Page 1 of 1

רקח RQX, Ex. 30: 25

Posted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 12:50 pm
by Isaac Fried
We read there
וְעָשִׂיתָ אֹתוֹ שֶׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ רֹקַח מִרְקַחַת מַעֲשֵׂה רֹקֵחַ שֶׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה
KJV: "And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil"
NIV: "Make these into a sacred anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It will be the sacred anointing oil"
and we understand that the act רקח = רכך entails the mixing of soft, רך, loose, easy to mold substances to produce a sticky spreadable, easily smeared, cream.
Some kin roots to רקח RQX are
רבח, רוח, רזח, ריח, רמח, רצח, רקח, רתח
of which רמח is the essence of רוֹמָח, 'lance, pike, hatchet, sword', as in Nu. 25:7-8
וַיַּרְא פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן וַיָּקָם מִתּוֹךְ הָעֵדָה וַיִּקַּח רֹמַח בְּיָדוֹ וַיָּבֹא אַחַר אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל הַקֻּבָּה וַיִּדְקֹר אֶת שְׁנֵיהֶם אֵת אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת הָאִשָּׁה
NIV: "When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach"
KJV: "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly"
Being of the root רמח RMX suggests that רוֹמָח is otherwise a hacking or dicing implement.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: רקח RQX, Ex. 30: 25

Posted: Sat Mar 02, 2019 9:28 pm
by Isaac Fried
The four roots
רקח רחק חקר חרק קרח
are related and tied together by the common letter, nay, the uniliteral root, R, indicating that they all refer to an aggregated material state of several bodies.
From קרח we have קֶרַח QERAX, today taken to mean 'ice', but possibly originally meaning pellets of frozen rain or hail common in the cold winters of hilly Jerusalem. See Ps. 147:16-18
הַנֹּתֵן שֶׁלֶג כַּצָּמֶר כְּפוֹר כָּאֵפֶר יְפַזֵּר מַשְׁלִיךְ קַרְחוֹ כְפִתִּים לִפְנֵי קָרָתוֹ מִי יַעֲמֹד
יִשְׁלַח דְּבָרוֹ וְיַמְסֵם יַשֵּׁב רוּחוֹ יִזְּלוּ מָיִם

RSV: "He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He casts forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold?
He sends forth his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow"
NIV: "He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast? He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow"

From this same root קרח we also have קָרְחָה = קרח-היא and קָרַחַת = קרח-את, 'bald spot', German 'Glatze', from 'glatt', English, 'smooth'. See Lev. 21:5
לֹא יִקְרְחוּ קָרְחָה בְּרֹאשָׁם וּפְאַת זְקָנָם לֹא יְגַלֵּחוּ
KJV: "They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard"
RSV: "They shall not make tonsures upon their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards"

Some surmise that קָרַחַת is so named because it is as smooth and shiny as the face of hard ice. I think that יִקְרְחוּ = היא-קרח-הוּא refers to hair being uprooted, plucked and scattered.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: רקח RQX, Ex. 30: 25

Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:19 pm
by Isaac Fried
רחק RXQ is the root of רחוֹק = רח-הוּא-ק, 'far, remote', with the embedded ר R indicating a spacial relationship of distance between separated (פרד פרז פרט פרס פרץ פרש פרת) bodies.
The uniliteral root R of plurality, distinctness and diversity is present in other such multi-body states, to wit: קָרוֹב = קר-הוּא-ב QAROB, 'near', אחר AXAR, 'later', קצר QACAR, 'short', אָרוֹך = אר-הוּא-ך AROK, 'long', שׁוּרָה = ש-הוּא-ר-היא $URAH, תוֹר TOR, טוּר = ט-הוּא-ר TUR, 'row, turn, line, series', שר-הוּא-ע = שָרוּעַ SARUA, 'stretched, spread', פָּרוּץ = פר-הוּא-ץ PARUC (as opposed to קפוּץ and קמוּץ), 'breached, accessible, detached, loose', מְצוֹרָף = מ-צ-הוּא-רף MCORAP, 'assembled, put together', רָצוּף = רצ-הוּא-ף RACUP, 'continuous, uninterrupted, one after the other', זָרוּי = זר-הוּא-היא ZARUI, 'dispersed, distributed, spread', צָרוּר = צר-הוּא-ר CARUR, 'collected, gathered, bundled, tied together', מְפוּזָר = מ-פ-הוּא-זר MPUZAR, 'dispersed'.
Otherwise, צוּרָה = צ-הוּא-ר-היא CURAH, 'form', a representation of an image made of a particular aggregation צרירה of assembled bits and dots shaped for impression and recognition.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

Re: רקח RQX, Ex. 30: 25

Posted: Tue Mar 12, 2019 6:00 pm
by Isaac Fried
The related act חרק XARAQ, (so near to הרג and חרג) means 'scrape, gnash the teeth', as in Job 16:9
אַפּוֹ טָרַף וַיִּשְׂטְמֵנִי חָרַק עָלַי בְּשִׁנָּיו צָרִי יִלְטֹשׁ עֵינָיו לִי
NIV: "God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes"
Today, חריקה XARIYQAH came to mean 'squeaking, screeching, creaking, screeching, squeaking sound', as a loose wooden floor will sometimes do, or two pieces of metal sliding over each other without the benefit of oil.
חֶרֶק XEREQ is used today for 'insect', made up of distinct sections.

Isaac Fried, Boston University