anah

The root (or perhaps better to say roots) ענה anah is generally said to have four meanings in Hebrew. Klein identifies them as follows:: answersing afflictoccupy Let’s look at each of them and the words deriving from them.AnswerThis includes the senses of “answer, reply, respond”. It’s the most popular use of the verb in Hebrew today. A particular type of response is responding as a witness, i.e., to testify. This is the sense found in the ninth commandment:לֹא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר“You shall not testify against your neighbor as a false witness.” (Shemot 20:13)Derivatives include: הֵעָנוּת he’anut - “response, consent” and מַעֲנֶה ma’aneh - “answer, reply, solution.” SingKlein treats this as a distinct root. Others say that it reflects a form of singing - where one sings, and others respond with a refrain. This distinction can be found in translations of the phrase וַתַּעַן לָהֶם מִרְיָם (Shemot 15:21) describing the song Miriam led after the splitting of the Red Sea. Some…