פירוש על בראשית 30:32

נקוד SPECKLED — marked with small specks like dots old French pointure; English points.

SPECKLED AND SPOTTED. This means speckled or spotted. And every ‘chum’ among the sheep — commentators have explained¹⁵⁹Ibn Ezra and R’dak. chum as meaning “black,” since blackness comes from heat (cham). But this does not appear to me to be correct since most sheep are black, particularly in the eastern countries where it is warm, and if so, all sheep would then belong to Jacob.
The correct interpretation is the rendition of Onkelos, namely, that chum is reddish or brownish, called rouge in Old French, and so did Rashi explain it. Chum would then be from the root; the light of ‘hachamah’ (the sun),¹⁶⁰Isaiah 30:26. since it is like the sun which is somewhat red.

נקוד, I believe that this describes these spots in the region of the neck and head, as the word ויקוד means bending down with one’s head and neck. (Exodus 34,8) The word ויקוד has a dagesh in the letter ק, as on that occasion Moses’ bowing down was equivalent to his prostrating himself, i.e. more than just bowing down. The word is of the category of נפל, which in a similar construction would also be ויפול with the dagesh inn the letter פ. The קדקד is the head, but is also connected to the foot, as the line ויעקוד את יצחק means that he bound Yitzchok’s feet. (Genesis 22,9).