How did סלק swtich from Aramaic to Hebrew? What does the root סל mean?

QUESTION: When did סלק become a Hebrew root? The only instances of in Tanakh are in Aramaic? Also , is it a possible biliteral cognate of the Hebrew סולם (“ladder”) and סוללה (a device used in siege), both of which facilitate ascent? And also סל (“basket”) can be used to lift somethin. Moreover, it seems that סלסלה (in Mishlei 4:8) means ‘lift it up’ according to ראב”ע , as does סלו לרכב בערבות (Tehilim 68:5). There was a city in trans-Jordan called סלכה. (Deut 3:10). Is it because it was a mountainous region and involved ascent? A סלע is a rock. Is it because it’s a high rock that ascends upward? Is סלעם a type of locust that flew higher than others?

Please enlighten me. I’ll feel uplifted.

יה”ר שיסתלקו שונאינו

2 תשובות0 משובים

לייק

2 תגובות

yehoshua steinberg

22 בפבר׳ 2021

I would add a theory proposed by Rabbi Aharon Marcus in his work Keses HaSofer to Gen. 8:20 (it’s on page 262 in the 2016 Mossad HaRav Kook ed.). I cited this in one of my earlier essays:

Rabbi Aharon Marcus (1843–1916) makes a fascinating suggestion. He proposes that in all Hebrew words whose essential root is the two letter combination SAMECH-LAMMED, the SAMECH is actually a placeholder for the letter AYIN which proceeds it. In other words, he says that when a word’s root seems to be SAMECH-LAMMED, it should really be understood as AYIN-LAMMED. The letters AYIN-LAMMED refer to something “on top” (al/lemalah) of something else, and to something which is “raised” or “ascends upward” (oleh/aliyah). To that effect, he suggests that the word selah should be understood using this paradigm, and that it too refers to something which “comes up”—in this case the type of rock which “comes up” from underground.

Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein