לקח

Related to Arabic لَحِقَ (laḥiqa, “to stick together”) through metathesis. For usage as "honeycake," a phono-semantic matching of Yiddish לעקעך (lekekh, “honeycake”, literally “lick-cake”), influenced by the Biblical association of teaching with honey.

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לֶקַח • (lékakh) m

1. lesson, moral
   • Tanach, Proverbs 4:2, with translation of the New American Standard Bible:

     כִּי לֶקַח טוֹב נָתַתִּי לָכֶם תּוֹרָתִי אַל־תַּעֲזֹבוּ׃

     ki lékakh tov natáti lakhém; toratí al ta'azóvu

     For I give you good teaching; Do not abandon my instruction.

2. honeycake

   Synonym: עוּגַת דְּבַשׁ (ugát d'vásh, literally “cake of honey”)

   בַּמָּקוֹר, עוּגַת לֶקַח אֵינָהּ עוּגַת סְפוֹג. הִיא עוּגַת דְּבַשׁ, פֵּרוֹת יְבֵשִׁים וְתַבְלִינִים שֶׁל יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז...

   bamakór, ugát lékakh enáh ugát sfog. hi ugát d'vásh, perót y'veshím v'tavliním shel y'hudé áshkenaz..

   Originally, a leqaḥ cake is not a sponge cake. It is a cake made of honey, dried fruit, and spices, of Ashkenazi Jews...

• H3948 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

לָקַח • (lakákh) (pa'al construction, infinitive לָקַחַת, present לוֹקֵחַ, future ייקח / יִקַּח, imperative קַח, passive counterpart לוקח / לֻקַּח or נִלְקַח)

1. to take (grasp with the hands)
   • Tanach, Genesis 22:6, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     וַיִּקַּח אַבְרָהָם אֶת־עֲצֵי הָעֹלָה וַיָּשֶׂם עַל־יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ וַיִּקַּח בְּיָדוֹ אֶת־הָאֵשׁ וְאֶת־הַמַּאֲכֶלֶת וַיֵּלְכוּ שְׁנֵיהֶם יַחְדָּו׃

     vayikákh avraham et atsé ha'olá vayásem al yitskhák b'nó vayikákh b'yadó et ha'ésh v'et hama'akhélet vayelkhú shnehém yakhdáv.

     And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.

2. to take (carry somewhere, remove)
   • Tanach, Job 1:21, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     יְהוָה נָתַן וַיהוָה לָקָח יְהִי שֵׁם יְהוָה מְבֹרָךְ׃

     YHVH natán v'YHVH lakákh, y'hi shem YHVH m'vorákh

     The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.

3. to take (get possession of)
   • Tanach, Genesis 33:11, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     קַח־נָא אֶת־בִּרְכָתִי אֲשֶׁר הֻבָאת לָךְ

     kakh na et birkhatí ashér huvát lakh

     Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee

4. to take (last or expend an amount of time)

   הנסיעה לוקחת שעה. ― han'si'á lokákhat sha'á. ― The trip takes an hour.

   לא ייקח לנו הרבה זמן לגמור עם זה. ― ló yikákh lánu harbé z'mán ligmór ím zé. ― It won't take us much time to finish with this.

5. to take (ingest or inject a drug)
6. to take (enroll in a course of study)
7. to take (capture a photograph)
8. (archaic) to take as a wife
   • Tanach, Exodus 2:1, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     וַיֵּלֶךְ אִישׁ מִבֵּית לֵוִי וַיִּקַּח אֶת־בַּת־לֵוִי׃

     vayélekh ish mibét leví vayikákh et bat leví

     And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

• Unlike English take, לקח is not typically used as a light verb; for example, “to take a shower” is simply התקלח (hitkaléakh) or התרחץ (hitrakhéts).

• לָקַח בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן (lakákh b'kheshbón)
• לקח חלק (lakákh khélek)
• קַח וָלֵךְ (kakh valékh)

• H3947 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

• חלק, חקל, קלח