A great number of them owe their origin to the !elations of the house, as the sense of the first word of the compound shows. Most of these have the word abi, 'father,' for their first member, as Abiezer, Abital, Abigail. The prevalent opin ion among modern scholars respecting this class is that they are really epithets, which have after wards, as it were casually, become proper names; that Abigail, for example, is literally 'father of joy,' or 'whose father is joy,' that this means cheerful, and thus became a proper name.
Another but a smaller class consists of names compounded with am,'people,; resembling the many Greek compositions with Xa.6s lah-os', peo ple, and bilp.os, day'vros ; and just as in Greek aip.os, dente, is placed first or last (Demosthenes, Aristodemos), so also CI) is at one time found in the first, and at another in the last place; only that, according to the laws of the Semitic lan guage, the sense of one of these positions is ex actly the reverse of the othcr.
Most of the compound names, however, rather endeavor to express a religious sense, and there fore oftcn contain the divine name. As compound namcs evidently became very general, it is not surprising that, in the infinite multiplication of names to correspond with the infinite multitude of persons, some proper names were at length formed which solely consist of two names of God himself, expressing. as it were, the ineffably holy name to which the person dedicates himself, as Abiel and Eliab, nay, even Eliel (i Chron. v:24; viii :20 ; 2 ChrOtl. XXXi :13).
Lastly, many proper names have assumed the derivative syllable 1, or ai (which appears to be only dialectically different from 1, and is chiefly frequent in the later periods) ; and we must cer tainly consider that, in some cases, this syllable may possibly form mere adjectives, and therewith simple names. as `trueman,' from 'truth,' and Barzillai, 'Iron,' or 'Ironman,' the name of a ccle brated Gileadite family (Ezra ii :61; 2 Sam. xvii: 27)• (2) Second Period. This is the whole prin ciple which regulates the formation of Hebrew names, both as it manifests itself in the earliest times, and as it extends into the succeeding periods, in which it receives new impulses, and undergoes modifications of color but not of sub stance.
For if we inquire what new element the Mosaic period introduced into names, we find that, on the whole, it is only the influence of thc new religion which manifests itself in the strongest characters, and causes extraordinary innovations.
It is not in the Psalms only and other books that we discovee how deeply this religion affected men; we may also infer it from the names which became current in that period. Nay, it is only these words of common life which render it evident to our senses with what a power this religion penetrated all the depths of the national mind, and how zealously every man in Israel endeavored `to glory in the name of Jahve.' ac cording to the words of the prophet (Is. xliv:5; comp. Ps. cv:3).
As the whole national life was renovated by so influential a new religion, the mode of giv ing names returned to its primitive state, since not only were new names created, but entire sen tences, of the shortest compass, expressing the mighty thoughts which agitated the times, were also applied as names.
(3) Third Period. This is the type and fash ion of the names as late as the times after the first destruction of Jerusalem. Thc influence of the dispersion among foreign nations may, in deed, be immediately traced in the new names which allude to the captivity, as the name of Zerubbabel (the leader of the restoration), which is a contraction ot cer-oo-baw-bel, means 'scattered to Babylon.' Yet this forcign influencc is but transient ; and in the centurics immediately succeeding the Exile, in which the last books of the Old Testament were written, we find, on the contrary, that the ancient mode of giving names is preserved almost unchanged.
In this respect, however, there is a total differ ence in the times between the close of the Old and the beginning of the NCW Testament. For after a purely learned study of the Old Testament had sprung up, and the whole nation only con tinued to exist in its sacred books, they delighted to give their children the ancient Scriptural names; nay, they sought out such names as had only been common in the times before Moses, and had become obsolete in the long interval: namcs like Jacob, Joseph, Maria. But while these dead names were revived and zealously sought out, the capability for forming new ones became gradually weaker. And, as the love of novelty still oper ated, and as the people lost their independence more and more, many foreign names became fa vorites, and were used equally with the old Bib lical names. In this manner the form of namcs had, by the time of the New Testament, reached a state of development which nearly resembles that prevalent among ourselves.