Jastrow: קוֹץ I

קוֹץ I m. (b. h.; קָוַץ or קוּץ I) 1) thorn. R. Hash. 17ᵃ bot. (ref. to Mic. VII, 18) אליה וק׳ בה וכ׳ a fat tail with a thorn in it (a consolation implying an evil prediction), ‘to the remnant of his inheritance’ (pardon will be granted), but not to his entire inheritance. Gen. R. s. 20 [read:] ק׳ זה קינרס by ‘thorn’ (Gen. III, 18) artichoke is meant. Midr. Till. to Ps. CXXXVI ישב לו ק׳ וכ׳ a thorn got into the foot of one of them (which prevented him from travelling); a. fr.—Y. Sabb. IX, 11ᵈ עין כוס עין קוץ if an idolatrous place is called ʿEn K’os (well of the cup) call it (cacophemistically) ʿEn Ḳots (well of the thorn); Y. Ab. Zar. III, 43ᵃ bot.—Pl. קוֹצִים, קוֹצִין. Gen. R. s. 45, v. נָכַשׁ; Y. Maasr. III, 50ᵈ bot., v. כּוֹס II. Ex. R. s. 1 (ref. to ויקצו, Ex. I, 12) שהיו דומין … כק׳ the Israelites were like thorns in their eyes; Yalk. ib. 162 שהם בעיניהם כק׳ they (the Egyptians) were in their own eyes like thorns (dwarfed and dry plants). Num. R. s. 20 (ref. to ויקץ, Num. XXII, 3) שהיו … כק׳ בפניהם they looked upon themselves as if they were thorns compared with them (the Israelites). Kidd. 75ᵇ (play on מקצותם, II Kings XVII, 32) מן הק׳ שבעם from the thorns (the basest) of the people, opp. הבחירים; Y. Ab. Zar. I, beg. 39ᵃ. B. Mets. 83ᵃ ק׳ … מן הכרם (in serving the Roman government as an executioner) I only destroy the thorns out of the vineyard; יבא … את קוֹצָיו let the owner of the vineyard (God) come and destroy his thorns; Y. Maasr. III, 50ᵈ bot.; (Pesik. B’shall., p. 92ᵃ כוסים וכ׳), v. כָּסח; a. fr.—Cant. R. to V, 11, v. infra.—Midr. Till. to Ps. XIV בתי ק׳ (cacophem.) idolatrous temples (v. supra); Yalk. Ps. 662.—2) (also קוֹצָה f.) prick, stroke on letters, apex. Tanḥ. B’resh. 1; Men. 29ᵇ לדרוש על כל ק׳ וק׳ וכ׳ to teach mounds of rules on every tip (of letters in the Torah). Ib.ᵃ קוֹצוֹ של יו"ד Ms. M. a. Rashi (ed. קוצה) the prick on the top of the letter Yod (Rashi: the foot of Yod); ib. 34ᵃ. Ex. R. s. 6, beg. שלמה … וקוצה ממך וכ׳ Solomon and a thousand like him shall pass away, but not a tittle of thee (the Torah) will I allow to be expunged; a. e.—Pl. as ab. Lev. R. s. 19 (ref. to קוצותיו, Cant. V, 11) אלו קוֹצֵי האותיות this means the strokes of the letters. Ib. אפי׳ דברים … שהן ק׳ וכ׳ even things which you consider to be merely strokes (ornamentations of letters), in the Torah they are mounds upon mounds (v. supra); Cant. R. to V, 11 בתורה הן קוצי ק׳ in the Torah these strokes are thorns of thorns (intimating thorny problems).