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 léqaḥ tov natáti lakhém; toratí al ta'azóvu

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

2. honeycake

   Synonym: עוּגַת דְּבַשׁ (ʿugat dvash, literally “cake of honey”)

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

   ba-maqór, ʿugat léqaḥ einah ʿugat s'fog. hi ʿugat d'vash, perot y'veshim v-tavlinim shel y'hudey Ashkenaz..

   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) third-singular masculine past (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׃

     Vayiqaḥ Avraham et ʿatsei ha-ʿolah vayásem ʿal Yitsḥaq b'no vayiqáḥ b-yado et ha-esh v-et ha-ma'akhélet vayelkhu sh'neihem yaḥdav.

     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׃

     Adonái natan v-Adonai laqáḥ, y'hi shem Adonai m'vorakh

     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

     Qaḥ na et birkhati asher huvat 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 mi-beit Levi vayiqaḥ et bat Levi

     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 (hitrakhétz).

• 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