Day 20 of 75 · Perception and response

Q-R-ʾ

qra: call

וקרא

ܘܰܩܪܳܐ

The feel

Qra means to call, summon, name, or read aloud. Each sense carries the same motion: your voice crosses distance and brings someone or something near. A scroll is not silent information, but a voice waiting to be raised. Yeshua calls crowds and children close, then asks whether sacred words have truly been read.

The root family

Form	Pattern	Transliteration	Script	Standard	Qala rendering
The verb	peal (base stem)	qra	קרא ܩܪܐ	to call; to read	call, summon, read aloud
And-he-called	peal perfect	waqrā	וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ	and he called	he called the crowd (Matthew 15:10)
You have read	peal perfect, plural	qraytun	קריתון ܩܪܰܝܬ݁ܽܘܢ	you have read	haven't you read (Matthew 22:31)
Reading, lection	noun (qeryānā)	qeryānā	קרינא ܩܪܝܢܐ	reading	standard lexicon: scaffold, not cited from this corpus

Paradigm forms are a teaching scaffold from standard Aramaic grammar; corpus-attested words above are drawn from the glossary and interlinear.

The verb stems

Stem	Form	Sense	Witness
Peal	qra	call, summon; read aloud	corpus, ~56× (Matthew 15:10; 22:31)
Ethpeel	etqri	be called, be named	standard lexicon; not cited from this corpus
Pael	—	—	not attested in this corpus
Ethpaal	—	—	not attested
Aphel	—	—	not attested
Ettaphal	—	—	not attested
Shaphel	—	—	not attested

Stem table is a grammar scaffold: how Aramaic bends one root through voice and cause.

In his voice

Matthew 15:10 · interlinear

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen, and understand.

waqrā וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ : "and he called." The summoning sense: the voice goes out and a whole crowd is drawn in close enough to hear.

Matthew 18:2 · interlinear

So he called a little child over, stood the child in front of them,

waqrā וקרא ܘܰܩܪܳܐ , the same calling, aimed small: one child, summoned by voice into the center of a dispute about greatness.

Matthew 22:31 · interlinear

But about the rising of the dead, haven't you read what God told you:

qraytun קריתון ܩܪܰܝܬ݁ܽܘܢ : "have you (not) read." The reading sense of the same root: to read is to let the text call out loud, which is why the verse continues, "what God told you."

Practice

Choose one familiar line of Scripture. Read it aloud, clearly enough to fill the room. Notice what changes when words leave the page and enter the air. Ask: what is this voice calling near?

Say qra aloud: calling a person and reading a text are one act of voice.

Connections

Sh-M-ʿ B-ʿ-Y qra: call

Witness note: the forms above rest on the Peshitta as the primary witness, with Palestinian Aramaic attestation marked where a Western source carries the word.

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