B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

We read there
וְהַצָּרוּעַ אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ הַנֶּגַע בְּגָדָיו יִהְיוּ פְרֻמִים וְרֹאשׁוֹ יִהְיֶה פָרוּעַ
AT (Aramaic Targum): וּסְגִירָא דְּבֵיהּ מַכְתָּשָׁא לְבוּשׁוֹהִי יְהוֹן מְבֻזְּעִין וְרֵישֵׁיהּ יְהֵי פְּרִיעַ
KJV: "And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare"
NIV: "Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt"
פְרֻמִים = פר-הוּא-מ-הם is from the root פרם containing in its elementary composition the constituent uni-literal root ר R, signaling that פרם refers to a material state of several bodies, or otherwise of several loosely connected bodies (think of ראש ברך קרסוֹל)

The bi-literal fraction פר of פרם is augmented into
בער, עבר, אבר, ברא, פרא, פער, פאר, עפר, אפר, פרה, פרר, ברר

The toot PRM is also apparently related, on the one hand, to
גרם, זרם, חרם, טרם, כרם, ערם, צרם, קרם
and on the other hand to
פרג, פרד, פרה, פרז, פרח, פרט, פרך, פרס ,פרע, פרף, פרץ, פרק, פרר, פרש

So פְרֻמִים may indeed mean 'torn', or possibly merely 'loose', not pressing the skin.

I permitted myself to write פּרוּמִים with an וּ since the following letter mem is bereft of a dagesh.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

The Aramaic מְבֻזְּעִין = מ-ב-הוּא-ז-הן is from the root בזע, בזא related to the Hebrew roots בצע, 'sliced', פצע, 'harmed, injured', פצה, 'open, gape', and בזה, 'spurn.'
The act בזא is in Isaiah 18:2
גּוֹי קַו קָו וּמְבוּסָה אֲשֶׁר בָּזְאוּ נְהָרִים אַרְצוֹ
NIV: "an aggressive nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers."

Isaac Fried, Boston University