As per a special request we are adding these two sweet words today. Both derive from the root verb Y.N.K. (to suckle, to nurse, to breast feed.) The general name for all breast feeders including humans is mammals and in Hebrew: yon•kim.’ The singular word is ‘yo•nek’.
The word ti•nok does not appear in the Bible. The biblical word for a baby (no distinction between a boy and a girl at this stage) is yo•nek.
For example it is mentioned in one of the most powerful prophecies of Isaiah, which in addition to Isaiah chapter 2 is also called ‘Last Days Vision’ (Last Days Prophecy) and ‘the King Messiah Prophecy’:
’And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.’
In today’s Hebrew a ti•nok is a suckling baby but during the Talmudic era (the 3rd century) the name was a reference to young children up to the age of 13. They were called: ‘ti•no•kot shel beit ra•ban:’ ‘young students of their rabbis.’ This was the name of the Bible schools for the little kids who went every day to learn Torah at the rabbi’s house.
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