Muvhak - The Clear Light

ד' באייר תשס"ז

Today I came across a word used to describe light that I've never seen before - muvhak - which is translated in the sources as both "outstanding" and "scintillating". I've found the likely Hebrew spelling (מובהק) for the word. Considering the letters, the apparent shoresh seems to be בהק which means "clear", yet at the same time implies a "clean" skin disease (called a tetter) with clear patches (Vayikra 13:39). I am perplexed.

It can't be coincidental, since I don't believe in coincidence, that I stumbled across this word while studying the parashot which deal with tza'arat (a skin disease with white patches) and the chukot of the Canaanites (Metzora and Achrei Mot, respectively). This is what I am thinking:

The central letters ובה of the word מובהק can all be legitimately combined into the letter chet (ח), where chet is composed of the letters zayin (beit + hei) and vav joined by a chatoteret. This combination forms the word מחק m'chok meaning "of chok". The shoresh of חק is חקק, which is also the shoresh the word chukot.

In a roundabout way, it seems that the "outstanding" light may in some be way connected to having once been afflicted with tzara'at followed by becoming clear of it by way of implementing observance of non-Canaanite chukot/chukim (see previous post) to neutralize destructive fury.

Interestingly, a gradational variant of the shoresh חקק is the similarly spelled shoresh חקק meaning to "set circles". A gradational variant is a "new" root where the meaning "resembles the original root but usually signifies a shift in intensity or focus" [1]. Here is a suprarational חק connection to the concept of "masovevet" (in the designation "hamasovevet").

והיה אור

Reference and Footnote:

[1] Etymological Dictionary Of Biblical Hebrew, R' Matityahu Clark

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