time

Distinctions

zman (זמן)

Root ז-מ-ן. Rabbi Moshe Shapiro: kin to mezuman, "ready, prepared" (and "invited"); Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim: from zamam, "to plan ahead." Time is a means of preparation for what is to come. Maharal (Netzach Yisrael 26): zman is the flow of time as an existing element of creation, eit time as an abstract concept. Malbim: zman, like moed, is a predetermined time set by man. Wertheimer: zman is the most general of the three. Rav Hirsch: zman is time in general. Rabbi Yaakov Emden: zman is the entire duration of an appointed period. Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur notes that zman is at home in the post-exilic books and Koheles; the Targumim render Biblical moed as zman, which is why one may treat moed as the Hebrew and zman as the Aramaic of one idea.

eit (עת)

Root ע-ת. HaBachur rejects those who call eit a plain synonym of zman, and cites sages who drew a fine, philosophical line he declines to spell out; Maharal's abstract-versus-existent line (above) is that kind of distinction. Malbim: eit is a natural unit of time whose existence nature itself shows (geshamim b'itam). Pappenheim: eit also carries designation and preparation, as the ish itti of Vayikra 16:21 is the man designated for the sa'ir; atid, "future," derives from eit and from a verb meaning "to prepare." Others: zman is a span, eit a point within it. Wertheimer: eit is more specific than zman, less than moed. Rav Hirsch: eit is a portion of time, related to eit the spade that breaks soil into pieces. Rabbi Yaakov Emden: eit is any given point within an appointed span; and he rejects the Rama's narrowing of eit to the seasons, since Tanach uses eit of other natural occasions as well.

moed (מועד)

Root י-ע-ד, "appoint." Malbim: a predetermined time, set by man, or by Hashem for the festivals. Wertheimer: the most specific of the three, a preset point fixed like a meeting down to the hour. Rabbi Yaakov Emden: moed is the beginning of an appointed time (its zman is the whole duration, its eit any moment within). Emden adds that these are the technical differences; in ordinary usage the three words interchange.

shaah (שעה)

Root ש-ע-ה. The article treats shaah only through the Rama (Rabbi Moshe Isserles): in the second berachah of Birkas HaMazon and the last of Shemoneh Esrei, bechol eit u'vechol shaah, eit is the seasons of the year and shaah the hours of the day, two different measures and not a doubling. Rabbi Yaakov Emden accepts that they differ but denies that eit is limited to seasons. So shaah here is the small, clock-bound unit: hour. The article gives no ruling on shaah standing alone in the sense "a while, a moment, temporarily" (lefi shaah, shaah achas); the guide has no source for that yet, and a rendering of it is a judgment call to be labeled as such.

Rendering guidance

• בכל עת ובכל שעה: "at every season and at every hour" (Rama), or "at every time and every hour." Keep two nouns; do not write "always."
• עת alone: "a time," "the time [for]," "season" (עת לכל חפץ, "a time for every purpose"); בעתו "in its season," "at its proper time."
• זמן alone: "time" (the span, the flow); זמן קבוע "a set time"; בזמן הזה "in this time / at this season" (the berachah: "at this season" is customary).
• מועד: "appointed time," "set time"; the festivals are "the moadim" or "the appointed festivals," never bare "holidays" in a sefer.
• שעה beside עת: "hour." Standalone שעה in the "moment" sense: unsettled here; see above.
• Trap: English "time" absorbs עת, זמן, and מועד, and English "moment" would absorb עת and שעה. Where two stand together (עת וזמן, זמן ומועד), use the Wertheimer ladder: general "time," then "a time," then "appointed time."
• When the passage turns on preparation (Rabbi Moshe Shapiro, Pappenheim), a gloss such as "time (zman, the time made ready)" may be earned; do not build the etymology into the running English.

Sources

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Elul 1: Trends in Time," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 11 Elul 5777 (2017-09-02): raw text in sources/whats-in-a-word/raw/7396-elul-1-trends-in-time.md. Primary loci the article cites: Maharal, Netzach Yisrael ch. 26; Malbim on moed/zman/eit (geshamim b'itam); Vayikra 16:21 (ish itti); Rav Hirsch on zman and eit (the spade); Rama and Rabbi Yaakov Emden on bechol eit u'vechol shaah in Birkas HaMazon and Shemoneh Esrei; Rabbi Eliyahu HaBachur on zman in the post-exilic books and Koheles; the Targumim rendering moed as zman.