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Sefer Yehoshua chapter one verse 13 reads:

זָכוֹר֙ אֶת־הַדָּבָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֥ה אֶתְכֶ֛ם מֹשֶׁ֥ה עֶֽבֶד־יְהוָ֖ה לֵאמֹ֑ר יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם֙ מֵנִ֣יחַ לָכֶ֔ם וְנָתַ֥ן לָכֶ֖ם אֶת־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַזֹּֽאת

On this Radak writes

זכור: מקור.‏

What does he mean by מקור?

All classic rabbinic uses or similarities to this word make no sense in this context: Source. Womb. Passive version of cold?! Everything seems patently wrong. I even checked Radak's own Seffer Hashorashim to see if he gave the word any special meaning. No luck.

Isaac Moses
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user6591
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    Infinitive, rather than what we might expect, the imperative? – josh waxman Sep 05 '16 at 23:58
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    Not sure, but presumably addressing why the form is Zachor with a kametz rather than zechor with a sheva – josh waxman Sep 06 '16 at 00:02
  • Is it common to use מקור to convey the infinitive? Your pshat may fit well with the Malbim there אמר שמן היושר יעשו זאת, but the actual word מקור is not processing for me. – user6591 Sep 06 '16 at 00:07
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    @user6591 Yes, "makor" is what the grammarians used to call what we call "shem hapo'al" (a modern term) now. See Ramba"m's explanation on Baba M'tzi'a 2:9 for an example that clearly means that. – WAF Sep 06 '16 at 00:17
  • @joshwaxman I believe it is common for Rada"k to say basic things like this in Y'hoshu'a, especially at the beginning of Y'hoshu'a, since it is where he started writing, right? – WAF Sep 06 '16 at 00:23
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    The word מקור (flowing spring) is something that runs unending (infinitely), and so מקור means “infinitive.” That is, the word מקור is the term for referring to the “infinitive absolute” in Biblical Hebrew. Likewise, the Modern Hebrew term for the infinitive absolute is מקור מוחלט or מקור פרוד. – Joseph Sep 06 '16 at 05:11
  • I am not sure but he said this to explain the kamats under the letter zayin. – kouty Sep 06 '16 at 13:59
  • @Joseph Do the Middle Ages grammarians not use it for the infinitive construct as well? – WAF Sep 06 '16 at 14:07
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    There's definitely enough information in the comments above to write a good answer. – Isaac Moses Sep 06 '16 at 14:31
  • @Isaac considering that this is seemingly a basic idea in dikduk (ignoring my post Ramma ignorance) do you think I should rephrase the question to make it more applicable to the wider audience? – user6591 Sep 06 '16 at 14:40
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    @user6591 I think this question is great as it is. I'm sure you're neither the first nor the last to see this comment in the Radak and have no idea what "מקור" means in this context. You might want to add whatever you might have been thinking, e.g. "'Source'? Source of what?" An excellent answer would both explain what it means in general and what the Radak was getting at here by indicating that this particular word is meant to be infinitive. That would then be findable by and useful to both people confused by "מקור" in commentaries in general and people interested in understanding this verse. – Isaac Moses Sep 06 '16 at 14:47

1 Answers1

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Throughout his various commentaries, Radak used the word מקור dozens of times in explicit reference to the Hebrew infinitive. He does not appear to have discriminated between the infinitive construct and the infinitive absolute, which differentiation only seems to have appeared centuries later in the pedagogical Classical Hebrew grammars by the 19th Century Hebraists Baer, Davidson, Ewald, and Gesenius among others. Interestingly, one of these Hebrew grammars uses the word מקור in reference to the Hebrew infinitive.

Joseph
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