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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.
The Hebrew root Mem-Tzade-Aleph,MaTzaH can mean
- to find in the active mode as in
- Gn11-02, they found a valley in Shinar
- to be present in the passive mode as in
- 1S13-09, a plow was not present in Israel
- Gn19-15, take your two daughters that are present
- to present in the causative mode as in
- Lv09-12 they presented to him the blood
- 2S05-02 you presented and brought the Jewish people in battles
Applying the above rule to the translation of Lv09-12 we obtain
And he [Aaron] slew the burnt-offering;
and Aaron's sons presented to him the blood,
and he dashed it against the altar round about.
Such a translation is consistent with the method advocated in my article
Peshat and Derash,
to explain Rashi by providing a nifty crisp translation.
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