Salach, “To Forgive,” Strong’s H5545

First occurrence.

Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.” Exo 34:9

Hebrew root word.

Strong’s H5545, סלח  salach, “to forgive.” The ancient pictographs:

sin ס = thorn (grab, hate, protect)
lamed ל = shepherd’s staff (teach, yoke, to, bind)
chet ח = wall (outside, divide, half)

The cognate words (basket, bank, ladder) all have to do with raising up in one way or another, as a basket is raised up on the head to carry it; a bank is a raised mound of earth; and a ladder is something which raises to a higher elevation. The Hebrew Root Word parable  is of taking ahold of (sin) the yoke (lamed) which limits (chet, in the sense of a fence which defines the limit of a space) so as to raise it up or off. According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, salach lifts one out of a debt.

THE ANCIENT HEBREW LEXICON | INDEX OF HEBREW ROOTS