Biblical Hebrew Forum

["K Randolph" <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Yigal:

I don't think the name's meaning in this context needs to be the same as the
story, rather can be the completion of the idea: Hannah asked God to give
him to her, then God placed him in her arms, hence his name "God placed
him".

Yes there are clear cases where the names are the same as the thought, as in
the naming of the twelve sons of Jacob, but other cases are not as clear
cut.

I think the split of the sin and shin happened post-exile. Therefore, in a
pre-exile story such as this, we should not rule out the possibility of
shins being sins and visa versa, or more accurately just to forget the
distinction.

Karl W. Randolph.

On 10/28/06, Yigal Levin <leviny1 AT mail.biu.ac.il> wrote:
> An interesting point here, of course, is that the name $emu)el (Samuel)
> has
> nothing to do with the verb $)L. $emu)el means "his name is God", or "God
> has named", or, if the shin is originally a sin, perhaps "God has placed".
> A
> name meaning "asked of God" would be "Shealtiel".
>
> Yigal Levin