✦ ❖ ✦ D A A T · L E V E L 3 — S Y N T H E S I S / R E V I S I O N ✦ ❖ ✦
Siman 207 — Deformed words that bind (כינויי נדרים)
דין כנויי נדרים
A single seif, reduced to one question: does this word, here, say “vow”?
שולחן ערוך יורה דעה סימן ר״ז · סעיף אחד
ש״ך · ט״ז · באר היטב · טור · בית יוסף · רמב״ם
DAAT · הרב יוסף חיים סממה
1. The axiom: usage makes the word
The axiom. A vow is made by speech, and speech is worth what it means where it is uttered. A word therefore has no force of its own: it has force because, in that place and at that time, it says “offering”. From this the whole siman follows — both its rule and its exception.
Three consequences. (1) A deformed word binds, because usage has adopted it. (2) A word usage has not adopted does not bind, even a word of the Mishnah. (3) The list of three words is an example, not a closure: wherever a community has given itself a vow-word, that word binds.
2. The three reflex questions
1. Is the word uttered the proper word (קרבן, נדר…)? Yes — it is a vow, and siman 207 is not needed. No — on to the next question.
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2. Does this word say “vow” in this place and at this time? Yes — כינויי נדרים כנדרים: it binds. No — on to the next question.
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3. Is it so far from the expression that nobody recognises it? Yes — כינויי כינויים: it does not bind. In between: a question for a Rav.
3. Master table — the seif clause by clause
| Clause | The text of the Shulchan Arukh | What it settles |
|---|
| The principle | « כנויי נדרים כנדרים כיצד קונם קונח קונס שאם אמר קונם או קונח או קונס ככר זה עלי אסור בו » (שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א) | The three substitutes bind like the true word |
| The reason | « וכן בכל מקום הולכים אחר הלשון שרגילין בו שאם יש להם כנוי לנדר ונדר בו הוי נדר » (שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א) | One follows the language in use in the place |
| The reverse | « (וכן אם אינו מכיר אלו הלשונות שדברו בהם חכמים אע״פ שנדר בהם לאו כלום הוא) » (שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א) | A word one does not know does not bind |
| The limit | « אבל כינויי כינויים דהיינו כינוי שרחוק הרבה מהלשון אינו כנדר: » (שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א) | The substitute of a substitute does not bind |
| The reach | « (הנדר הוא בכל לשון שיאמר עליו מקרי נדר) » (שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א) | A vow is made in any language |
4. The three degrees of speech
| The case | Verdict | Source |
|---|
| The proper word — קרבן, נדר | Binds | שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א |
| Another language, full and entire | Binds | שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א · ש״ך ס״ק א |
| A corrupted but spoken Hebrew word — קונם קונח קונס | Binds | שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א |
| A word of the Mishnah in a place where nobody knows it | Does not bind | שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א · ב״י |
| A second-degree corruption — מקנמנא מקנחנא מקנסנא | Does not bind | שו״ע יו״ד ר״ז:א · ש״ך ס״ק ב |
| A הקדש pronounced by a כינוי | Binds — it is a הקדש | רמב״ם הלכות נדרים פרק א׳ הלכה י״ז |
The dividing line does not run between Hebrew and other languages — it runs between what is spoken and what is not. That is why an entire foreign language binds (and all the more so, says the Shach), while a doubly deformed Hebrew word does not.
5. The apparatus of the siman in five lines
Five entries, and five only. Here they are, each with what it contributes.
Shach, ס״ק א — the reason of the ruling. He opens with a declared transcription of the Rambam: there are places where the language is spoiled, and there one follows the spoiled word.
Shach, ס״ק א — the Ran’s answer. The Mishnah does not give a list: it gives the weakest case, corrupted Hebrew, and thereby teaches a fortiori about whole languages.
Shach, ס״ק ב — the content of the limit. One line, and without it one would not know what the seif excludes.
Taz, ס״ק א — the reading of כל נדרי. He uses the ruling to explain why the formula names certain כינויים and covers the rest with a general word.
Baer Hetev, ס״ק א — the reason, in two lines. He keeps from the Rambam only the linguistic fact.
What the apparatus does not contain. On this siman neither the Pitchei Teshuva nor the Nekudot HaKesef give an entry. Attribute none to them.
6. The vocabulary of the siman
| Term | Meaning |
|---|
| נדר | Vow — an undertaking bearing on a thing, changing its status |
| שבועה | Oath — an undertaking bearing on the person, obliging him |
| כינוי | Substitute: anything that is not the principal name (the Rosh’s definition, quoted by the Beit Yosef) |
| קונם · קונח · קונס | The three substitutes for קרבן given by the Mishnah |
| כינויי כינויים | Substitutes of substitutes — מקנמנא, מקנחנא, מקנסנא; they do not bind |
| הולכין אחר הלשון שרגילין בו | One follows the language in use — the principle governing the siman |
| לשון נכרים | “The language of the nations” — what a כינוי is according to Rabbi Yoḥanan |
| לשון שבדו להם חכמים | “A language coined by the Sages” — according to Resh Lakish |
| עלגים | Tongue-tied — the Rambam’s word for those who spoil the pronunciation |
| לאו כלום הוא | “It is nothing” — the verdict on a word nobody knows |
7. Golden rules, mnemonic and classic pitfalls
Three words, two rules, one question. Three words: קונם · קונח · קונס. Two rules: the substitute binds, the substitute of the substitute does not. One question: here, does this word say “vow”?
The golden rules
- It is not the word that makes usage, it is usage that makes the word.
- The Mishnah’s list is an example, never a closure.
- The criterion of the limit is distance: שרחוק הרבה מהלשון.
- A vow is made in any language; the כינויים are the hard case, not the general one.
- The rule holds also for שבועה, נזירות, חרם and הקדש — so say the Mishnah and the Rambam.
The classic pitfalls
- Thinking קונם has a virtue of its own: usage, and nothing else, is what makes it work.
- Thinking the gloss “if he does not know” contradicts the rule: it is its exact consequence.
- Confusing נדר and שבועה: the first bears on the thing, the second on the person.
- Reading the כינויי כינויים as a stringency: it is a leniency.
- Attributing an entry to the Pitchei Teshuva or the Nekudot HaKesef on this siman: they do not comment on it.
- Writing קונז after the Rambam in the belief of correcting the Shulchan Arukh: they are two nusḥa’ot, and one does not decide between them.
The sources of this level may be consulted on Sefaria: