Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 25:16/אבן עזרא על בראשית כ״ה:ט״ז
אובטירותם. ארמונים כמו "טירת כסף" (ש"ה ח ט):
1AND BY THEIR ENCAMPMENTS. Tirotam (encampments) means palaces. Compare, a turret of silver (tirat kasef) (Cant. 8:9).
בלאמותם. בשורק, מצאנו אמות, ואומים, ולמ"ד לאמותם נוסף כלמ"ד לגוייהם, ואיננו כלמ"ד "בלאמים" (תהלים קמט ז) כי הוא שרש כמו "ולאום מלאום יאמץ" (בראשית כה כג), והטעם שהוא בלמ"ד ובחסרונו שוה והם שני שרשים:
2ACCORDING TO THEIR NATIONS. We find Scripture employing ummot (nations) and ummim (nations),17); Ps. 117:1 (ummim). The former has a feminine ending, the latter, a masculine ending. Our verse (le’ummatam) employs the former. both of which are vocalized with a shuruk.18. I.E. refers to both a kubbutz and a shuruk by one term, shuruk. Cf. L. Prijs, Die Grammatikalische Terminologie Des Ibn Ezra, Basel, 1950, p. 136. The lamed of le-ummatam (according to their nations) is a preposition,19 similar to the lamed of le-goyehem (after their nations). It is not the same as the lamed of ba-le’ummim (upon the peoples) (Ps. 149:7) which is a root letter like the lamed of le’om (people) in And the one people (u-le’om) shall be stronger than the other people (mi-le’om) (v. 23). Whether spelled with a lamed or not, it has the same meaning. However, they come from different roots.20 and le’om mean the same, but come from different roots. The root of om is alef, vav, mem and that of le’om, lamed, alef, mem (Cherez, Krinsky).