Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Uri Hurwitz <uhurwitz AT yahoo.com>]

   re 'Shmuel'

   Look up in BDB  'Shin Mem He'. They suggest an Arabic
 root meaning ';be high, loft', and suggest a similar
 meaning in Assyrian [Akkadian].


  I am familiar with the Arabic SMW, where the last letter
 appears as a consonant. This is used in expressions like
 'your highness' etc.

  It is quite possible that the ancient meaning of a
 name like Sh'muelwas 'the highness of El' exactly as
 Yoram means the 'the highness of of YHWH', or 'YHWH 
 is high'.

  As Petr Tomasek noted, there are problems with the 
customary explanation 'his name'. Mine is that the
 written W for the 3rd person suffix appears
 anachronistic.

 Uri Hurwitz                                Great Neck, NY