labor

Everyday

1. Noun: hard work, especially physical work. tree →
2. Verb: to work hard at a task. tree →
3. Noun: workers, the people who do the work. tree →

In the lessons

in tales, work done with effort, often for no gain; in lessons, the work needed to finish a job

Examples

• We put our labor into the garden. tree →
• All our labor was lost. tree →
• The mice ran about and labored at the hole. tree →
• The farm needs more labor at harvest time. tree →

Note

nothing for maths; «labor» names the work done, not a count of things, so it changes no number

In Jewish tradition

Sefer Yetzirah links the letter Yod with labor, the month of Elul and the left hand.

Interpretation. The book gives each letter a quality, and it sees creation as built from letters in order, with work as one of the qualities of the world.

Examples

• He produced Yod, predominant in Labor, crowned, combined, and formed Virgo in the world, Elul in the year, and the left hand of man. (Sefer Yetzirah, Westcott 1887) tree →
• In this way two-thirds of the labor otherwise necessary is saved, for adding the third letter is only one third of the labor required to produce all the triliteral combinations. (Mordell, The Origin of Letters and Numerals according to Sefer Yetzirah (1914)) tree →

Note

nothing for maths; «labor» names the work done, not a count of things, so it changes no number