First, I will provide a general overview of the widely occurring root ענה. It has four different meanings: 1) respond, 2) sing, 3) afflict, and 4) occupy oneself with. (This last meaning only occurs in the book of Kohelet.) It is hard to unify all these meanings. But it is easy to see that, perhaps, “respond” and “sing” have a common origin. For example, in ancient singing, it is often one person singing and others responding. (See, e.g., Samuel David Luzzatto on Exodus 15:21.)

Mandelkern chose to combine the “respond” and “sing” entries, as it is often difficult to decide which of these two meanings is being used in a verse. A widespread view among scholars is that before the “verbal response” meaning, the word meant a non-verbal response, e.g., head motion. This meaning can explain the use of ענה where there has been no prior dialogue.

The idiom ענה + אמר appears many times. Most likely it means “respond and say.” Sometimes, it occurs without a prior statement. Nevertheless, it should still be viewed as a “response,” e.g., to something that happened. See, e.g., Rav Hirsch on Exodus 20: 13 and Exodus 15:21. See also Deuteronomy 26:5, a response to a ritual requirement.

ענה followed by the prefix ב always means to “testify against.” This derives from the “respond” meaning. See, e.g., Rav Hirsch above. ענו, as a “submissive, humble” individual, derives from the “afflict” meaning. עני meaning poor person, also derives from this meaning and originally meant “oppressed, afflicted, bowed down.”

Can we fit the marital obligation of “onah” into any of the above four meanings?

Exodus 21:10 reads: “If he marries another, he must not diminish her food, her clothing or ענתה (her onah).” The person being protected is the Israelite slave who was the first wife. The majority view of the Sages understands “onah” as referring to a man’s sexual obligation.

We could connect it with the “response” meaning above if “onatah” is short for “a response to her request for intimacy.” (Luzzatto suggests something similar.) But a mere connection to the word “response” is still vague. Here are two better approaches: The first approach denies any relation with the above root ענה. There is a word מעון that appears many times and means “dwelling.” Presumably, its root would have been עון. If the root of our “onah” is “dwelling,” we can interpret the word “dwelling” as symbolizing a main activity that goes on in a dwelling, i.e., relations. Daat Mikra adopts something like this as the first of its two interpretations. Luzzatto mentions some who take this approach, even though he disagrees with it. Even in English, we have the word “cohabit” with a sexual meaning—when the word originated with the “habitation” meaning! (Alternatively, we can interpret like Rashbam and Cassuto that our verse only obligates a husband not to diminish the living quarters of his wife.)

The second approach postulates that ענה also means “time” in Tanach. We know this is true in later Hebrew, e.g., Peah 4:8: “onat ha-maasrot.” See also the baraita at Ketuvot 48a (view of the Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov) and the Mechilta, Mishpatim (view of Rabbi Yonatan). Supporting this is a possible etymology of the word עת, which means “time” and which appears many times in Tanach. One view is that it is from a root ענת .ענת and ענה could be related, or “onatah” could derive from ענת.

If there was a root ענה or ענת with a time-related meaning in the era of Tanach, “onatah” could be referring to a husband’s obligation to provide relations to a spouse at certain intervals. Daat Mikra mentions this ancient interpretation. Long ago, Rabbi Saadiah and Ibn Ezra followed it. Another approach is that “onah” simply means something like “her time,” her turn. When there is more than one wife, each one has a turn.

I mentioned above that we do not have clear evidence for ענה with the meaning “time” in Tanach. But, there is a word עונן which seems to be a type of divination. Some understand this word as related to ענה time, i.e., perhaps, this individual makes predictions as to what is a good time to do things. (Others interpret this individual as interpreting cloud formations. There are many possibilities. I wrote about this last week.)

Another intriguing approach to “onah” is suggested by A. Deem in Journal of Semitic Studies 23 (1978). (I thank Avi-Gil Chaitovsky for the reference.) There are many instances of ענה in Tanach like Genesis 34:2, where from the context we realize it is something like rape—but traditionally, we understand the root as meaning something like “afflict.” Deem suggests that all or some of these do literally mean “rape.” These are in the “piel.” If so, ענה in the “kal” can mean consensual relations. This would allow for our “onah” word at Exodus 21:10 to have the correct literal meaning. It also can explain the meaning of the name of the goddess “Anat” in ancient Ugarit. (See also Deem’s interesting explanation of the third ענות at Exodus 32:18.)

(Aside from Genesis 34:2, the additional times in Tanach where the root seems to be used for a forced sexual encounter are: Deuteronomy 21:14, 22:24 and 22:29, Judges 19:24 and 20:5, 2 Samuel 13: 12, 14, 22, and 32, Ezekiel 22:11, and Lamentations 5:11.)

Now, let us mention the other Tannaitic passages about “onah.”

The Mechilta offers three different interpretations of “onah.” The first is relations. But the verse cited is Genesis 34:2 (re: Dinah): “va-yishkav otah va-ye’aneha.” This citation is surprising, because it is usually assumed that ויענה here is related to “afflict.” (But this citation fits with Deem’s approach.)

A second view interprets “onah” to be a reference to giving clothing that is appropriate to the season. A third view interprets “onah” as food (giving another strange derivation).

At Ketubot 47b, there is a baraita very similar to the Mechilta. A main difference is that in the first view, the verse cited for the “relations” meaning is a statement of Lavan at 31:50: “If you will תענה (ta’aneh) my daughters and/or take other wives besides my daughters … ” In this verse, our root clearly means “afflict” and does not mean “relations.” (Okay, one can claim that the meaning is: “afflict my daughters by withholding marital relations,” but this still would not be a proper source for the root ענה as “relations.”)

To sum up, if one wants to interpret “onah” as “relations,” one approach is to relate it to the word מעון and its meaning “dwelling.” “Dwelling” can symbolize a main activity that goes on in a dwelling. Alternatively, the approach that “onah” simply refers to “her time” (her turn) sounds plausible as well. Finally, we have the interesting approach of Deem.

I have to add that there are ancient Mesopotamian texts which list the elements of the wife’s maintenance as food, oil/ointment and clothing. The JPS Exodus commentary thinks this may be the correct approach to “onatah” at 21:10, even though no one (yet) understands how ענה could mean “oil/ointment.”

For further material on this entire topic, see the Jan. 2022 article by Marty Lockshin on thetorah.com. I also wrote an article on this topic on seforimblog.com which will appear shortly.

Mitchell First can be reached at [email protected]. He is happy to have made significant progress on the etymology of the word “onah,” which has been afflicting and occupying his mind for decades and will now enable him to respond about its etymology.

P.S. My recent book, “Words for the Wise: Sixty-Two Insights on Hebrew, Holidays, History and Liturgy,” is available at kodeshpress.com and at Jewish bookstores.