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Root ש־ל־ם: wholeness, paying & peace

Roots Atlas 46 · שֹׁרֶשׁ ש ל ם · the wholeness root
ש ל ם
sh · l · m
everything to do with being whole, complete, paid, and at peace
10 words · 1 root · 3 verb-voices

One idea runs underneath: wholeness, nothing missing. Make something whole and you complete it; settle a debt in full and you pay it; a state with nothing missing is at peace, that is why שָׁלוֹם is the same root. To pay (לְשַׁלֵּם) is literally "to make whole", to give back the full amount. Perfect (מֻשְׁלָם) is "made complete". One root quietly links your greeting, your bill, and your sense of being settled. Every entry is verified against pealim, niqqud included.

The verb across the binyanim (voices)

The same root runs through the verb system. Each binyan is a voice: it bends the one idea into active, passive, causative or reciprocal. Tap to hear.

Pa'al
לִשְׁלֹםlishlom
simple active, the plain action
to be over, to be completed (archaic)
Pi'el
לְשַׁלֵּםleshalem
intensive / specialized active
to pay (literally: to make whole)
Hif'il
לְהַשְׁלִיםlehashlim
causative, make someone do it
to complete; to come to terms, to accept (a situation)

The plain pa'al ("to be complete") is archaic; modern Hebrew carries the meaning through two active binyanim. Pi'el took the "make whole" sense and specialized it into paying, settling a debt in full. Hif'il kept the literal "complete" and added a beautiful idiom: to come to terms with something is to let your inner picture be made whole again. Pu'al / huf'al are not lexicalized here.

Words born from the root

Same root letters, different noun moulds (mishkalim). The mould tells you the function: who does it, the act of doing it, or the thing produced.

① The state: whole, complete, perfect

שָׁלֵם
shalem
complete, entire, whole
קָטֵל
מֻשְׁלָם
mushlam
perfect; ideal; complete
מֻקְטָל

② The abstract: completeness itself

שָׁלוֹם
shalom
peace; well-being; hello/goodbye
קָטוֹל
שְׁלֵמוּת
shlemut
wholeness, completeness, integrity
קְטֵלוּת

③ The act: completing & coming to terms

הַשְׁלָמָה
hashlama
completion; acceptance, reconciliation
הַקְטָלָה
הִשְׁתַּלְּמוּת
hishtalmut
a continuing-education course, professional development
הִתְקַטְּלוּת

④ The payment: settling in full

תַּשְׁלוּם
tashlum
a payment; compensation
תַּקְטוּל

Decode it yourself

Strip the prefixes, suffixes and vowels. Three consonants remain, and the meaning lives there.