לְ◌ pref. 1 to, unto. 2 toward. 3 at, by. 4 into. 5 belonging to. 6 written by (the so-called ‘Lamed auctoris’, as in מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד (= psalm written by David). 7 לְ◌ serves to introduce the inf. construction, as in לְדַבֵּר (= to speak), לְבָרֵךְ (= to bless). לְ◌ becomes לִ◌ before a consonant with ‘schwa’, as in לִשְׁלֹמֹה (= to Solomon); with following יְ it coalesces into י, as in לִירוּשָׁלַיִם (= to Jerusalem); before a ‘hateph’ (see חָטָף) it takes the vowel of the hateph, as in לֶאֱדוֹם (= to Edom); before the art. the ה is usually dropped and its vowel taken over by the prep. ל as in לַבֶּגֶד, for לְהַבֶּגֶד (= to the garment), לָאָב for לְהָאָב (= to the father); before אֱלֹקִים, לְ◌, becomes לֵ◌; cp. also לֶאֱמֹר (= to say), which becomes לֵאמֹר (q.v.). [Related to Aram.-Syr. לְ◌, Ugar. l-, Arab. li-, Ethiop. ḻ- (= to), Akka. la- (= Heb. לִפְנֵי).]