Question about Menorah

[yinonyavo]

I have a question about the servant or "shemesh" candel . In the Jewish Encyclopedia it states that this center or servant candle, called the "ner Elohim" (lamp of God), is also called the "ner ha ma'arbi".

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/v...&letter=M&pid=1


I think this would be translated "lamp, the (or from the) fourth", as arba is the Hebrew word for four or fourth. (aleph/resh/bet/ayin) It is from the root Raba (resh/bet/ayin) which means foursquare, or lying down, as in down on all fours (a servant position)....but I could not confirm this translation, nor could I find the Hebrew spelling of this term........if anyone can, let me know.....thanks

 

[debi b]

I have a question about the servant or "shemesh" candel . In the Jewish Encyclopedia it states that this center or servant candle, called the "ner Elohim" (lamp of God), is also called the "ner ha ma'arbi".

I think this would be translated "lamp, the (or from the) fourth", as arba is the Hebrew word for four or fourth. (aleph/resh/bet/ayin) It is from the root Raba (resh/bet/ayin) which means foursquare, or lying down, as in down on all fours (a servant position)

This is the problem with transliteration. If it is from the word for the number four [Bra I can find no reference to that spelling. This is not to say there isn't one. What I did find in my Jastrow dictionary (if you are not familiar with it, it is for Targum, Babalonian and Jerusalem Midrashic literature with references to Tosefta) was ybr[m from the root br[ evening. If this is the right word it would make the translation something like "the lamp of the evening".

 

[yinonyavo]

0702 ebra ‘arba‘ ar-bah’ masculine hebra ‘arba‘ah ar-baw-aw’

from 07251; TWOT-2106a; n, adj m, f

AV-four 265, fourteen + 06240 19, fourteenth + 06240 23, fourth 5, forty 2, three score and fourteen + 07657 2, ; 316

1) four

 

[shmuel]

The cardinal number "four" is 'arba`, alef-resh-bet-ayin, but the ordinal number "fourth" is "revi`i", resh-bet-yod-ayin-yod. I would lean in the direction of a word from the root ayin-resh-bet, but since all you have is a transliteration it is had to distinguish an alef from an ayin.

S

 

[shmuel]

A grammatical point: the definite article comes between the preposition and the noun. This would indicate that the mem is part of the noun rather than a preposition.

S

 

[yinonyavo]

thanks, that helps some...........