← Back to lessons

Root מ־ס־ר: handing over

Roots Atlas 85 · שֹׁרֶשׁ מ ס ר · the handing-over root
מ ס ר
m · s · r
everything to do with passing something on
6 words · 1 root · 1 verb-voices

At the heart of this root is a single gesture: putting something into someone else's hands. Limsor (לִמְסֹר) is to deliver, to hand over, to pass on. Hand over a few words and you have a meser (message). Hand over a way of life across generations and you have masoret (tradition), the thing literally passed down. And the person who gives themselves over completely is masur (devoted), with mesirut (devotion) as their abstract quality. To transmit and to be devoted are one act seen from giver and gift. Every word here 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
לִמְסֹרlimsor
simple active, the plain action
to hand over, to deliver, to pass on (a message)

This family lives almost entirely on the pa'al verb plus its participles. Modern Hebrew also uses the related verb הִתְמַסֵּר (hitpa'el, to devote oneself), but the verified family here keeps to the single pa'al; the rest of the meaning is carried by the nouns and adjectives, all of which are participle- or result-shaped.

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 thing handed over: message and tradition

מֶסֶר
meser
message; theme, point
קֶטֶל
מָסֹרֶת
masoret
tradition (what is passed down)

② The devoted one: giving oneself over

מָסוּר
masur
devoted, loyal; handed over, given
קָטוּל
מְסִירוּת
mesirut
devotion, dedication, loyalty
קְטִילוּת

③ The relative adjective

מָסָרְתִּי
masorti
traditional

Decode it yourself

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