מאזניים
Hebrew
Root |
---|
א־ז־ן (ʾ-z-n) |
Etymology
The word has equivalents in several Semitic languages. It seems to be a dual form of the singular *מוֹזֵן, derived from the root *ו־ז־ן whose ancient meaning was weighing, compare Arabic وَزَنَ (wazana, “to weigh”). If so, the expected spelling of the word would be *מוֹזְנַיִם. The current spelling is probably the result of a late allusion (in spelling only) to the word אָזְנַיִם, although there is no etymological connection between the words. This analogy stemmed from a folk etymology that linked the two words due to their phonetic similarity. Its influence was so strong that already in the language of the Bible the secondary root א־ז־ן (which appears in the Bible in איזן) is derived from מאזניים, where the aleph does not have any "right to exist" historically.
See also
Zodiac signs in Hebrew (layout · text) | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
טָלֶה (Talé) | שׁוֹר (Shor) | תְּאוֹמִים (Te'omim) | סַרְטָן (Sartan) | ||||||||
אַרְיֵה (Aryé) | בְּתוּלָה (Betulá) | מאזניים (Moznayim) | עַקְרָב (Akrav) | ||||||||
קַשָּׁת (Kashat) | גְּדִי (Gdi) | דְּלִי (Dli) | דָּגִים (Dagim) |
References
- “מאזנים” in the Hebrew Terms Database of the Academy of Hebrew Language
Further reading
- מאזניים on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia he
- מזל מאזניים on the Hebrew Wikipedia.Wikipedia he