In the Haftarah customarily read the Shabbat before Tisha B’Av, the prophet Isaiah expresses Hashem’s dissatisfaction with the Jews’ sinful ways and how He is no longer interested in their ritual services. In that context, the prophet relates that Hashem said: “When you come to show yourself before Me, who asked this from you — trampling [remos] of My courtyard?” (Isa. 1:12). In this essay, we explore the verb romes and its etymology, with an attempt at discovering if and how romes differs from its apparent synonyms, dorech and boss.
All the classical lexicographers like Menachem Ibn Saruk (920–970), Rabbi Yonah Ibn Janach (990–1050), Shlomo Ibn Parchon (the 12th century author of Machberet HeAruch), and Rabbi David Kimchi Radak (1160–1235) trace the word romes to the triliteral root REISH-MEM-SAMECH. Cognates of this root appear nineteen times throughout the Bible (none of which are in the Pentateuch), all in the context of “trampling/stomping” with one’s feet. This term is also used in later rabbinic literature. For example, the Talmud (Kiddushin 66a) relates that when the Hasmonean king Yannai felt slighted by a rabbi who criticized him for taking the roles of both king and Kohen Gadol, somebody else advised Yannai to "trample" (romsem) all the Torah Scholars, which Rashi explains means that he should “kill” them.
Rabbi Yosef Kimchi (1105–1170) in Sefer HaGalui and his son Rabbi David Kimchi in Sefer HaShorashim both explain that REISH-MEM-SAMECH should be understood as related to the root REISH-MEM-SIN (via the interchangeability of SAMECH and SIN), but they do not quite explain how the connection works out thematically. Words like remes, derived from that latter root, appears seventeen times in the Bible. Most of these occurrences can be found in the book of Genesis, where remes is typically used in reference to “creeping/crawling” creatures in the Creation and Flood narratives. To better understand the connection between REISH-MEM-SAMECH and REISH-MEM-SIN, we turn to Nachmanides (to Gen. 1:25) who explains that creeping insects use their entire body to "tread" over the ground on which they ambulate, so their very essence relates to the idea of "treading/trampling." Hence, the association of the word remes with the verb romes. [It seems that Ibn Saruk, Ibn Janach, and Ibn Parchon do not agree with the Kimchis’ assessment, as they list the root REISH-MEM-SIN separately from the root REISH-MEM-SAMECH, while the Kimchis conflate the two.]
Interestingly, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (to Gen. 1:21) also recognizes a connection between REISH-MEM-SAMECH and REISH-MEM-SIN, but has a different way of understanding it. Because the letters SAMECH, SIN, and ZAYIN can all sometimes be interchangeable, Rabbi Hirsch sees the roots REISH-MEM-SAMECH, REISH-MEM-SIN, REISH-MEM-ZAYIN as all referring to the same basic idea of “treading/trampling,” but to varying degrees of intensity: REISH-MEM-SAMECH refers to “trampling/stomping” with the full force of one’s body in a very intense way intended to destroy/smash whatever lies beneath one’s foot. Then, he explains, REISH-MEM-SIN refers to a lighter form of “trampling” because it denotes the way that bugs and insects — which are typically shorter and lightweight creatures — walk in the ground, but do not cause as much damage. Finally, the root REISH-MEM-ZAYIN is the etymon of the word remez (“hint/allusion”), which Rabbi Hirsch understands to primarily refer to “eye-winking” as means of subtly hinting to an idea. Thus, he explains that when the upper eyelid touches the bottom of the lower eyelid, this action mirrors the act of a foot “trampling/stomping” on the ground as one walks, but the palpebric movement is a much less intense and more subtle form of that action.
The word dorech is clearly related to the word derech (“path”), as it denotes the foot-stepping of a person who is walking on a certain trail. Indeed, all the lexicographers see these words are both derived from the triliteral root DALET-REISH-KAF, whose derivatives appear over 750 times in the Bible. To illustrate one case where the word dorech is used in the Bible, Hashem promises that when the Jews enter the Holy Land, He will give them "wherever the palm of your foot will tread [tidroch]" (Deut. 11:24, also cited by Josh. 1:3) and He promises that the Jews will "will tread [tidroch] over their [enemies'] high places" (Deut. 33:29). Both of these verses refer to the Jews conquering the land and subduing their enemies (by figuratively stepping on them). [For more about the word derech and how it differs from other words related to “streets/routes/tracks,” see “Roads and Paths, Ways and Means” (Aug. 2018).]
Interestingly, the word dorech is sometimes even used alongside its counterpart (and ostensibly synonym), romes: In Psalms 91 (also known as Shir Shel Pegaim), we pray that Hashem watch us wherever we go, such that nothing bad will happen even if one might "tread over [tidroch] an old lion and a snake / trample [tirmos] a lion cub and sea-serpent" (Ps. 91:13).
Is there a difference between dorech and romes?
Rabbi Meir Leibush Weiser (1809–1879), better known as the Malbim, postulates that there is. He explains that romes differs from dorech in that dorech is a neutral term that simply means "treading/walking" over a certain threshold, while romes implies walking in a destructive and damaging way. Based on this, he explains that when relating Hashem’s dissatisfaction with the Jews in the context of their continued religious worship, Isaiah refers to them visiting the Temple as the “trampling” of His courtyard because people would visit the Temple for a sort of "religious experience," but were not open to learning how to properly fear Hashem, so they must as well have been trampling over the Temple as though their very presence was destroying it by rendering it purposeless. On the other hand, when it comes to dorech, this negative, destructive connotation is not implied, as it can even refer to the constructive act of “stepping/trampling” on olives as a way of pressing them to produce olive oil (Mic. 6:15) or doing the same grapes to yield grape juice (Amos 9:13, Isa. 16:10, 63:2, Jer. 48:33, Neh. 13:15).
Rabbi Moshe Tedeschi Ashkenazi (1821–1898) in his work Otzar Nirdafim on Hebrew synonyms sees the word romes and dorech as related to the properties of the ground being walked upon. In both cases, he defines the word’s core meaning by ignoring one letter in its root. Meaning, he explains derech as related to the word rach (“soft”) — ignoring the initial DALET — in reference to a soft parcel of ground that a person can simply walk onto and by treading that land automatically create a path for others to follow. In the same vein, he explains the word romes as related to the ram (“exalted/lofty”) — ignoring the final SAMECH — in reference to grounds that are higher than usual, which require a person to put more force in his stomping to pat down the ground and fashion a path.
A third term for “trampling/treading/stepping on” in the Bible is boss. It is used in very much the same ways that the previous two words we studied are used. For example, in one verse the Psalmist writes: "Through God, we will make valor / And He will trample [boss] our enemies" (Ps. 60:14). In explaining that verse, Rashi actually equates the term boss with the romes (see also rashi to ps. 44:6, isa. 14:25, and prov. 27:7). Altogether, words related to boss appear a bit more than 10 times in the Bible (namely, Isa. 14:19, 63:6, 63:18, Jer. 12:10, Ezek. 16:6, 16:22, 14:25, Zech. 10:5, Ps. 44:6, 60:14, 105:14, Prov. 27:7).
Rabbi Yisroel Zev Horowitz (1880-1918), an acclaimed scholar of the geography of the Holy Land, conjectures that the name of the Canaanite tribe that held Jerusalem before the Jews conquered it — the Jebusites (Yevusi) — may be related to this word. He suggests that because the Jebusites were known as strong conquerors who were able to successfully trample over their enemies in order to clear their path to conquest, their very name possibly reflects such deeds.
To follow the etymology of boss, the triliteralists like Ibn Chayyuj, Ibn Janach, and Radak all trace boss to the three-letter root BET-VAV-SAMECH, while the biliteral Ibn Saruk traces it to the two-letter root BET-SAMECH. Following the biliteralist approach after a fashion, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim of Breslau (1740–1814) also sees the word boss as related to the two-letter root BET-SAMECH. Rabbi Pappenheim explains that boss differs from romes in that romes refers to "trampling/treading" on something that was meant to be walked upon and is usually walked on top of, but boss refers to doing so upon something which is not necessarily already destined to be trampled upon. Because of this, the act of boss is a way of registering one’s feeling about whatever he is stepping on, since it shows that he does not consider it important enough to not step on. A similar sentiment is expressed by Rabbi Tedeschi as well, as he relates the word boss to boz/bizayon ("disparaging/disgracing") — by invoking the interchangeability of the letters SAMECH and ZAYIN. The way he explains it, boss refers to the act of “stepping on” something as a way of showing one's disgust with it and besmirching it.
Interestingly, Rabbi Pappenheim writes that the ALEPH of the word aivus (“feeding trough”) is extraneous to the core word and the word is really derived from BET-SAMECH. He explains that the aivus refers to a contained that an animal's owner might fill with the food in the hopes that the animal will overeat and fatten themself. Because of this plethora of food placed in the aivus, the animal often ends up “stepping on” the leftover food after it finishes its meal, totally disregarding the food’s importance. (Rabbi Pappenheim contrasts this with human behavior which stores leftover food for a later meal rather than dismissing it is as unimportant the moment he finished eating the meal at hand.)
Rabbi Pappenheim also traces the Rabbinic Hebrew word basis (“base/foundation/pedestal” of an object) found in the Talmud (Shabbat 47a, 117a, 120b, 125b, 142a, Pesachim 83a, Avodah Zarah 8b, Chullin 125a) back to this root. He explains that the “base” of something is the bottom part of the object upon which the rest of the object rests. In this way, it is conceptually similar to the land upon which one might trample/tread, because it is on the bottom and has something more significant on top of it. Nevertheless, the more convincing etymology for the later Hebrew word basis lies in the Latin word basis and the Greek βάσις, which are the forebearers of the English words base and basis.
In Modern Hebrew, the word basis refers to an “army base.” This usage may have been influenced by the English word base, but may conceptually also relate to the concept of a basis, as the basis is the foundation upon which an object lies, just like the “army base” is the foundational homebase location from which a military unit operates.
I used to think that the Hebrew word boss was connected to the American English word boss ("master/employer"), who might show his dominion as he lords over his subordinates in the same way that trampling or stepping on something shows that one has conquered it. However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the etymology of the English word boss lies in the Dutch word baas, which originally meant "uncle." Relatedly, the Modern Hebrew slang term basa ("disappointment/defeat") clearly derives from an Arabic cognate that means "miserable," but it is quite possible that both might be derived from the earlier Hebrew word boss, which essentially refers to "defeating" (shown by trampling) — however, I have not found any sources that explicitly make this connection. Eizeh basa.
