Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 41:51/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״א:נ״א
אכי נשני אלהים. טעמו כי אמר, ויאמר ר' יהודה המדקדק הראשון, כי נשני על משקל חנני, ויאמר ר' משה הכהן הספרדי כי הפתח תחת חירק:
1FOR GOD HATH MADE ME FORGET. Its meaning is, because he said God hath made me forget.88 and for God etc. Cf. I.E.’s comment on Gen. 26:7. Rabbi Judah, the first Hebrew grammarian,89 says that nashani (made me forget) follows the paradigm of channani (dealt graciously with me) (Gen. 33:11).90 comes from the root chet, nun, nun. Similarly nashani comes from the root nun, shin, shin. They are both kals. However, Rabbi Moses Ha-Kohen, the Spaniard, says that (in nashani) a pattach has been substituted for the chirik.91 is a pi’el coming from the root nun, shin, heh. Compare, tzivvani whose root is tzadi, vav, heh. The problem is that the first letter of a pi’el perfect is vocalized with a chirik, and nashani is vocalized with a pattach, hence Rabbi Moses’ explanation that a pattach has been substituted for a chirik. Thus nashani is a variant of nishani.