Abarim Publications' online Biblical Hebrew Dictionary
עקב
Formally it's not quite certain where the root עקב ('qb) comes from (some scholars suggest from an unused verb that means to be protuberant, but that doesn't really satisfy). Here at Abarim Publications we suspect that our root is part of the supercluster of קב (qb) words that reflects a down or inward motion or the creation of a hollow or hole. From this root come:
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The noun עקב ('aqeb), most directly meaning heel (Genesis 3:15, Job 18:9, Psalm 41:9), but in a culture in which men wore long robes, the heel was the only external and visible part of one's mostly invisible legs, which means that if a snake bit and thus immobilized a person, it would mostly be in the vulnerable and external heel (hence the "heel" of an army: Genesis 49:19, or one's foot-prints: the echoes of one's words, one's legacy: Psalm 89:51). In that sense, our word clearly relates to the Hebrew word for foot, namely רגל (regel), which in turn is commonly deployed as euphemism for a man's reproductive package, which was considered the seat of his will (compare John 1:13). All this allows a natural association between a man's legacy, his children and his will and desire, and his heels and his testicles (and it appears that this has embarrassed some translators: see Genesis 49:17, Jeremiah 13:22).
Our noun עקב ('aqeb) describes the proverbial opposite of a man's obvious and public face (solar, i.e. light and thus ratio), and thus his inner feelings and intentions (lunar, emotions) — hence also the juxtaposition posed in Genesis 3:15. As we discuss elaborately in our article on How The Mind Works, the center of one's subconscious relates to the common center of gravity of all celestial objects, which is where the earth is drawn to; the obviously visible moon is merely that part of our feelings that we are immediately conscious of.
The heel is where the touch-down of a next step commences, and showing one's heels means that one is ready to gallop off to safety, whereas a hidden heel belongs to someone who is comfortably stationary. Conversely, someone whose heels are obviously visible can be easily manipulated. Jacob, whose name comes from this word cluster, was born while holding onto his brother's heel, which implies (perhaps somewhat coarsely) that Jacob had Esau by the balls: he was manipulating him, which is why it was said that the elder would serve the younger.
A man's mind can be filled with considerations that stem from rational reflection, or his mind can be flooded with wordless feelings that stem from his underbelly. Grabbing hold of someone's testicles gave the grabber the power to fill the other man's belly with sensations that he could not distinguish from his own intimate sentiments. Hence, when two men were fighting (a face-to-face solar engagement), no woman was allowed to take hold of the testicles of the other guy and give him emotions that would affect his battling mind: Deuteronomy 25:11-12.
Lifting the heel means being lunar: being reactionary and emotional, and taking steps against (or away from) someone without taking the time to rationally contemplate the issue. Not showing the heel demonstrates rationality, a solar mind and non-reactionary composure: an attitude and behavior that stem from an inner code rather than external stimuli.
The heel (and the testicle) is associated with inner motivation and thus with manipulation, scheming or planning. Jacob became Israel when the angel struck his ירך (yarek), yet another word for genitalia. Circumcision, likewise, initially affected a man's physical genitalia and by effect his heart (Deuteronomy 10:16). - The verb עקב ('aqab), literally meaning "to heel" or handle the heel or go for the heel or hide the heel: to keep one's feelings and intentions hidden, and thus to scheme, to manipulate someone but in a sneaky (lunar) way not a public (solar) way. Quite comparably: from the word for knee, namely ברך (berek), comes the verb ברך (barak), to "knee", to do the knee-thing, which always means to bless or to be blessed. The idea here is that someone who has the opportunity to "bend the knee" (to sit down in repose rather than stand alert on straight knees), is obviously safe, secure and well-stocked enough to do so. Someone who bends the knee does so in company of friends, sharing food and enjoying entertainment, and is thus blessed. Doing the "heel thing" expresses a similar procedure, namely the hiding or calculated removal-from-sight of one's intentions, opinions, positions and the direction of one's immediate goings, including one's escape route. Someone who hides all these things (someone who does the heel-thing) is confident and secure, and is also able to willfully direct the goings and doings of someone else without them directly realizing. Someone who reveals their emotional state reveals his "heels/testicles" — carries their heart on their sleeve, as we moderns say — and can thus be easily chased and subdued. Someone who is able to hide his heels/testicles/heart is also able to hide his will, intentions, goings. Such a person is outwardly calm, kind and polite, even though his blood might be boiling within him. The first sort of person corresponds to digitigrade animals, who mostly roam the plains in great herds (Esau), whereas the second sort of person corresponds to plantigrade animals who mostly live in holes and burrows (Jacob). Note that animals cannot choose to hide their emotive testicles; humans can because humans have language, which explains the proximity of the words text and textile (see our article on τικτω, tikto, to weave). Before kindness and keeping a calm composure became the preferred norm, such discretions would have been thought of as deceiving and beguiling, of being a wolf in sheep's clothing, a white-washed tomb with rot inside, a luring prostitute carrying a deadly disease: outwardly enticing but inwardly ready to pounce, kill and devour (Genesis 25:26, Jeremiah 9:3, Job 37:4).
- The adjective עקב ('aqeb, which is spelled and pronounced identical to the verb), meaning beguiler or deceiver. This adjective occurs only in Psalm 49:5.
- The adjective עקב ('aqob), meaning insidious or deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9, Hosea 6:8).
- The adjective עקב ('aqob), meaning steep or hilly (Isaiah 40:4). This word ties into our root's core idea, of making a hollow. Once in that hollow, one faces a steep climb.
- The feminine noun עקבה ('aqeba), meaning deceitfulness (2 Kings 10:19).
- The adverbially used masculine noun עקב ('eqeb), meaning consequence or because of, which again emphasizes the sudden effect of inward scheming (Isaiah 5:23, Psalm 19:11, 119:33).