body
teeth
At a glance
In short
Shein is the ordinary word for a tooth, and by extension for ivory and for the "teeth" of a tool. Mesalos and malteos are one word with the lamed and tav switched, and there are three ways of telling them apart from shein. For Rabbi Tedeschi they are the molars at the back of the mouth, while shein is one of the front incisors; Rashi, Radak and the Biur HaGra likewise explain them as thick teeth set deeper in the mouth than a shein. For Ibn Parchon they are the fangs protruding from a wild animal's mouth. Or shein is the general term and they the specific one, whether fangs, tusks or molars. The Targumim render shein into Aramaic as kaka and mesalos as nivi, and Rabbi Klein finds the difference between the Hebrew words evident from that split. Gallal means "tooth" only as the Gemara reads it, and there it stands for the tort category of damage done by the tooth. Chit appears in Rabbinic literature only in one Mishnah and its parallel in the Sifra, and its meaning is disputed: the gums (Rashi) or the teeth themselves (the Mainz commentary ascribed to Rabbeinu Gershom, and Rabbi Nosson of Rome in the Aruch).
Distinctions
Shein (שן)
Fifty-five occurrences in Tanach, mostly a tooth in the mouth of a man or an animal. Extended to things made of ivory: the Ivory House (Melachim I 22:39, Amos 3:15), Ivory Palace (Tehillim 45:9), Ivory Tower (Shir HaShirim 7:5), ivory thrones (Melachim I 10:18, Divrei HaYamim II 9:17), ivory beds (Amos 6:4). In the Mishnah, a person's or animal's tooth (Shabbos 6:5 and often), the tort category of damage like that done by an animal eating with its tooth (Bava Kamma 1:4, 2:2, 2:5), and the sharp protruding "teeth" of a tool: a sickle (Chullin 1:2), a hoe, a fine-writer, a saw, a lock or key, a comb (Keilim 13:2-8 and elsewhere). The idiom is rich: an obviously pregnant woman has "her stomach between her teeth" (Rosh Hashanah 2:8); "whitening one's teeth to his friend," a smile, is better than giving him milk (Kesubos 111b); one in a sticky situation has "placed his finger between his teeth" (Kesubos 71a); and the Haggadah bids us "stun the teeth" of the wicked son.
- Menachem Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach, and Radak trace shein to the two-letter ש-ן without explaining what else that string yields.
- Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim gives the two-letter root the sense "double," and gathers under it shnayim ("two"), shanah ("repeat"), shinun ("sharpening," a repeated rubbing), shoneh ("change," since what is repeated inevitably changes), sheinah ("sleep," when the mind goes over the day's thoughts a second time), shanah ("year"), and yashan ("old"); shein belongs because most people grow two sets of teeth.
- Shoresh Yesha argues that shein is more closely related to shinun: chewing, like sharpening, is a repetitive motion, meant to break the food down.
- Rabbi David Chaim Chelouche (1920 to 2016) links ש-ן to ס-ן (sneh, thornbush), the thorns on a branch resembling sharp teeth.
Mesalos (מתלעות) and malteos (מלתעות)
Both always plural: mesalos at Iyov 29:17, Yoel 1:6, and Mishlei 30:14; malteos at Tehillim 58:7. The commentators agree the two mean the same thing, with the lamed and tav metathesized, and Menachem, Ibn Janach, and Radak accordingly assign ת-ל-ע and ל-ת-ע with no difference in sense noted.
Rabbi Pappenheim disagrees with the classical lexicographers: the tav is not part of the core, and both words go back to the two-letter ל-ע, "the organ of swallowing," that is, the throat (loe, once in Tanach, Mishlei 23:2). The teeth are named for their nearness to it. He puts tola'as ("worm") in the same family, since worms consume their food as though swallowing without chewing, and parses bala ("swallow") as ב-א ("enter") fused to ל-ע.
Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi-Ashkenazi (1821 to 1898, Otzar Nirdafim): shein is one of the eight incisors at the front, used for the first biting and cutting, while mesalos/malteos are the ten molars at the back, used for grinding just before swallowing. Rabbi Klein remarks that with Rabbi Pappenheim's throat root this dovetails nicely, and that it is in consonance with Rashi (to Yoel 1:6 and Mishlei 30:14), Radak (Sefer HaShorashim), and the Biur HaGra (to Mishlei 31:9), who all explain the words as thick teeth set deeper in the mouth than a shein. Rabbi Tedeschi further parses mesalos as a fusion of ת-ל ("hanging," a tooth hangs onto the gums) with ל-ע ("swallowing"), the shared lamed written once. He notes an affinity, by metathesis and a tav-tes exchange, with ל-ע-ט, to guzzle or gulp, as in haliteini (Bereishis 25:30, as his teacher Shadal notes there) and the Mishnah's malitin, force-feeding (Shabbos 24:3), and relates these roots as well to ל-ע-ס, to chew, in Rabbinic Hebrew (Shabbos 19:2, Pesachim 2:7, Niddah 9:7).
- Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Parchon (twelfth century, Machberes HeAruch) instead makes mesalos/malteos especially long teeth protruding from a wild animal's mouth, that is, fangs.
- A third way of differentiating, given without an author: shein is the general term for teeth of every kind, and mesalos/malteos the specific one, whether fangs, tusks, or molars.
Kaka (ככא) and nivi (ניבי)
The Targumim consistently render shein into Aramaic as kaka (e.g. Tehillim 3:8, 35:16, 58:7; Iyov 19:20, 29:17) or Aramaicize it as shina and otherwise leave it untranslated (e.g. Shemos 21:24; Mishlei 10:26, 30:14; Yoel 1:6; Amos 4:6), but they render mesalos/malteos as nivi (Mishlei 30:14, Iyov 29:17, Yoel 1:6, Tehillim 58:7). Rabbi Klein finds the difference between the Hebrew words evident from the split.
- In the Gemara kaka is a tooth (Pesachim 113a, Yoma 84a), and when Rava told Bar Hedya that he dreamed his shein and kaka all fell out (Berachos 56a), Rashi explains kaka there as the inner teeth, molars, implying shein is the outer ones.
- Tosafos (to Avodah Zarah 28a, Gittin 69a) dispute the notion that kaka could mean the gums and read it as large teeth, again molars.
In a borrowed sense kaka is also the "teeth" of a wooden key (Shabbos 89b).
Nivi in the Gemara is not readily understood: on Chullin 59a, where an animal's kosher status is read from its shein and nivi, Rashi gives two explanations, either two teeth that stand out from the rest (possibly, Rabbi Klein wonders, fangs) or the indentations in the gums where teeth would have been expected. Tosafos there favor the first; the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 79:1) cites both (see also Rashi to Shabbos 63b and Bava Kamma 83a). (The Biblical Hebrew niv of Yeshayahu 57:19 and Malachi 1:12 is associated with the mouth too, but means speech.)
Gallal (גלל)
Achiyah HaShiloni foretold the destruction of the House of Yeravam, that they would be consumed "as the gallal consumes until it is wholly gone" (Melachim I 14:10), and Bava Kamma 2b takes gallal as "tooth," in context any damage like that done by the tooth. Three explanations of the connection:
- Rabbeinu Chananel (cited by Tosafos there) reads gallal as something rock hard (Ezra 5:8, 6:4), and teeth are hard.
- Rashi (to Bava Kamma 3a) ties it to gilui, revealing, a body part sometimes shown and sometimes hidden.
- Rashi alternatively takes gallal in its plain sense of dung, teeth being among the body's tools for turning food into refuse.
Chit (חיט)
The Mishnah (Bechoros 6:4) and the Sifra (Emor, parshasa 7:12) count as a blemish in a bechor an outer chit that is deficient or cut, or an inner chit wholly uprooted, but not an inner chit merely deficient (Bechoros 6:12).
- Rashi (to Bechoros 35a): the gums, the outer chit being where the incisors belong and the inner where the molars belong.
- The Mainz commentary ascribed to Rabbeinu Gershom (there) reads chit as the teeth themselves, incisors and molars respectively, and Rabbi Nosson of Rome (1035 to 1106) adopts that reading in Sefer HeAruch.
- The Rambam (to Bechoros 6:4) and others have a different girsa, chut, with a vav.
Until very recently chit was attested nowhere in Tanach or Rabbinic literature save that one Mishnah and its Midrash. In 2022 a group of archaeologists led by Dr. Daniel Vainstub of Ben-Gurion University reported in the Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology an ivory comb from Lachish with a Canaanite inscription reconstructed as "May this chit root out the lice of the hair and the beard." Rabbi Klein explains that the comb is called chit both because it is ivory, an elephant's "tooth," and because a comb has "teeth," and takes the find as evidence that Rabbinic Hebrew preserved ancient Semitic words that predate the Bible yet do not appear in it.
On the etymology:
- Dr. Alexander Kohut (Aruch HaShalem) derives chit from ח-ט-ט, to dig or peck, the tooth digging into food and cutting it into smaller digestible pieces.
- Rabbi Klein offers his own guess, that chit is related to chitah, wheat, whose spikelets protrude from the stalk somewhat as teeth protrude from the gums.
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
ג-ל-ל
To roll and go round, all one sense, he says: גַּלְגַּל, a wheel; מְגִלָּה, a rolled letter; גַּל, a heap; גָּלָל, dung; גְּלִילוֹת, districts; בִּגְלַל, because of.
Rolling
וְגָלֲלוּ אֶת הָאֶבֶן (Bereishis 29:3), they rolled the stone away. גֹּל אֶל י"י יְפַלְּטֵהוּ (Tehillim 22:9) he reads as whoever turns his ways toward Hashem, He will deliver him.
The wheel and the heavens
From the sense of going round, the heavens are called גלגלים, with the first letter doubled, because they go round the world continually, as קוֹל רַעַמְךָ בַּגַּלְגַּל (Tehillim 77:19), the sound of Your thunder in the גַּלְגַּל. A wagon's wheel is a גַּלְגַּל, as גִּלְגַּל עֶגְלָתוֹ (Yeshayahu 28:28), the wheel of his wagon, and it may be that קוֹל רַעַמְךָ בַּגַּלְגַּל is of this sense, said of the wheels of Pharaoh's chariots, as וַיָּסַר אֵת אֹפַן מַרְכְּבֹתָיו (Shemos 14:25), and He took off the wheel of his chariots; and straw and stubble are called גַּלְגַּל because they roll for their lightness, as שִׁיתֵמוֹ כַגַּלְגַּל כְּקַשׁ לִפְנֵי רוּחַ (Tehillim 83:14), make them like the stubble, like straw before the wind.
The scroll, the skull, the heap
A letter is called a מְגִלָּה because it is rolled up, as מְגִלָּה עָפָה (Zecharyah 5:1), a flying scroll. The head is a גֻּלְגֹּלֶת for its roundness, as עֹמֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת (Shemos 16:16), an omer a head. A pile of stones is a גַּל for the same reason, as עֵד הַגַּל הַזֶּה (Bereishis 31:52), this heap is witness; and the sea's waves are גַּלִּים because they roll as they move.
Dung, and the idols
Dung is called גָּלָל because it rolls, as כְּגֶלְלוֹ לָנֶצַח יֹאבֵד (Iyov 20:7), like his dung he will perish for ever, and from this, he says, the idols are called גלולים, for their worthlessness and their filth. כַּאֲשֶׁר יְבַעֵר הַגָּלָל (Melachim I 14:10), as one clears away dung, is dung too; Chazal (Bava Kamma 3a) take its גלל as the tooth, and the tooth is called גלל, Radak explains, because it is like the stone called אֶבֶן גְּלָל, which is marble.
The spring
A spring too is called גל for its roundness, as the locked spring in Shir HaShirim 4:12; so גֻּלֹּת מָיִם (Yehoshua 15:19), springs of water, and אֵת גֻּלֹּת עִלִּיּוֹת וְאֵת גֻּלֹּת תַּחְתִּיּוֹת (Yehoshua 15:19), the upper springs and the lower springs. From this sense, he says, is וְיִגַּל כַּמַּיִם מִשְׁפָּט (Amos 5:24), let justice flow like water.
The round bowl
אֶחָד מִימִין הַגֻּלָּה (Zecharyah 4:3), one on the right of the bowl; גֻּלֹּת הַכֹּתָרֹת (Melachim I 7:42), the bowls of the capitals; and וְגֻלָּהּ עַל רֹאשָׁהּ (Zecharyah 4:2), and its bowl upon its top. The גֻּלָּה, he says, is a round vessel, like a מזרק, a basin.
The districts
גְּלִילוֹת הַיַּרְדֵּן (Yehoshua 22:10), the districts of the Yarden, and גְּלִיל הַגּוֹיִם (Yeshayahu 8:23), the district of the nations, which he takes as like a border, a region or a province. יוֹצְאִים אֶל הַגְּלִילָה הַקַּדְמוֹנָה (Yechezkel 47:8), going out to the eastern Gelilah, he takes as the name of a place, called so for a reason they knew; so too וְיָצָא אֶל גְּלִילוֹת אֲשֶׁר נֹכַח מַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים (Yehoshua 18:17), and it went out to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and the same place is called הגלגל, as אֲשֶׁר נֹכַח לְמַעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים (Yehoshua 15:7), which is opposite the ascent of Adummim: all of it, he says, is one place and one name. Yonasan renders the pasuk in Yechezkel נַפְקִין בְּגָלִילָא מִמַדִינְחָא, they go out into the Galil, from the east. Everything that falls under this root, Radak says, is one sense, though each word is explained according to its own place and the context nearest it. Likewise בִּגְלַל הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה (Devarim 15:10), on account of this thing.
וְגָֽלֲלוּ אֶת־הָאֶבֶן (בראשית כט, ג), גּוֹל עַל־י"י דַּרְכֶּךָ (תהלים לז, ה), גֹּלּוּ אֲבָנִים גְּדֹלוֹת אֶל־פִּי הַמְּעָרָה (יהושע י, יח). והתאר גֹּל אֶל־י"י יְפַלְּטֵהוּ (תהלים כב, ט), בפלס לֶחֶם חֹם (שמואל א' כא, ז), כל מי שמסבב דרכיו אל י"י יפלטהו. גְּלִילֵי זָהָב (שיר השירים ה, יד), עַל־גְּלִילֵי כֶסֶף (אסתר א, ו), ענין סבוב. וממנו נקראו השמים גלגלים בכפל הפ"א שהם סובבים העולם תמיד. לָהֶם קוֹרָא הַגַּלְגַּל (יחזקאל י, יג), קוֹל רַעַמְךָ בַּגַּלְגַּל (תהלים עז, יט). הַדֶּלֶת הָֽאַחַת גְּלִילִים (מלכים א' ו, לד), עשויה עמודים עגולים. וכן גְּלִילֵי זָהָב, גְּלִילֵי כֶסֶף, והכל ענין סבוב. וכן נקראה האגרת מגלה לפי שגוללין אותה. מְגִלָּה עָפָֽה (זכריה ה, א). ונקרא הדומן והצואה גלל לפי שהוא מתגלגל כְּֽגֶלְלוֹ לָנֶצַח יֹאבֵד (איוב כ, ז), כַּֽאֲשֶׁר יְבַעֵר הַגָּלָל (מלכים א' יד, י), בְּגֶֽלְלֵי צֵאַת הָֽאָדָם (יחזקאל ד, יב), וּלְחֻמָם כַּגְּלָלִֽים (צפניה א, יז). ומזה נקראו הצלמים גלולים לזלותם ולטנופם. ורבותינו ז"ל פירשו גלל זה השן שאמרו (בבא קמא ג, ע"א) וּבִעֵר (שמות כב, ד) זה השן וכן הוא אומר כַּֽאֲשֶׁר יְבַעֵר הַגָּלָל. ונקרא השן גלל לפי שהוא דומה לאבן גלל שהיא האבן הנקראת בארמי, ובלע"ז מרמרא ונקראת גלל כמו שאמר נִדְבָּכִין דִּי־אֶבֶן גְּלָל (עזרא ו, ד). וכן הקש והגבבה נקרא גלגל מפני שהוא מתגלגל מרוב קלותו. שִׁיתֵמוֹ כַגַּלְגַּל כְּקַשׁ לִפְנֵי־רֽוּחַ (תהלים פג, יד), וּכְגַלְגַּל לִפְנֵי סוּפָֽה (ישעיה יז, יג). וכן נקרא הראש גלגלת לסבובו עֹמֶר לַגֻּלְגֹּלֶת (שמות טז, טז), וְאֶת־גֻּלְגָּלְתּוֹ תָֽקְעוּ (דברי הימים א' י, י). ונכפל גם הפ"א בגלגל ובגלגלת כמו שנכפל בְּקָדְקֹד שהוא מן קָדַד. וכן נקרא חמר האבנים לסבובו גל אבנים, עֵד הַגַּל הַזֶּה (בראשית לא, נב). והעד והראיה ששרשו גלל חבורו לרבים גַּם מִזְבְּחוֹתָם כְּגַלִּים (הושע יב, יב), הדגש לחסרון אות הכפל כמו פַּת מן פָּתַת וקַן מן קָנַן. וכן המעין נקרא גל לסבובו גַּל נָעוּל (שיר השירים ד, יב). גֻּלֹּת מָיִם (יהושע טו, יט), אֵת גֻּלֹּת עִלִּיּוֹת וְאֵת גֻּלֹּת תַּחְתִּיּֽוֹת (שם). והנפעל מזה וְיִגַּל כַּמַּיִם מִשְׁפָּט (עמוס ה, כד), כי הוא פתח. ואופן העגלה יקרא גלגל וְהָמַם גִּלְגַּל עֶגְלָתוֹ (ישעיה כח, כח), הגימ"ל הראשונה בחירק, וְגַלְגִּלָּיו כַּסּוּפָֽה (ישעיה ה, כח), הגימ"ל השניה בחירק. ויתכן היות מזה קוֹל רַעַמְךָ בַּגַּלְגַּל (תהלים עז, יט), והוא אמור על גלגלי מרכבות פרעה כמו שאמר וַיָּסַר אֵת אֹפַן מַרְכְּבֹתָיו (שמות יד, כה). ועוד בענין הזה גַּלּוֹתִי אֶת־חֶרְפַּת מִצְרַיִם (יהושע ד, ט). והנפעל וְנָגֹלּוּ כַסֵּפֶר הַשָּׁמָיִם (ישעיה לד, ד). והכבד [הִפְעִיל] וַיָּגֶל את האבן (בראשית כט, י). וכבד אחר [פֻּעַל] וְשִׂמְלָה מְגֽוֹלָלָה (ישעיה ט, ד). וההתפעל מִתְגֹּלֵל בַּדָּם (שמואל ב' כ, יב), לְהִתְגֹּלֵל עָלֵינוּ (בראשית מג, יח). ובכפל הפ"א תַּחַת שֹׁאָה הִתְגַּלְגָּֽלוּ (איוב ל, יד), וְגִלְגַּלְתִּיךָ מִן־הַסְּלָעִים ענין הכל סבוב. כְּגַלֵּי הַיָּֽם (ישעיה מח, יח), כָּל־מִשְׁבָּרֶיךָ וְגַלֶּיךָ עָלַי עָבָֽרוּ (תהלים מב, ח), בְּשׂוֹא גַלָּיו (תהלים פט, י), לפי שגלי הים מהגלגלים בתנועת נקראו כן. אֶחָד מִימִין הַגֻּלָּה (זכריה ד, ג), גֻּלֹּת הַכֹּֽתָרֹת (מלכים א' ז, מב), וְגֻלָּהּ עַל־רֹאשָׁהּ (זכריה ד, ב), במפיק ה"א. והיה ראוי גֻּלְּתָהּ כמו אֵצֶל פִּנָּהּ (משלי ז, ח) הראוי פִּנָּתָהּ. או יהיה משקל אחר בלא ה"א הנקבה גֹּל בפלס חֹק. או יהיה המפיק לתפארת הקריאה כמו וְתַֽעֲלֻמָהּ יֹצִא אֽוֹר (איוב כח, יא), כְּבִכּוּרָהּ בְּטֶרֶם קַיִץ (ישעיה כח, ד), ולֹא גֻשְׁמָהּ (יחזקאל כב, כד), והוא כלי עגול כמו מזרק. וכל גְּלִילוֹת פְּלָשֶׁת (יואל ד, ד), גְּלִילוֹת הַפְּלִשְׁתִּים (יהושע יג, ב), גְּלִיל הַגּוֹיִֽם (ישעיה ח, כג), גְּלִילוֹת הַיַּרְדֵּן (יהושע כב, י), כמו גבול או כמו מחוז או מדינה. יֽוֹצְאִים אֶל־הַגְּלִילָה הַקַּדְמוֹנָה (יחזקאל מז, ח) שם מקום נקרא כן לענין ידוע אצלם, וְיָצָא אֶל־גְּלִילוֹת אֲשֶׁר־נֹכַח מַֽעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים (יהושע יח, יז), וכן נקרא אל הגלגל אֲֽשֶׁר־נֹכַח לְמַֽעֲלֵה אֲדֻמִּים (יהושע טו, ז) והכל מקום אחד והשם אחד. ויונתן תרגם יֽוֹצְאִים אֶל־הַגְּלִילָה הַקַּדְמוֹנָה נַפְקִין בְּגָלִילָא מִמַדִינְחָא. וכל הנכנסים תחת השרש הזה הם ענין אחד כלם אבל כל אחד יתפרש לפי מקומו ולפי ענינו הקרוב אליו. וכן בִּגְלַל הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה (דברים טו, י), בסבת הדבר הזה.
ל-ת-ע
The large teeth, מַלְתְּעוֹת; and from this a verb for those teeth being uprooted and falling out.
The whole entry
מַלְתְּעוֹת כְּפִירִים (Tehillim 58:7), the מלתעות of young lions, which are the large teeth. From this, in the passive, וְשִׁנֵּי כְפִירִים נִתָּֽעוּ (Iyov 4:10), and the teeth of young lions are uprooted, where the form by rights is נִלְתָּעוּ; it means the uprooting of the מלתעות and their falling out, as יְשַׁרֵשׁ is the uprooting of a root.
מַלְתְּעוֹת כְּפִירִים (תהלים נח, ז) הם השינים הגדולים. והנפעל מזה וְשִׁנֵּי כְפִירִים נִתָּֽעוּ (איוב ד, י), משפטו נִלְתָּעוּ ורצונו לומר עקירת המלתעות ונפילתם כמו יְשַׁרֵשׁ שהוא עקירת השרש.
ת-ל-ע
A worm, and Israel likened to one in exile; crimson, named for the worm, or else תולע itself means colour; another sense, the thick teeth, with letters transposed.
The worm
כִּי תֹֽאכְלֶנּוּ הַתֹּלָֽעַת (Devarim 28:39), for the worm will eat it, and וַיָּרֻם תּֽוֹלָעִים (Shemos 16:20), it bred worms. By way of figure, אַל־תִּֽירְאִי תּוֹלַעַת יַֽעֲקֹב (Yeshayahu 41:14), fear not, worm of Yaakov, because they are weak in exile like a worm; and the Midrash Yelamdenu says that as the worm's whole strength is only in its mouth, so Israel's whole strength is in prayer.
The crimson
אִם־יַאְדִּימוּ כַתּוֹלָע (Yeshayahu 1:18), though they be red as crimson, and וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי (Shemos 25:4), and crimson. Radak has already explained that the שני is the כרמ"ז, the kermes, and it is called by the word for a worm because of how much of the worm is in it. Or תולע may mean colour, so that תולעת שני says a red colour, and שְׁנִי הַתּוֹלַעַת (Vayikra 14:6) says red of colour, that is, the fine colour, which is the kermes.
Clothed in it
Because the colour is well known and finer than the rest, the word תולע is used without שני, and it is as though שני were said: האמונים עֲלֵי תוֹלָע (Eichah 4:5), those brought up on crimson. From it, אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל מְתֻלָּעִים (Nachum 2:4), men of valour clothed in crimson, that is, dressed in garments of שני.
The thick teeth
Another sense: וָֽאֲשַׁבְּרָה מְתַלְּעוֹת עַוָּל (Iyov 29:17), I broke the thick teeth of the wrongdoer. The word is מַלְתְּעוֹת with its letters transposed, as in מַלְתְּעוֹת כְּפִירִים (Tehillim 58:7), the teeth of young lions, and they are the thick teeth.
וּבֶן־אָדָם תּֽוֹלֵעָֽה (איוב כה, ו), וּמְכַסֶּיךָ תּֽוֹלֵעָֽה (ישעיה יד, יא), כִּי תֹֽאכְלֶנּוּ הַתֹּלָֽעַת (דברים כח, לט), וַיָּרֻם תּֽוֹלָעִים (שמות טז, כ). ועל דרך משל אַל־תִּֽירְאִי תּוֹלַעַת יַֽעֲקֹב (ישעיה מא, יד), לפי שהם חלשים בגלות כתולעת. ובמדרש (ילמדנו פרשת ופרעה הקריב דף לב, ע"א) מה תולעת זו כל כחה אינו אלא בפיה כך ישראל כל כחם בתפלה. אִם־יַאְדִּימוּ כַתּוֹלָע (ישעיה א, יח), עֲלֵי תוֹלָע (איכה ד, ה), וְתוֹלַעַת שָׁנִי (שמות כה, ד), כבר פירשנו כי השני הוא הכרמ"ז ונקרא בלשון תולעת מפני רוב התולעת בשני. או יהיה פירוש תולע עין ובאמרו תולעת שני כאמרו עין אדום, ובאמרו שְׁנִי הַתּוֹלַעַת (ויקרא יד, ו), כאמרו אדום העין כלומר העין היפה והוא הכרמ"ז. ומפני שהוא ידוע ומשובח משאר הצבעים אמר תולעת מבלי זכר שני וכאילו זוכרו האמונים עֲלֵי תוֹלָע, אם יאדימו כתולע. וממנו [פֻּעַל] אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל מְתֻלָּעִים (נחום ב, ד), כלומר לבושים בגדי שני. וענין אחר וּֽמְתַלְּעוֹת לָבִיא לֽוֹ (יואיל א, ו), וָֽאֲשַׁבְּרָה מְתַלְּעוֹת עַוָּל (איוב כט, יז), והוא הפוך מן מַלְתְּעוֹת כְּפִירִים (תהלים נח, ז), והם השנים הגסות.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Showing Teeth," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 22 April 2023.
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 25:30; Shemos 21:24; Melachim I 10:18, 14:10, 22:39; Yeshayahu 57:19; Yoel 1:6; Amos 3:15, 4:6, 6:4; Malachi 1:12; Tehillim 3:8, 35:16, 45:9, 58:7; Mishlei 10:26, 23:2, 30:14, 31:9; Iyov 19:20, 29:17; Shir HaShirim 7:5; Ezra 5:8, 6:4; Divrei HaYamim II 9:17; Mishnah Shabbos 6:5, 19:2, 24:3, Pesachim 2:7, Rosh Hashanah 2:8, Bava Kamma 1:4, 2:2, 2:5, Chullin 1:2, Bechoros 6:4, 6:12, Keilim 13:2-8, Niddah 9:7; Berachos 56a; Shabbos 63b, 89b; Pesachim 113a; Yoma 84a; Kesubos 71a, 111b; Gittin 69a; Bava Kamma 2b, 3a, 83a; Avodah Zarah 28a; Chullin 59a; Bechoros 35a; Sifra, Emor parshasa 7:12; the Haggadah; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 79:1; the Targumim; Menachem Ibn Saruk; Ibn Janach and Radak, Sefer HaShorashim; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim; Shoresh Yesha; Rabbi David Chaim Chelouche; Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi-Ashkenazi, Otzar Nirdafim; Shadal to Bereishis 25:30; Rashi to Yoel 1:6, Mishlei 30:14, Berachos 56a, Shabbos 63b, Bava Kamma 3a and 83a, Chullin 59a and Bechoros 35a; Biur HaGra to Mishlei 31:9; Rabbi Shlomo Ibn Parchon, Machberes HeAruch; Tosafos to Bava Kamma 2b, Gittin 69a, Avodah Zarah 28a and Chullin 59a; Rabbeinu Chananel; the Mainz commentary ascribed to Rabbeinu Gershom to Bechoros 35a; Rabbi Nosson of Rome, Sefer HeAruch; Rambam to Bechoros 6:4; Dr. Daniel Vainstub and colleagues, Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology (2022); Dr. Alexander Kohut, Aruch HaShalem.