Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 6:17/אבן עזרא על בראשית ו׳:י״ז
אואני. מלת מבול, יש אומרים שהדגש תחת נו"ן מובלע כמו מבוע והוא מגזרת "אבלה נבלה הארץ" (ישעי' כד ד) וי"א שהוא מגזרת בלולה בשמן והיה ראוי להיות על משקל "מסלול" (ישעי' לה ח) וכמוהו "המשור" (שם יו"ד טו) והחולם והשורק מתחלפים
1AND I. Some say that the dagesh in mabbul (flood) is in place of a missing nun,56 is nun, bet, lamed. The nun is thus missing. as in the word mabbua (fountain).57 (fountain) is nun, bet, ayn. The dagesh is in place of the missing nun. They note that the word mabbul comes from the same root as navelah (fadeth)58 means to fade, wither or fall. According to this, mabbul comes from the root nun, bet, lamed and means a destruction. in The earth fainteth and fadeth (navelah) away (Is. 24:4). Others say that mabbul comes from the same root as balul (mingled) in mingled (belulah) with oil,59. The word mabbul thus means a mixing or confounding. and that it should have followed the paradigm of maslul (highway) (Is. 35:8).60 (highway) is samekh, lamed, lamed. Similarly the word for flood should be mavlul. The word massor (saw) (Is. 10:15)61 (cf. Is. 15:10) and does not follow the paradigm of maslul. Hence mabbul is similar to massor (Cherez). For alternate interpretations see Weiser and Krinsky. with a shuruk and a cholam62 and massor are alike then both should be vocalized either with a cholam or a shuruk. interchanging is analogous.
בוטעם המבול מים דרך קצרה וכן הוא המבול מבול מים, וכן "למן היום הוסדה" (שמות ט יח) שטעמו ולמן היום יום הוסדה:
2[THE FLOOD OF WATERS.] This is an abridged phrase. It should be read as follows: The flood, a flood of waters.63. Ha-mabbul cannot be in the construct with waters because a word with a definite article cannot be in the construct, hence I.E.’s comment. Similarly the meaning of since the day it was founded (Ex. 9:18) is: since the day, the day it was founded.64 (the day), which has a definite article, cannot be in the construct with hivvasedah (it was founded).