מְאֻנָּךְ (Me'unach) — vertical

Etymology

The word Me'unach is rooted in the biblical term Anach (אָנָךְ), which appears in a vision of the prophet Amos. Linguistically, the term traces back to the Sumerian An-na ("sky stone"), referring to tin or lead. This word migrated into Akkadian as Anaku and then into Aramaic and Hebrew. In the Bible, it likely referred to a metal wall or a builder's plumb line made of lead, though medieval commentators like Dunash ben Labrat were the ones to firmly establish the "plumb line" definition against competing theories of "destruction."

In the late 18th century, Enlightenment writers like Baruch Linda began using Anach as a technical term for a plumb line and eventually as an adjective for "vertical," calquing the German lotrecht. However, various competing terms existed in the 19th century, including Anachi (introduced by Nahum Sokolov in 1884), which was also a calque of the German senkrecht.

The specific form Me'unach was coined in 1894 by Yechiel Michel Pines in his book HaKoach. Pines was a linguistic purist who objected to the common practice of creating adjectives using the suffix "-i" (as in Anachi or Ofki), which he considered a foreign influence from Arabic-mediated medieval translations. Instead, he preferred using the passive participle form of the biblical root. Today, Me'unach remains the standard geometric term for "vertical" or "perpendicular," used alongside the earlier Anachi.

Key Quotes

"כֹּה הִרְאַנִי וְהִנֵּה אֲדֹנָי נִצָּב עַל חוֹמַת אֲנָךְ וּבְיָדוֹ אֲנָךְ." — עמוס ז', ז'

"כי 'אנך' הוא כמו בדיל כמשמעו בלשון הערב... ונודע כי מהאנך תיעשה משקולת הבונים התלויה בקו המדה." — דונש בן לברט, המאה ה-10

"ותחת אשר עד כה היה ערוך הסדן... בתכונת יושר המאזני, תקן את הסדן זקוף ביושר האנכי." — נחום סוקולוב, האסיף, 1884

Timeline

• 8th Century BCE: The word Anach appears in the Book of Amos, likely meaning tin or lead.
• 10th Century CE: Dunash ben Labrat defines Anach as a builder's plumb line.
• 1788: Baruch Linda uses Anach for "plumb line" in Reshit Limudim.
• 1808: Linda uses Anach as a translation of the German lotrecht (vertical).
• 1884: Nahum Sokolov uses the form Anachi (vertical) in Ha'Asif.
• 1894: Yechiel Michel Pines coins Me'unach to avoid the "-i" suffix.

Related Words

• אָנָךְ (Anach) — plumb line; tin/lead
• אֲנָכִי (Anachi) — vertical (alternative adjective)
• מְאֻזָּן (Me'uzan) — horizontal (coined by Pines as a pair to Me'unach)
• אֹפֶק (Ofek) — horizon