Most people are aware that Hebrew verbs
come from three-letter roots. Each root is
conjugated in the 8 dimensions of
person, gender,plurality, tense, activity,
modality, direct-object, and prepositional connective. For example
the root Shin Mem Resh means to watch.
The conjugations Shin-Mem-Resh-Tauv-Yud
and Nun-Shin-Mem-Resh-Nun-Vav mean
I watched and we were watched respectively.
The rules for Hebrew grammar are carefully described
in many modern books and are well known. Rashi will sometimes comment when a verse is using a rare conjugation
of an odd grammatical form.
When presenting grammatical Rashis my favorite
reference is the appendix in volume 5 of the Ibn Shoshan
dictionary. This very short appendix lists most
conjugations.
Verse
Ex29-01a
discussing
the consecration offering of the Priests
states
And this is the thing that thou
shalt do unto them to hallow them,
to minister unto Me in the priest's office:
take one young bullock and two rams without blemish.
Rashi translates the Biblical word
Lamed-Kuph-Ceth
as coming from the Biblical root
Lamed-Kuph-Ceth
which means
to take.
We have conveniently embedded the Rashi translation in the
translation of the verse. The closet conjugation rule governing this Biblical
word may be found by using table(s)
1
in the Ibn Shoshan dictionary for the
Command
mode
Advanced Rashi:
Rashi literally states We find two command forms for verbs whose first letter is Lamed:
The two forms are Lamed-Kuph-Ceth and Kuph-Ceth. Both forms are a command conjugation
meaning take. So Rashi is simply pointing out that there are two conjugations
to the command form of Lamed-2-3 roots. Although this fact can be looked up in
modern grammar books, such books were not present in Rashi's time. In fact even many
modern grammar books will only give one form and not mention alternate forms.
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