{"id":75674,"date":"2020-06-08T13:40:30","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T10:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=75674"},"modified":"2020-06-08T13:40:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-08T10:40:30","slug":"from-one-word-many-possibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/from-one-word-many-possibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"From One Word, Many Possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In chapter 46, Ezekiel describes his vision of the future Temple. He goes into great detail about the measurements of the Temple\u2019s various components. One part of the Temple that he sees is the court:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThen he led me into the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court; and in each corner of the court there was an enclosure. These unroofed enclosures, [each] 40 [cubits] long and 30 wide, were in the four corners of the court; the four corner enclosures had the same measurements.\u201d (Ezekiel 46:21-22).<\/span><\/p>\n

The word used to describe the enclosure is an interesting one. Translated here as \u201cunroofed,\u201d in Hebrew it is <\/span>keturot<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> Other translations say that the enclosures were \u201cjoined.\u201d How did this disagreement as to the meaning come about?<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the translation \u201cjoined\u201d first. This is the opinion of Radak and others. Support for this view can be found in the Aramaic meaning of the root <\/span>ktr<\/span><\/em>\u00ad<\/span><\/i> \u2013 \u201cto bind.\u201d It has a cognate in the Hebrew word <\/span>kesher<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i> \u201cconnection.\u201d\u00a0 The Aramaic <\/span>ktr<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>is also related to the Arabic <\/span>qutr<\/span><\/em>, which meant diameter (perhaps because it binds the two ends of an area.) The Arabic word was later borrowed into Hebrew as <\/span>koter<\/span><\/em>, also meaning \u201cdiameter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The other translation of <\/span>keturot<\/span><\/em>\u00a0as \u201cunroofed\u201d is based on the Mishna (Midot 2:5). Why unroofed? Because with no roof, the <\/span>ketoret<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>– \u201csmoke, incense\u201d could escape. This root gives such words as <\/span>mikteret<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013<\/span><\/i> \u201cpipe\u201d (for smoking). It also might be the source of the English word \u201cnectar.\u201d Some linguists believe that the Greek <\/span>nektar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>– \u201cthe drink of the gods,\u201d originally meant \u201csmoked or perfumed wine.\u201d And their word <\/span>nektar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was borrowed from the same Semitic root that gave us the Hebrew <\/span>ketoret<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

When Hebrew was revived in the late 19<\/span>th<\/span> and early 20<\/span>th<\/span> centuries, there was a need to provide words for things that didn\u2019t exist in the times of Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew. One of those things was \u201ctrain.\u201d The leading Hebrew linguists at the time debated the best word to use. Eliezer Ben Yehuda suggested <\/span>kitor<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 the word for steam (related to <\/span>ketoret<\/span><\/em>), since that was what powered trains at the time. David Yellin offered the similar <\/span>katar<\/span><\/em>, based on the Arabic word for train, <\/span>qitar<\/span><\/em>. That word was originally used for a caravan of camels, and derives from the other meaning of <\/span>ktr<\/span><\/em>– \u201cto bind, connect.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But in the end, neither proposal was adopted. Instead, the accepted word for train is <\/span>rakevet<\/span><\/em>, based on the suggestion of another contemporary linguist, Yechiel Michel Pines. But <\/span>katar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>was not abandoned. It became the word for the locomotive. I\u2019m sure that both Ben Yehuda and Yellin each felt that <\/span>katar<\/span><\/em>\u00a0derived from the meaning they suggested. And who knows? Perhaps they also disagreed about what Ezekiel meant by <\/span>keturot<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":75677,"id":75677,"title":"ez46-locomotive","filename":"ez46-locomotive.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/ez46-locomotive.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/from-one-word-many-possibilities\/ez46-locomotive\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ez46-locomotive","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":75674,"date":"2020-06-08 10:37:35","modified":"2020-06-08 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