A nonliteral approach to understanding על רגל אחת

Without denying the primary literal sense of the story, therefore, can we also understand the term רגל nonliterally, or as a Latin term? There is one clear instance in which some scholars have taken רגל in a nonliteral sense, and in relation to a Latin term, but in an entirely different context, namely the talmudic expression רגל רדופין, which they tend to equate with the Latin regale repudium (royal divorce), which in turn they posit as a possible corruption from legale repudium (legal divorce).

Raphael Jospe, “Hillel’s Rule,” The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, Vol. 81, No. 1/2 (July-October, 1990), 50.

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