Friday, February 23, 2024

שם and שמה

(ל:י"ח)
ונתת שמה מים
(מ:ל)
ויתן שמה מים
(מ:ז)
ונתת שם מים
All three of the above פסוקים refer to the setting up of the כיור. The simple question is: What is the difference between שם and שמה?

As the comments below indicate, there doesn't seem to be any difference between the two. But this is always what I ask when I encounter things like this: "If there's a difference - what is it? If there's no difference - why are they different?"

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Malbim in HaCarmel where he defines words and focusses on the different nuances of synonyms does not differentiate between the two. Under the heading "sham" he quotes psukim that have it either way. I will keep looking for an answer.

Shama-lama-ding-dong said...

There are a lot of good questions and posts on this blog. This is not one of them. These two words are used interchangeably throughout Tanach.
See Deuteronomy 12 : 5, 6, 7.

Shtikler said...

So a question is only a good question if it DOESN'T have an answer? If the answer is that there is no difference... very well.

elie said...

כנראה הצורה היותר "נכונה" היא שמה
שמשמעה לְשָׁם
אבל התורה מקצרת לפעמים וכותבת
"שם" במשמע "לשם"

simyou said...

Possibly שמה means in a container, i.e. "in the kiyor", while "שם" would mean in a physical location, "there in the courtyard". 30:18 and 40:30 are talking about the Kiyor and use שמה, while 40:7 is talking about the arrangement of the entire Mishkan so it uses "שם".