Someone in my synagogue posed the following question to me; stumped, I pose it to you:
The Bavli, Taanis 6 amud 1, notes that מלקוש is good rain. It then proposes that, perhaps, that's mistaken; rather,
perhaps מלקוש is [rain] that knocks down houses, breaks apart trees, and raises locusts
— but refutes the possibility. Rashi (ad loc.) notes that the idea that מלקוש may be rain that raises locusts, specifically, is because
"מלקוש" is terminology of locusts, like [Amos 7:1].
(Amos there uses the similar word "לקש" and refers to locusts.)
But "לקש" there doesn't refer to locusts! (The verse does, but not that word.) Not according to Rashi there, and not according to anyone I can find. Why would "מלקוש" mean "locust-raising"? Or why does Rashi claim a semantic connection to a word that seemingly has none?
Or (as a sort of contrapositive), do we accept Rashi (to Taanis) as explaining that the g'mara (at this point) holds "לקש" in Amos means "locusts"? If so, how does the g'mara (at this point) read the verse entire?
