הכתב והקבלה — מי המרים המאררים

Q — Onkelos and Rashi read 'המאררים' as cursing-waters (root אר"ר). But Targum Yonatan renders 'בדוקיא' — *testing/examining*. How does Targum Yonatan get this meaning out of the same word?

A — HaKtav VeHaKabbalah identifies a linguistic principle: the verb-classes נל"ה (lamed-heh), נע"ו (ayin-vav), and כפולים (doubled-letter roots) routinely interchange — same two-letter core, different vowel-class manifestations, parallel meanings (he cites גלל, דמם, ספה, צור as examples). Targum Yonatan is reading 'מאררים' through the root אור — *light, revelation* — rather than אר"ר. The Sotah waters don't *curse* her so much as *expose* her, bringing into the light what was hidden. 'בדוקיא' (testing) is then a translation of 'revealers' — light-bringers that surface the truth. The seemingly identical word splits into two interpretations along the seam of which root-class you assign it to.