Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 45:12/אבן עזרא על בראשית מ״ה:י״ב
אכי פי. ידוע, כי פה מוכרת וכאשר יהיה סמוך ישוב הה"א הנעלם ליו"ד נעלם, כמו "פי צדיק" (תהלים לז ל) גם כן לשון רבים, ופי רשעים (משלי יוד, יא) ובהתחבר זה היו"ד עם יו"ד סימן המדבר חסרו האחד, כמו "כי פי המדבר", והטעם שהיה מדבר בלשונם עמם בלא מליץ:
1THAT IT IS MY MOUTH. It is well known that peh (mouth) spelled peh, heh is in the absolute. However, when it appears in the construct the silent heh6 in peh is not sounded. changes to a silent yod,7 becomes pi (my mouth) or fi when the rules of grammar call for the omission of the dagesh. I.E. refers to the yod following a chirik as a silent yod. as in The mouth of (pi) the righteous (Ps. 37:30). The same form (pi) is also used for the plural, as in But the mouth (pi) of the wicked (Prov. 10:11).8 (wicked) is in the plural. Thus the mouth of the wicked should be rendered, the mouths of the wicked men (Cherez). Now when the yod that takes the place of the heh comes together with the yod of the first person pronominal suffix, one of the yods is dropped,9, one yod serving as the first person pronominal suffix and the other substituting for the heh. However, one yod is dropped to simplify enunciation. Thus pi can mean either my mouth or mouth of. as in my mouth (fi) that speaketh. The meaning of my mouth that speaketh unto you is: I speak directly to you in Hebrew without the use of an interpreter.