I. In the first period, which, for reasons ad duced below, we here limit by the commencement of the Mosaic religion, we are able to see the whole process according to which names are formed among this people : the distinct character of the fonnation of names which was established in this primitive time, continues essentially the same in the succeeding period, while the elements of which names are formed undergo a partial change. For this reason, we may explain the laws of this formation in terms of merely general appli cation.—Now, names are either simple or com pound words, or also words which arise from either of these kinds by derivation.
I. The simple names exist in great abundance ; and their signification, as to the mere word itself, is generally evident : as (1, ' judge ; 1+9±, the Latin dexter, an ancient name, according to Gen. xlvi. to, I Chron. ii. 27 ; 51K), desired,' also an ancient name according to Gen. xlvi. to, cf. xxxvi. 37; hero,' r Kings iv. To. Thus, most of them express an honourable sense ; though examples are not wanting of the direct contrary, as crooked,' 2 Sam.' xxiii. 26.
With what ease, also, feminine words become names for men, is shown by cases like ri!,3, vul ture,' 2 Sam. iii. 7, xxi. 8; cf. Gen. xxxvi. 24; dove,' which are just as applicable to men as the masculine ' fox,' t Chron. vii. 36.
Diminutives, which are so frequently used as per names by the Arabs, are rare among the Hebrews ; but are by no means wanting, as is proved by i6Z1 or ISM, the name of the son of of David. All those names which are formed with a prefixed jod are to be considered as espe daily ancient, because this nominal formation be came entirely obsolete in the language, and recurs almost only in proper names, as is shown not only by the well-known names °Mr, zpv+, but also by a number of less common ones, as 111J", Num. xxvi. 24 ; I Chron. iv. 24 ; iv. 34 ; V. 13 ; Exod. vi. 18 ; . • illy, 2 Sam. v. 15 ; MUD', Num. xiii. 6, i Chron. = : • vii. 38 ; I Sam. i. i, i Chron. viii. 27 ; and others. There is an ancient adjective-ending, that in dm or dm, which has fixed itself most firmly in proper names, as ?117, i Chron. iv. 6 ; ?p, Ezra ii. 4S ; win, the sister of Moses, and Di1, his son ; 2 Sam. xix. 38, which not only exists also in the form Wm= Jer. xlii. 17, but in iry??, 2 Sam. xix. 41, according to customary changes. We are anxiuus not to fatigue the reader by such philological observations, but we can assure him that a deeper investigation into these apparently dead subjects will lead to the dis covery of much that illustrates the ancient language and customs of the people.
2. The compound names, however, are more important for history, because they express more complete and distinct ideas than the simple names. Some of them are altogether isolated, as properly serpent's mouth,' the grandson of Aaron ; -or, the son of Jacob ; Oholiab (Exod. xxxi. 6), fther's tent,' a name resembling the Greek Patrocles. But most of them bear a general resemblance to each other, and follow in shoals certain dominant opinions and customs • and these last are what we must particularly consider here.
A great number of them owe their origin to the relations 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 opinion among modern scholars+ respecting this class is that they are really epithets, which have afterwards, 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; and in proof they appeal to the Arabic language, in which such peri phrases with abi are common. In reality, how ever, this assumption is extremely uncertain and erroneous. The Arabic undoubtedly possesses a vast number of such names, as Abul-Ma'ali, the father of dignities,' i. e., the venerable ; Abul husni, the father of beauty,' i. e., the peacock ; Abul-hussaini, the father of the little fortress,' 4e., the fox, who lives in holes ; Abu-Aijfiba, the father of Job,' i. e., the camel, because it is as patient as Job. But such names, which may be formed ad libitum, by hundreds, belong in Arabic rather to the artificial, often to the sportive, and generally also to the later, language, and were not possible until the Arabs had adopted the custom of always using a prnomen, or domestic name—the above-mentioned Kunje—in addition to the chief name. As soon as ever it became customary to
give a man a double designation—his real name, and the more familiar, often sportive, domestic name—this custom was gradually transferred to other subjects, and then these in themselves extra ordinary circumlocutory names arose.* But such domestic names were, never in use among the He brews—nay, more, such periphrastic names with all do not even occur in their poetic diction; as the only passage which could be adduced in favour of it Gob xvii. 14) is not, when taken in its true sense, at all an instance in point. To call the camel father of Job' is undeniably a kind of sportive name : and are we to assume that this jesting custom prevailed among the primitive He brews ? Thus we have here another striking example of the danger attending superficial com parisons of Arabic with Hebrew; for this view never could have been formed by those who were intimately acquainted with the treasures of Arabic literature.± I believe, on the contrary, that the first member of such compounds did indeed, in the early times in which they were first formed, really denote nothing but the father of the son who is named in the second member; but that subse quently, for a particular reason, they were em ployed only to denote a kind of dignity. If we compare the numerous genealogical registers in the books of Chronicles, which, dry as they are, yet contain much that is instructive, we find that a man is often called the father, that is, the lord, of a town or village, as • Ashchur the father of Teqoa,' I Chron. ii. 24; Mesha, the father of Zif,' ver. 42; Meon, the father of Beth-zur,' ver. 45; Shobal, the father of Qirjathjearim,' ver. 50, etc. In these cases the meaning cannot be doubt ful, as the second member always signifies a place ; but this is at the same time a genuine Hebrew cus tom, which will hardly be found among the other Semitic nations. As soon, then, as it had become customary to use the word 'father' to denote a kind of dignity in the family and in the nation, it was easy to prefix this short word, as a mere term of honour, to any name, by way of distinguishing the eldest or the favourite son. Several cogent arguments favour this view. First, it can almost always be proved, even from our present scanty documents, that the second member of such pound names was also used, by itself, as a proper name, as Min beside Abia'an, Num. i. i i ; Ezer, Chron. vii. 21, Neh. iii. 19, beside Abiezer ; Asaph beside Abiasaph or .Ebjasaph ; Nadab, Exod. vi. 23, beside Abinadab; /Velum or Noam, Chron. iv. 15, beside Abinoam; Iathar or Tether, a very common name, beside Ebjathar; nay, they are even found in the same family, as Abiner or Abner, the son of Ner, I Sam. xiv. 5o, 2 Sam. 8. Moreover, this explains how other words of relationship are prefixed in the same way ; the latter member is always a word which was originally a proper name, which is only multiplied by means of these little prefixes, and in which we indeed no longer discern why father is the word prefixed in one instance, and brother that in another. Achi, e., 'brother,' is often prefixed in this manner; thus, the one was called Ram, r Chron. ii. 9, 25, 27, Ruth iv. 19; the other Abirrim, Num. xvi. I; and the third Achiram, Num. xxvi. 38. Achi noam, Achiezer, and others of this sort, are easily accounted for. Chaim', i.e., brother-in-law,' is rarely so used; as Chamutal or Chamital, 2 Kings xxiv. IS, Jer. lii. r ; beside Abital, 2 Sam. iii. 4. Under this class we may also include man,' with which several names are compounded. As the Hebrews had a simple name, Had or Had, i.e., splendour' (cf. Yeadak), r Chron. vii. 37, and an Abiad, i Chron, viii. 3, and Achihud, Num. xxxiv. 27, so also they formed an Ishehad, Chron. vii. 18; as they had an Abitilb and Achi tab, so also an Ishtab, 2 Sam. x. 6; and as there was an ancient name Car, free,' who is men tioned in Exod. xvii. so as a friend of Moses, so Ash-car* appears as a relative of the family of Car, I Chron. iv. 5, comp. ver. I.