Biblical Hebrew Forum

[K Randolph <kwrandolph AT gmail.com>]

Benjamin:

Samuel is a name that appears many times in Tanakh. If it originally had an
ayin as you speculate, there would have been at least once, if not many
times, that the ayin would be included in the text. That it appears not even
once is evidence that it never was in the name, ever.

Karl W. Randolph.

On Wed, Dec 30, 2009 at 8:53 AM, Benjamin Giffone <bg914 AT eagle.pbu.edu>wrote:

> Is it at all possible that "Samuel" could come from *ŠM` *"to hear," and
> the
> *`ayin* was gradually dropped from the name?  Then the name would mean
> something like, "El listens."
> Benjamin D. Giffone