maybe what is "taken" is ineffable, so there is no "mayim" in the yadayim blessing ... likewise, with the lulav as with the hands - these are receivers of the ineffable which is "taken"
The Gemara (Bava Basra 58b) mentions a measure called "antal" used in Cappadocia, and identifies it as equal to a revi'is for all Torah purposes. Maybe the name of this measurement is also related to antlia and to natla, since the official amount of water to use for netilas yadayim is indeed a revi'is, as stated in Yadayim there.
I am not an expert on Arabic. My knowledge of the language is from just four semesters of Arabic I took in college. I am also not versed in the scientific art of letter interchanges between Hebrew and Arabic, I just go by the ear. Still I consult the Arabic dictionary from time to time to look up relations to Hebrew words, this is kind of a hobby with me. So I right away looked at Arabic words for the Hebrew word נטל and this is what I found:
نتل drew, pulled, emptied
نثل cleaned, cleared out
نطلbathed.
So may be ntilat yadayim is just the washing of the hands. I don’t know if this ritual can be done with substances other then water.
Kobi
mink, olam ha-tefilah, mentions the use of "natal" for netilat yadayim shel shaharit. but i don't remember what he says, and i can't pull it now. not much help.
Liorah - very creative...
Alex - Jastrow connects antal and natla.
Kobi - I'm still working on my reading of Arabic letters, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was a similar meaning in Arabic.
Ari - Sounds interesting. If you come across it, let me know.
Commenting by HaloScan
