Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yitzhak Sapir" <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

The pun on misery may have to do with the different traditions
preserved in the Peshitta and Josephus, of reading the name
with a final -l, not -n.  If we do so, we get (W)BL for the final
consonants.  These present much more reasonable roots
from which "misery" may be derived: BLH "worn out", NBL
wither -- initial N- verbs had a tendency to develop initial Y-
counterparts in NWS, YBLT "wart", )BL "dry".  Also, so long
as the name has a final -n, the most likely interpretation of
the name has to do with a root R)B, whatever that might mean.

Yitzhak Sapir