The first occurrence
And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. Gen 1:16
In the Scripture Picture: … and a little child shall lead them.
The primitive root
Strong’s H6996 קטן qatan, an adjective meaning, “small, insignificant;” from Strong’s H6962 קוט quwt, a primitive root meaning, “to cut off, to loathe.” The 3-letter root is quph + vav + tet.
quph ק = sun on the horizon, thus condense, circle, time
vav ו = the tent peg, thus add, secure, hook
tet ט = the basket, thus surround, contain, hold, mud
The story: Something condensed (quph, as light is condensed to the sun when it is on the horizon, becoming smaller than it was, on the verge of disappearing altogether) so that (vav, in the sense of a grammatical conjunction) it is contained (tet); that is, to be greatly reduced.
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