In Devarim 6:8 Rashi says, והיו לטטפת בין עיניך: אלו תפילין שבראש ועל שם מנין פרשיותיהם נקראו טטפת. טט בכתפי שתים, פת באפריקי שתים:
Rashi's English translation is: and they shall be for ornaments between your eyes: Heb. לְטֹטָפֹת. These are the tefillin of the head, and because of the number of the Scriptural sections contained in them [namely four], they are called טֹטָפֹת - totafoth, for טַט - tat in Coptic means “two,” פַּת - path in Afriki (Phrygian) [also] means “two.” (San. 4b)
- Is this the few instances where we see that a word in the Holy Torah is actually borrowed from 2 other languages? ( Coptic and Afriki)
- If yes, then why did the Torah need to borrow the words instead of coming up with a word in classical hebrew?
