Jastrow: פְּסִיפָּס

פְּסִיפָּס, פִּסְפָּס, פִּיסְ׳ m. (פָּסַס, cmp. פְּסִיסִית) 1) cut and polished stone block, used for paving floors, stone pavement, mosaic. Ab. d’R. N. ch. XXVIII אבן פסי׳ שיש וכ׳ ed. Schechter (ed. פיספס) a paving block which has four polished sides (a metaphor for a many-sided scholar). Y. Sabb. VII, 10ᵇ top בשאין שם פ׳ where there is no stone pavement. Ib. XII, beg. 13ᶜ (Chald. dict.) מקטע פ׳ he who trims a paving stone (or die, v. infra). Ex. R. s. 10 בתיהם של גדולים … בשיש בפ׳ the houses of the nobles which were paved with marble or blocks; Yalk. Sam. 102 בתי השיש והפִּסְפְּסִים (pl.); Yalk. Ps. 820 בתי השיש ובתי הפ׳ (Midr. Till. to Ps. CV בתי הסיפים, v. סַף). Deut. R. s. 1 ואם בפ׳ הפ׳ וכ׳ and if (she wipes her hands) on the pavement, the pavement will be blackened, but her hands will not be clean; a. e.—Pl. פְּסִיפְסִים, פְּסִיפְסִין, פִּסְפְּ׳, פִּיסְ׳. Yalk. Sam. l. c.; Yalk. Ps. l. c., v. supra. Midd. I, 6 ראשי פסי׳ וכ׳ Var. in Ar. s. v. פשפש (Mish. ed. פספ׳; Talm. ed. פישפשין) the ends of the flag-stones in the pavement indicated the mark between the sacred and the secular grounds; [comment.: blocks on the ceiling]; ib. II, 6; a. e.—[Tosef. Zeb. VII, 1 פסיפסין, Var. פסיפיסין, v. פִּשְׁפָשׁ I.] —2) cube, die.—Pl. as ab. Y. R. Hash. I, 57ᶜ top (expl. המשחק בקוביא) המשחק בפסי׳ he who plays with dice; Snh. 25ᵇ, a. e. בפיספ׳ (Rashi: blocks of wood); Y. l. c. משישבור את פְּסִיפְסָיו (he is not reinstated from his civil disabilities,) until he breaks his dice; Snh. l. c. משישברו את פִּיסְפְּסֵיהֶן; Y. Shebu. VII, 37ᵈ bot. פִּיסְפְּסָיו; Y. Snh. III, beg., 21ᵃ (also פְּשִׂיפְשִׂין). Midr. Till. to Ps. XXVI, 10 אלי המשחקין בפספ׳ וכ׳ that means those who play with dice, who calculate (throw) with the left hand and press with the right hand, and rob and wrong one another; a. e. —3) check (in garments), square, or stripe (cmp. פַּס). Neg. XI, 7 והרי הוא פסי׳ יחידי ed. Dehr. (ed. פספס) suppose there is only one (white) stripe in the whole garment?—Pl. as ab. Ib. קייטא שיש בה פ׳ צבועים וכ׳ a pieced sheet in which there are checkers colored and white; Tosef. ib. V, 10. Yalk. Job 927 פספסין הדֵּיהוֹת שלו מכחות וכ׳ (or הדּוּחוֹת, not פספסי הרוחות) the faintest checkers (or stripes) of the Leviathan’s skin outshine the sun (v. Yalk. Lev. 653). —4) voting tablet, verdict. Lam. R. to II, 1, v. חִיתּוּךְ.—[The contact between the Hebrew and Greek languages influenced the form פסיפס and the coincidence of some meanings of our word with ψῆφος pebble.]