Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Isaac Fried <if AT math.bu.edu>]

Uzi Kaspi,

So says Eliypaz the Temanite (job 15:27):

כי כסה פניו בחלבו ויעש פימה עלי כסל

"Because he covereth his face with his fatness and maketh collops (rolls of blubber) of fat on his flanks"

In Lev. 3:4 we find: 

ואת שתי הכליות ואת החלב אשר עלהן אשר על הכסלים

"And the two kidneys and the fat that is on them which is by the flanks"

But, by the magic of Hebrew the root KSL is of KESEL and also of KSIYL as in Prov. 10:1

בן חכם ישמח אב ובן כסיל תוגת אמו

"A wise son maketh a glad father but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother"

Also of KSIYLUT as in Prov. 9:13

אשת כסילות המיה פתיות ובל ידעה מה

"A foolish woman is clamorous she is simple and knoweth nothing"

So, what your grandfather endeavored to convey tactfully is, methinks: PIMAH ALEY KSIYL.

We will leave the etymology of KSL for another time.

Isaac Fried, Boston University 

On Jan 1, 2013, at 1:07 AM, Uzi Silber wrote:

My grandfather told me that a double chin was a 'pima aley kesel'.
Is that Mishnaic? And why was the 'aley kesel' appended to 'pima' if 'pima' already meant double chin?