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  • From: Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] b-hebrew Digest, Nimrod?
  • Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2008 08:56:19 +0100

Dear Isaac,

Etymology is tricky business, and we cannot be certain about the origin and meaning of old names. However, there is one way to connect the name Nimrod with that of Marduk (Merodak)- but again, this is just one possibility.

The Akkadian cuneiform signs were adopted from the Sumerians, and each sign could be used as a logogram (representing one word) or it could be used as a syllable. The Akkadian name Marduk was written with the Sumerian signs AMAR and UD. The Sumerian genitive marker occurring at the end of a word is ak. We may therefore get the word AMAR.UD.ak, and if the last "a" was assimilated by the previous "u", we would get AMAR.UD.uk, which could have been the basis for the name Marduk (a middle vowel in Akkadian often is lost).

If we go back to logograms representing Marduk, namely, AMAR.UD we have most of the name Nimrod, namely m-r-u-d. When foreign names are written in the Tanakh, they are adopted to the Hebrew stock of phonemes, and the writer of Gen 10:9-10 could have added an "n" to the Sumerian/Akkadian word, thus depicting the first ruler of Babel as a rebel (the word can be viewed as a Niphal participle of MRD). Interestingly, both Marduk and Nimrod are said to be the founder/first ruler of Babel. But we should keep in mind that there are several other possible explanations of the name Nimrod.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo


Is not the name NIMROD a variant of the names MRODAK [see Isaiah 39:1 and notice that BAL)ADAN is possibly BA(AL-)ADAN], MORDKAY [or MARDKAY of Esther 2:5] and the present day names of MURAD, MORDUK and MARZUK? I can hardly see MORDKAY as meaning 'the rebel'.

Isaac Fried, Boston University

On Mar 24, 2008, at 4:23 PM, thebodyofjesusthenazoraion AT juno.com wrote:


First, what does the name Nimrod mean? It comes from the Hebrew verb marad, meaning "rebel." Adding an "n" before the "m" it becomes an infinitive construct, "Nimrod." (see Kautzsch 1910: 137 2b, also BDB 1962: 597). The meaning then is "The Rebel." Thus "Nimrod" may not be the character's name at all. It is more likely a derisive term of a type, a representative, of a system that is epitomized in rebellion against the Creator, the one true God. Rebellion began soon after the Flood as civilizations were restored. At that time this person became very prominent.
go to
http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/nimrod.html
My question is, is this true?
Eva Ritsema
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