Today's meaning example uses three Rashi meaning methods:
• We use the root-meaning deriving the meaning of a word from the meaning of its underlying Biblical root;
• We use the metonomy / synechdoche method which derives meaning from related items; for example honey refers to anything sweet and give me a hand refers to lending help. We have frequently singled out what we have called the triple FFF rule of metonomy: Form, Function , and Feel. This rule states that words can be named by form: e.g. the pentagon is a building with a pentagonal form; Furnction: e.g. the United Nations is a building whose function is to unite nations of the world; or Feel: e.g. a hardship feels like something hard, not soft;
• We use the synonym method which focuses not only on the meaning of a word but also on its nuances.

Before explaining the meaning we wish to we clarify Rashi/Rav Hirsch's position on two-letter roots. We have clarified numerous times that Rashi and Rav Hirsch believed that
• Grammatical roots are triliteral and are conjugated according to rules found in Grammar textbooks
• Rashi and Rav Hirsch additionally believed that just as Hebrew words have an underlying three letter root so too Hebrew roots have underlying two letter roots, which determine not their conjugation but their meaning.
• Here is an alternative way to look at this.
  • 2 letter roots determine root meaning
  • 3 letter roots determine verb conjugation.

With this background we translate Ex23-08 as follows: And you shall take no bribe; for the bribe blinds the wise, and burdens the words of the righteous. Here we have translated the Biblical root Samech-Lamed-Pay as meaning burden. We derive this meaning from the underlying two-letter root, Samech-Lamed which means moving up a hill or inclined surface. The list below shows that a terminal pay indicates application of metonomy, meaning related to the meaning of the other two letters. It follows that Samech-Lamed-Pay is something with the same feel (metonomy) as an incline or hill. Hence we have translated Samech-Lamed-Pay as meaning burden. The idea seems to be that if a judge takes bribes he will not outright distort justice but will make it burdensome to achieve (in the hope of helping the briber). The Bible prohibited bribes because the resulting burdensome atmosphere is poisonous to the legal system.

This list illustrates the idea that a terminal pay indicates a meaning reasonably related to the meaning of the other two letters.

Hebrew Biblical Root	Meaning	Meaning of First two root letters	Metonomyc relation between 1st 2 letters and whole root
Aleph-Shin-Pay	Trash	Fire	A trashpile has the same form as the remains of something burnt
Gimel-Resh-Pay	clumped, fist	drag	The form or physical attributes of something dragged (e.g. snow removal) would be that it is clumped (A fist is simply a clumped hand)
Dalet-Lamed-Pay	Drip	Pull a pail from a pit; growth of a branch	The form of a dripping motion resembles slow growth of a branch or the pulling of a pail from a pit - the pail gets pulled drop by drop; the branch grows drop by drop
Samech-Lamed-Pay	Burden	move up an incline or hill	the emotional feel of moving up an incline or hill is burdensomeness; the act can be accomplished but with burden.