Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 32:5/אבן עזרא על בראשית ל״ב:ה׳
אכה תאמרון לאדוני. אמר כן להם עד שיתברר אצלם שהוא אדוניו וידברו עמו בדרך מוסר העבד:
1THUS SHALL YE SAY UNTO MY LORD. Jacob used this language so that it would be clear to them that Esau was his lord and they should address him as a servant addresses his master.
בואחר עד עתה. האל"ף סימן המדבר, והנוח הנעלם שהוא אחריו תחת אל"ף השרש, וכן "אני אהבי אֵהָב" (משלי ח יז), כי כבד על הלשון להוציא ב' אלפין והוא מהבנין הקל:
2AND STAYED UNTIL NOW. The alef of echar (and stayed) is a first person imperfect prefix. It is vocalized with a tzere to make up for the missing alef of the root.5 is alef, chet, resh. In the first person imperfect an alef vocalized with a segol is prefixed to the root. Our word thus should have been written e’echar (two alefs respectively vocalized with a segol and a chataf segol). However, it is written echar and has only one alef and is vocalized with a tzere. I.E. points out that this alef is not a root letter. It is a first person imperfect prefix vocalized with a tzere rather than a segol to make up for the missing root letter. Ehav (I love) in I love them (ehav) that love me (Prov. 8:17) is similar.6 (love) is alef, heh, bet. Thus the first person imperfect should be e’ehav. However, the verse has ehav, one alef vocalized with a tzere. See above note. The alef of the root is dropped because it is extremely difficult to pronounce two alefs back to back. Echar is a kal.