Notebook

Menaḥem Ibn Sarūq was the main Andalusi proponent of the theory, later abandoned, that Hebrew roots could have one, two, or three root consonants. He thought that a root consonant must by definition be necessary to a word and must therefore appear in all forms of that word; if it is dropped in any instance, then it cannot be considered a root letter. Dunash ben Labraṭ, Menaḥem’s student, rejected this idea and instead distinguished between strong and weak roots, arguing that those with weak roots can drop a root consonant in certain situations. The first excerpts here are from the introduction; they are followed by several examples illustrating his methodology.