body
wing
At a glance
In short
Shemos 19:4 speaks of "wings (kanaf) of eagles," and Devarim 32:11 sets kanaf and ever in one pasuk; agaf is found only in Yechezkel. Kanaf is the wing. Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer explains it as specifically the outermost part, farthest from the body, the part that casts shade and so stands for protection. Bedersi explains that because the wing sits at the edge of the bird, kanaf came to mean the edge or corner of a garment or a place. Rabbi Klein's own translation renders ever "wing," but many prefer pinion, the whole outer part of the wing with its flight feathers. For Bedersi ever is any limb, and in birds it names the wing because the wing is the strongest; in Rabbinic Hebrew it means any limb. Rabbi Wertheimer explains agaf as the part of the wing nearest the body, which seems to branch off it, and so a town that branches off a city. Dr. Chaim Tawil compares the three words to Akkadian kappu, abru and aggapu, though Rabbi Klein notes that such Semitic parallels do not quite explain how the words differ. The Biblical word for a feather is notzah; the Aramaic gadfa is a feather, a wing bone, or the wing itself.
Distinctions
Kanaf (כנף)
Root כ-נ-ף. Primarily the wing of a flying creature, and by extension birds themselves (Bereishis 7:14).
- Rashi there reads kol kanaf as including all winged creatures, such as grasshoppers, which kol tzipor does not cover.
- Radak (to Bereishis 7:14), expanding on Rashi, makes kanaf a specific class, winged insects like grasshoppers, wasps and flies.
- Bedersi: because the wing sits at the edge of the bird's body, kanaf came to mean whatever lies at the periphery or edge, of a thing (Devarim 22:12; Shmuel I 24:5) or of a place (Yeshayahu 11:12, 24:16; Yechezkel 7:2; Iyov 37:3, 38:13).
- Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer (1866 to 1935) adds the sun's rays, called kanaf in Malachi 3:20, since they branch off the sun as wings branch off a bird. He also fixes the anatomy: kanaf is the outermost part of the wing, protruding farthest from the body, the part that casts shade and so serves as a metaphor for protection; the idiom of taking someone under one's wing comes from this Biblical usage (Devarim 23:1; Rus 2:12, 3:9).
- Shadal (to Shemos 21:3): kanaf and Aramaic gaf come from kaf, chaf and gaf, all meaning covering, the gimmel, ches and kaf interchanging, because the wing covers the body.
Ever (אבר)
Root א-ב-ר, or ב-ר for Rabbi Pappenheim. Though Rabbi Klein's translation of Devarim 32:11 renders it "wing," many prefer "pinion," the entire outer part of the wing including its flight feathers. In Rabbinic Hebrew it widened to any limb: the 248 eivarim (Makkos 23b) and eiver min hachai (Pesachim 22b). In Devarim 32:11 it stands beside kanaf: Hashem spreads His kanaf and carries them on His evrah.
Agaf (אגף)
Five appearances, all in Yechezkel (12:14, 17:21, 38:6, 38:22, 39:4). Rabbi Wertheimer: agaf or gaf is the part of the wing nearest the body, which seems to branch off it, whence agaf for a small town or suburb branching off the main city (38:6). In Modern Hebrew agaf is a branch or department of the central government.
Gadfa and notzah
The Aramaic gadfa has several senses: a feather, as in the one that fell on the judge Amimar and was brushed off by a litigant, whose kindness moved Amimar to recuse himself out of gratitude (Kesubos 105b; see also Chullin 22b); the bone of the wing (Rashi to Yoma 84a); and the wing itself (Rashbam to Bava Basra 73b). The Targumim render misgeres and gvul, "frame, border, perimeter," as gadnaf (Shemos 25:25; Yechezkel 43:17; see also Rashi to Succah 20b), which also seems related to gadfa. The Biblical Hebrew word for a feather is notzah (Vayikra 1:16; Yechezkel 17:3, 17:7; Iyov 39:13).
Where the authorities disagree
Where ever comes from, and how it relates to avir.
- The earliest grammarians, Menachem Ibn Saruk (920 to 970), Rabbi Yonah Ibn Janach (990 to 1050) and Radak (1160 to 1235), trace ever to the triliteral א-ב-ר and put avir, "strong," under the same root, which on the surface would suggest one root with two entirely different senses.
- Rabbi Avraham Bedersi HaPenini, a thirteenth-century Spanish sage, relates them: ever is any limb of a living creature, like the hands or legs, and in birds it names the wings because that limb musters the most strength.
- Alternatively, Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 17:4) explains avir as the power that lifts a person to a higher place, in a spiritual or moral sense, on a par with the bird's ever, which lifts it physically.
- Rabbi Pappenheim holds that the aleph of ever is not part of the root: the root is the biliteral ב-ר, primarily "choosing" or "separating," and the ever is the choicest limb of a bird because it is the strongest.
Where kanaf comes from.
- Rav Hirsch (to Bereishis 1:21, 7:14; Vayikra 19:11) compares kanaf to ganav, thief, through the interchange of kaf with gimmel and peh with beis: both conceal, the wing covering part of the bird's body, or carrying it so high that it is out of sight, as the thief works unseen.
- Rabbi Pappenheim (Yerios Shlomo) assigns kanaf to the biliteral כ-ף but offers no thematic link, and his exposition of כ-ף as "receptacle" in Cheshek Shlomo (whence kaf, the palm, and kapayim, the heavens draped over the horizon like a dome) does not mention kanaf at all. Rabbi Klein surmises, in the absence of an explanation from Rabbi Pappenheim, that kanaf would then be the limb by which a bird reaches toward the kapayim.
What agaf is built on.
- Agaf seems to be cognate with the Biblical Aramaic gapin, wings (Daniel 7:4, 7:6), which, Rabbi Klein infers, suggests a biliteral root ג-ף with a non-essential aleph. Rabbi Pappenheim holds exactly that: the aleph of agaf, as of ever, is not root. He gives ג-ף the core sense of outward protrusion, apt for a wing, and puts in the same family gap or guf, the body, a person's outward projection as against the soul within, which, he also suggests, is a person's means of moving about as wings are a bird's; negef and mageifah, disease that spreads outward; and gefen, the cluster of grapes spreading from its stem like wings.
- Menachem Ibn Saruk compares the triliteral כ-נ-ף with the biliteral ג-ף: as kanaf means a wing and also the periphery of a place, so gaf in Mishlei 9:3 means the edges of a land. Rabbi Klein suggests that perhaps the two roots are related through the interchange of kaf and gimmel and the often-disappearing nun.
- Radak, noting that the biblical forms always have a dagesh in the peh (agapav, agapecha, agapeha, gapin), claims the dagesh stands for a missing letter: agap derives from the Aramaic gadfin, wings, the dagesh replacing the dalet. The Hebrew root ג-ד-ף means to curse or blaspheme, and Rabbi Klein finds it intriguing to consider how that relates to wings (see Rav Hirsch to Bamidbar 15:30).
Also discussed in
Radak on these roots
Sefer HaShorashim
א-ב-ר
Two senses: might and strength, said of the mighty and of strong horses; and the wing, with a verb for flying.
Might
אַבִּירֵי בָשָׁן (Tehillim 22:13), the mighty ones of Bashan, and אֶשְׁתּוֹלְלוּ אַבִּירֵי לֵב (Tehillim 76:6), the stout of heart were despoiled: these and their like are לשון עוצם וחוזק, a word of might and strength. דַּהֲרוֹת אַבִּירָיו (Shoftim 5:22), the galloping of his mighty ones, he explains as the strong horses.
The bread of the mighty
לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים אָכַל אִישׁ (Tehillim 78:25), a man ate the bread of the mighty, he explains of the mon that came down to them from the heavens, the heavens being the mighty ones, as is said of them חֲזָקִים כִּרְאִי מוּצָק (Iyov 37:18), strong as a molten mirror.
The wing
מִי־יִתֶּן־לִּי אֵבֶר כַּיּוֹנָה (Tehillim 55:7), who would give me a wing like a dove's, אֶרֶךְ הָאֵבֶר (Yechezkel 17:3), long of pinion, and בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ יָסֶךְ לָךְ (Tehillim 91:4), under His pinion He shelters you. Their sense and the like of them is כנף, a wing.
Flying
הֲמִבִּינָתְךָ יַאֲבֶר־נֵץ (Iyov 39:26), does the hawk fly by your understanding, which he glosses יעוף, it flies; and the sense is given by what stands beside it in the pasuk, יפרוש כנפיו לתימן, he spreads his wings toward the south.
Feathering the arrows
His father takes הָבֵרוּ הַחִצִּים (Yirmiyahu 51:11), feather the arrows, from this root, its form by rights הַאֲבֵרוּ, with the alef falling quiet as it does; it says to set a feather on the arrows so as to make them straight.
אֲבִיר יַֽעֲקֹב (בראשית מט, כד). ומשקל אחר אַבִּיר הָֽרֹעִים (שמואל א' כא, ח), וְאוֹרִיד כַּאבִּיר [כַּבִּיר] יוֹשְׁבִֽים (ישעיה י, יג), משפטו כְּאַבִּיר ובנוח האל"ף הוטלה תנועותה על הכ"ף. ועוד נכתבנו בשרש כבר. אַבִּירֵי בָשָׁן (תהלים כב, יג), לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים אָכַל אִישׁ (תהלים עח, כה), אֶשְׁתּוֹלְלוּ אַבִּירֵי לֵב (תהלים עו, ו), ענין אלו וענין הדומה להם לשון עוצם וחוזק. ופירוש לֶחֶם אַבִּירִים על המן שירד להם מן השמים, שהם אבירים, כמו שנאמר עליהם חֲזָקִים כִּרְאִי מוּצָֽק (איוב לז, ח), דַּֽהֲרוֹת אַבִּירָֽיו (שופטים ה, כב), הסוסים החזקים. וענין שני מִֽי־יִתֶּן־לִּי אֵבֶר כַּיּוֹנָה (תהלים נה, ז), אֶרֶךְ הָאֵבֶר (יחזקאל יז, ג), בחמש נקודות. ומשקל, אחר אִם־אֶבְרָה חֲסִידָה וְנֹצָֽה (איוב לט, יג), בְּאֶבְרָתוֹ יָסֶךְ לָךְ (תהלים צא, ד), יִשָּׂאֵהוּ עַל־אֶבְרָתֽוֹ (דברים לב, יא), ענינם והדומה להם כנף. והפעל הכבד ממנו [הִפְעִיל] הֲמִבִּינָתְךָ יַֽאֲבֶר־נֵץ (איוב לט, כו), יעוף, ופירושו לפניו יפרוש כנפיו לתימן. ופירש אדני אבי ז"ל מזה הָבֵרוּ הַֽחִצִּים (ירמיה נא, יא), ומשפטו הַאֲבֵרוּ ונחה האל"ף כמנהג, וענינו שימו אברה בחצים כדי לישרם.
א-ג-ף
His father takes the alef in אֲגַפָּיו as added and the word as his wings; that is, Radak explains, his troops, which are like wings.
The whole entry
אַתָּה וְכָל־אֲגַפֶּיךָ (Yechezkel 39:4), you and all your bands, and וְכָל־אֲגַפָּיו אֱזָרֶה לְכָל־רוּחַ (Yechezkel 12:14), and all his bands I will scatter to every wind. His father wrote that the alef is added and that the word means his wings. That is, Radak goes on, his troops, which are like wings, and the term has been said of troops already, as וְהָיָה מֻטּוֹת כְּנָפָיו (Yeshayahu 8:8), and the spreading of his wings shall be. It is like Aramaic, which calls wings גַּפִּין, the dagesh standing for a missing dalet; Chazal have it with the dalet, פרח גדפא ויתיב ליה ברישיה (Kesubos 105b), a wing flew and settled on his head. The alef is an addition, and Chazal have the word so as well, עד בין אגפים (Chullin 46a), as far as between the wings.
אַתָּה וְכָל־אֲגַפֶּיךָ (יחזקאל לט, ד), וְכָל־אֲגַפָּיו אֱזָרֶה לְכָל־רוּחַ (יחזקאל יב, יד), וְאֵת כָּל־מִבְרָחָו [מִבְרָחָיו] בְּכָל־אֲגַפָּיו (יחזקאל יז, כא). וכתב אדוני אבי, כי האל"ף נוסף ופירושו כנפיו, כלומר חיילותיו שהם דומים לכנפים, וכבר נאמר זה הלשון על החיילות, כאמרו וְהָיָה מֻטּוֹת כְּנָפָיו (ישעיה ח, ח) ודומה ללשון ארמית שקורין לכנפים גַּפִּין, והדגש לחסרון דל"ת נדפין, וכן מצאנו בדברי רז"ל בדל"ת (כתובות קה, ע"ב) פרח גדפא ויתיב ליה ברישיה, והאל"ף נוספת וכן בדברי רז"ל (חולין מו, ע"א) עד בין אגפים.
כ-נ-ף
A wing; by borrowing, shelter under a wing and a garment's lower edge; the ends of the earth; light spreading as a wing spreads; and יִכָּנֵף, to be gathered in.
The wing of a bird
כָּל־בַּעַל כָּנָֽף (Mishlei 1:17), every owner of a wing, and כֹּל צִפּוֹר כָּל־ כָּנָֽף (Bereishis 7:14), every bird, every wing, which he glosses as כל צפור בעל כנף, every bird that owns a wing. So כְּנַף ־רְנָנִים נֶעֱלָסָה (Iyov 39:13), the wing of the renanim rejoices; וְלָהֵנָּה כְנָפַיִם כְּכַנְפֵי הַֽחֲסִידָה (Zecharyah 5:9), and they had wings like the wings of the stork; יִפְרֹשׂ כְּנָפָיו (Devarim 32:11), it spreads its wings; and כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף (Tehillim 68:14), the wings of a dove overlaid with silver. The sense is known.
Borrowed: shelter, a garment's edge
By borrowing, אֲשֶׁר־בָּאת לַֽחֲסוֹת תַּֽחַת־ כְּנָפָֽיו (Rus 2:12), under whose wings you have come to take shelter, which is to shelter in His shade. The lower edge of a garment is called a כנף: עַל־צִיצִת הַכָּנָף (Bamidbar 15:38), on the fringe of the edge; על ארבע כַּנְפוֹת כסותך (Devarim 22:12), on the four edges of your covering; and וְנָגַע בִּכְנָפוֹ אֶל־הַלֶּחֶם (Chaggai 2:12), and he touches the bread with the edge of his garment.
The ends of the earth
Likewise מִכְּנַף הָאָרֶץ (Yeshayahu 24:16), from the end of the earth, and לֶאֱחֹז בְּכַנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ (Iyov 38:13), to take hold of the ends of the earth: both are בקצות הארץ, at the ends of the earth. אֶשָּׂא כַנְפֵי ־שָׁחַר (Tehillim 139:9), should I take up the wings of dawn, means: if I go to the far end of the east.
Spread out, and gathered in
וּמַרְפֵּא בִּכְנָפֶיהָ (Malachi 3:20), and healing in its wings, likens the spreading of light to the spreading of a wing; and וְעַל כְּנַף שִׁקּוּצִים מְשֹׁמֵם (Daniel 9:27), and over the wing of abominations one is appalled, he takes as: over the spreading of the abominations a man will be appalled and full of wrath. In וְלֹֽא־ יִכָּנֵף עוֹד מוֹרֶיךָ (Yeshayahu 30:20), and your moreh will be gathered in no more, the verb means לא יאסף ולא יעצר, will not be gathered in and not held back, and its like is in Chazal's language, who call the gathering of people and their assembling כנופיא (Yoma 51a). Some explain it as לא ירחק, will not be far off, that is, will not be בכנף הארץ, at the end of the earth. The pasuk is explained further at the root ירה.
כָּל־בַּעַל כָּנָֽף (משלי א, יז), כֹּל צִפּוֹר כָּל־כָּנָֽף (בראשית ז, יד), פירוש כל צפור בעל כנף. כְּנַף־רְנָנִים נֶעֱלָסָה (איוב לט, יג), וְלָהֵנָּה כְנָפַיִם כְּכַנְפֵי הַֽחֲסִידָה (זכריה ה, ט), יִפְרֹשׂ כְּנָפָיו (דברים לב, יא) כַּנְפֵי יוֹנָה נֶחְפָּה בַכֶּסֶף (תהלים סח, יד), ידוע. ועל דרך ההשאלה אֲשֶׁר־בָּאת לַֽחֲסוֹת תַּֽחַת־כְּנָפָֽיו (רות ב, יב), כלומר להסתופף בצלו, עַל־צִיצִת הַכָּנָף (במדבר טו, לח), על ארבע כַּנְפוֹת כסותך (דברים כב, יב), וְנָגַע בִּכְנָפוֹ אֶל־הַלֶּחֶם (חגי ב, יב), קצת הבגד מלמטה יקרא כנף. וכן מִכְּנַף הָאָרֶץ (ישעיה כד, טז), לֶאֱחֹז בְּכַנְפוֹת הָאָרֶץ (איוב לח, יג) בקצות הארץ. אֶשָּׂא כַנְפֵי־שָׁחַר (תהלים קלט, ט), כלומר אם אלך לקצה המזרח. וּמַרְפֵּא בִּכְנָפֶיהָ (מלאכי ג, כ), דימה פריסת האור לפריסת הכנף. וְעַל כְּנַף שִׁקּוּצִים מְשֹׁמֵם (דניאל ט, כז), על פריסת השקוצים יהיה אדם משומם וחמה. וְלֹֽא־יִכָּנֵף עוֹד מוֹרֶיךָ (ישעיה ל, כ), לא יאסף ולא יעצר. ודומרה לו בלשון רבותינו ז"ל שקורין לאסיפת העם ועצירתם כנופיא (יומא נא, ע"א). ויש מפרשים לא ירחק כלומר לא יהיה בכנף הארץ. וכבר פירשתיו לך בשרש יָרָה.
Radak, Sefer HaShorashim, Berlin 1847. Public domain, digitised by Sefaria from the National Library of Israel.
Sources
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Yitro: Just Winging It," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 6 February 2021.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Fowl Language and Poultry," What's in a Word?, Ohr Somayach, 19 November 2016.
Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein, "Just Winging It," What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language (book manuscript).
Cited in the essay: Bereishis 1:21 and 7:14 with Rav Hirsch, 7:14 with Rashi and Radak; Bereishis 17:4 with Rav Hirsch; Shemos 19:4; Shemos 25:25 with the Targumim; Vayikra 1:16; Vayikra 19:11 with Rav Hirsch; Bamidbar 15:30 with Rav Hirsch; Devarim 22:12, 23:1, 32:11; Shmuel I 24:5; Yeshayahu 11:12, 24:16; Yechezkel 7:2, 12:14, 17:3, 17:7, 17:21, 38:6, 38:22, 39:4; Yechezkel 43:17 with the Targum; Malachi 3:20; Mishlei 9:3; Iyov 37:3, 38:13, 39:13; Rus 2:12, 3:9; Daniel 7:4, 7:6; Makkos 23b; Pesachim 22b; Kesubos 105b; Chullin 22b; Yoma 84a with Rashi; Bava Basra 73b with Rashbam; Succah 20b with Rashi; Rabbi Avraham Bedersi HaPenini; Rabbi Shlomo Aharon Wertheimer, Beiurei Shemos Nirdafim s.v. אבר\אגף\כנף; Machberes Menachem; Ibn Janach and Radak; Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim, Yerios Shlomo and Cheshek Shlomo; Chaim Tawil; Shadal to Shemos 21:3.