zev Lev reconciles the positions: in Hebrew the two words differ, but Aramaic has only one, spelled with a tes, carrying both meanings. Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer also disagrees with HaBachur. Both words, he holds, can describe one lost on the road, and they differ in how he is lost: the to'eh with a tav is at a complete loss which way to go, while the to'eh with a tes thinks he knows where he is going and has taken the wrong path for the right one.
Distinctions
Taah with a tav (תעה)
Words from this root appear some fifty times in Tanach. In the daily Uva LeTzion we thank Hashem who created us for His honor and separated us from those who are lost, to'im.
- Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur (in his glosses to Radak's Sefer HaShorashim, as cited by Rabbi Broide): the tav word is a person who strayed off the path and ended up lost, as against the tes word, which is a mistake in heart or intellect.
- Rabbi Avraham Aharon Broide (circa early 19th century, of Vilna and later Rav of Strabin near Slutzk; Bayis HaGadol to Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer ch. 30) rejects that distinction: even the tav word means one who makes a mistake, and he cites Tehillim 95:10 and Hoshea 4:12 to that effect. He bolsters this by noting that Radak himself, in Sefer HaShorashim s.v. תף, explicitly writes that ta'ah with a tav and with a tes are the same word. The interchange of the two spellings was already noted by Radak's father, Rabbi Yosef Kimchi (1105 to 1170), in Sefer Zikaron, and by Rabbi Shlomo Ephraim Lenchitz (1550 to 1619) in Kli Yakar to Bamidbar 5:12.
Taah with a tes (טעה)
In Tanach a cognate is spelled with a tes in only one place, Yechezkel 13:10, where the false prophets hit'u es ami, and there the sense is ambiguous and could fit both meanings: they led My people astray, or they led My people into a mistake.
- Radak yet again writes that the tav and tes words both mean the same thing, the former being the preferred orthography in Scripture and the latter in Rabbinic sources. In Rabbinic literature ta'us always refers to a mistake.
- Rabbi Yaakov Zev Lev of Sanhedria HaMurchevet (Me'at Tzari) reconciles the difference of opinions: in Hebrew there is a difference between the tav and tes words, but in Aramaic there is only one word, spelled with a tes, carrying both meanings. Rabbi Klein adds that Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur himself already acknowledged this in his Meturgeman, where he correctly asserts that wherever cognates of the tav word appear in Tanach, the Targumim replace the tav with a tes.
- Rabbi Yehoshua Alt suggests to'eh, mistaken, and neta, sapling, are one root, because a man's mistake can make him greater.
How the wanderer is lost (Rabbi Wertheimer)
Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer (1866 to 1935) also disagrees with Rabbi HaBachur's characterization. Both words can refer to somebody lost on the road, but he can be lost in different ways. The to'eh with a tav is a wayfarer who has lost his way and is completely at a loss as to the direction he should travel. The to'eh with a tes has lost his way and also thinks he knows where he is going, and has decided the improper path to be the proper one.
The Targum on Hagar
Bereishis 21:14 says Hagar left va'teisa, strayed (tav), in the wilderness of Be'er Sheva, and Onkelos renders it with a tes. Rabbi Broide's answer, given at a gathering where no one else offered one: the Targumim generally render idolatrous deities ta'avasa (tes), on the understanding that avodah zarah began as mankind's mistake (Rambam, Hilchos Avodah Zarah ch. 1); so Onkelos hints at the tradition (in Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer there and in other sources) that when Hagar left Avraham's house she returned to the idolatry of her youth. She lost her way and also erred by returning to idolatry. The discussion illustrates the general assumption that the tav word is "lost" and the tes word "mistaken."
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ט-ע-ה
Leading astray is the only form in the pesukim, yet to stray is Biblical all the same; in the Mishnah it is an unwitting error. It is one sense with תָּעָה.
Only the form with an object
In the pesukim there is הִטְעוּ אֶת־עַמִּי (Yechezkel 13:10), they led my people astray, and not the plain verb. The plain verb is Biblical language all the same, without doubt, since הִטְעוּ is transitive to עַמִּי, and a people led astray are טועים, straying.
The word in the Mishnah
It is found besides in the Mishnah (Berachos 34a): העובר לפני התיבה וטעה, one who passes before the teivah and errs; and it is the sense of שגגה, an unwitting error.
One sense with תָּעָה
תָּעָה with a tav and טָעָה with a tet are one sense, since the two letters come from one place in the mouth; and so Onkelos renders וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּתַע (Bereishis 21:14), and she went and strayed, as וַאֲזָלַת וְטָעַת, and she went and strayed.
הִטְעוּ אֶת־עַמִּי (יחזקאל יג, י), והפעל הקל ממנו לא מצאנו במקרא, אך נאמר אותו על לשון המקרא בלי ספק כי הִטְעוּ פעל יוצא לעמי והעם טועים. ועוד שמצאנוהו במשנה (ברכות לד, ע"א), העובר לפני התיבה וטעה והוא ענין שגגה. וענין תָּעָה הכתוב בתי"ו וטָעָה בטי"ת ענין אחד הם כי הם ממוצא אחד וכן תרגם אנקלוס וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּתַע (בראשית כא, יד) וַאֲזָלַת וְטָעַת.
ת-ע-ה
To stray, a sense he calls known: of a heart, of a lost sheep, of a man in a field or in strong drink; and to lead another astray.
Who strays
תָּעָה לְבָבִי (Yeshayahu 21:4), my heart wanders, תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד (Tehillim 119:176), I have strayed like a lost sheep, וּבַשֵּׁכָר תָּעוּ (Yeshayahu 28:7), through strong drink they went astray, and וְהִנֵּה תֹעֶה בַּשָּׂדֶה (Bereishis 37:15), wandering in the field.
A form taken apart two ways
וְשִׁנֵּי כְפִירִים נִתָּעוּ (Iyov 4:10), and the teeth of the young lions נִתָּעוּ, is a form the authorities take apart differently. In Rabbi Yonah's view it is a word compounded within this one pattern out of past and future. Radak's brother Rabbi Moshe wrote that it is compounded of the passive and the reflexive patterns, its regular form being נִתְתָּעוּ, like וְנִכַּפֵּר לָהֶם הַדָּם (Devarim 21:8), and the blood shall be atoned for them. Radak himself has set the word down under the root לתע.
Leading others astray
כִּי רוּחַ זְנוּנִים הִתְעָה (Hoshea 4:12), for a spirit of harlotry has led astray, and עַמִּי מְאַשְּׁרֶיךָ מַתְעִים (Yeshayahu 3:12), my people, those who guide you lead you astray. וְעוֹזֵב תּוֹכַחַת מַתְעֶה (Mishlei 10:17), and one who forsakes rebuke goes astray, is a verb that takes no object, like תּוֹעֶה, one straying, or else it means that he leads his own soul astray.
תָּעָה לְבָבִי (ישעיה כא, ד), תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד (תהלים קיט, קעו), וּבַשֵּׁכָר תָּעוּ (ישעיה כח, ז), וְהִנֵּה תֹעֶה בַּשָּׂדֶה (בראשית לז, טו), וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּתַע (בראשית כא, יד), וּלְדַבֵּר אֶל־י"י תּוֹעָה (ישעיה לב, ו), בִּתְעוֹת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל (יחזקאל מד, טו). והנפעל אַל־יַֽאֲמֵן בַּשָּׁו [בַּשָּׁוא] נִתְעָה (איוב טו, לא), כְּהִתָּעוֹת שִׁכּוֹר בְּקִיאֽוֹ (ישעיה יט, יד). וְשִׁנֵּי כְפִירִים נִתָּֽעוּ (איוב ד, י), לדעת רבי יונה היא מילה מורכבת מזה הבנין מעבר ועתיד. ורבי אחי רבי משה עליו השלום כתב כי היא מלה מורכבות מנפעל והתפעל ומשפטו נִתְתָּעוּ כמו וְנִוַּסְּרוּ כָּל־הַנָּשִׁים (יחזקאל כג, מח) וְנִכַּפֵּר לָהֶם הַדָּֽם (דברים כא, ח). וכבר כתבנוהו אנחנו בשרש לתע. והפעל הכבד [הִפְעִיל] כִּי רוּחַ זְנוּנִים הִתְעָה (הושע ד, יב), כִּי הִתְעֵתֶים [הִתְעֵיתֶם] בְּנַפְשֽׁוֹתֵיכֶם (ירמיה מב, כ) וַיֶּתַע מְנַשֶּׁה (דברי הימים ב' לג, ט). וְעוֹזֵב תּוֹכַחַת מַתְעֶֽה (משלי י, יז), והוא פעל עומד כמו תועה או מתעה נפשו. וְרֶסֶן מַתְעֶה (ישעיה ל, כח), עמי מְאַשְּׁרֶיךָ מַתְעִים (ישעיה ג, יב), כולם ענין תעות וידוע הוא.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Lost or Mistaken," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 16 June 2018.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Lost or Mistaken," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 21:14 with Targum Onkelos; Bamidbar 5:12 with Kli Yakar; Yechezkel 13:10; Hoshea 4:12; Tehillim 95:10; the Uva LeTzion prayer; Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer ch. 30 with Rabbi Avraham Aharon Broide, Bayis HaGadol; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur, glosses to Radak's Sefer HaShorashim, and Meturgeman; Radak, Sefer HaShorashim s.v. תף; Rabbi Yosef Kimchi, Sefer Zikaron; Rabbi Yaakov Zev Lev, Me'at Tzari; Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer, Bi'urei Shemos HaNirdafim (first edition, second volume); Rambam, Hilchos Avodah Zarah ch. 1; the Targumim; Rabbi Yehoshua Alt.