Theophoric names
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A theophoric name (Greek: "bearing a deity") embeds the name of a god, both invoking and displaying the protection of that deity. Instances of theophoric names embedding Apollo, will be familiar among the many men named Apollonios or Apollodorus in Greek Antiquity.
Theophoric names were also exceedingly common in the Ancient Near East and Mesopotamia, where the personal name of an individual included the name of a god in whose care the individual is entrusted. The practice, called in onomastics theophory, refers to this naming convention of adding a god's name (or the local equivalent of the generic term for god) to an individual's proper name.
Among the Biblical names that have developed this way are Elizabeth, which utilized the Semitic god El's name, Samuel (same derivation), or Jonathan, using the name of the Semitic god Yaw (Yaw corrupting to the Jo- prefix) or as an abbreviation of Jeho- (deriving from Yahweh). The Biblical use of theophory is not restricted to names that later came to refer to the monotheistic deity of modern Judaism and Christianity; for example, Abijam refers to Yam (literally meaning my father is Yam), Melchizedek refers to Tzedek (literally My king is Tzedek), Nebuchadnezzar (more properly Nabu-kudurri-usur) refers to Nabu, and Ishbaal refers to Baal (theophories in Baal were sometimes censored as -boseth, meaning shameful one, whence Ishboseth etc.). Some names could be controversial political statements: Beliah can mean Baal is Yahweh, Jael and Elijah can mean Yahweh is El (and vice-versa, respectively), while Jabin can mean Yahweh is the son.
[edit] Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes or "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes
"The name of the Israelite deity YHWH (usually shortened to Yah or Yahu) appears in many theophoric names of the First Temple Period, e.g., Yirme-yahu, Yesha-yahu, Netan-yah, Yedid-yah, Adoni-yah, Nekhem-yah.
- Theophoric names of this period may also refer to different deities, as in the name Solomon (S-l-m=Salem as in “R-S-l-M, i.e., Urushalimum or Rushalimum). This practice of naming is not limited to ancient Israel or Judah but has been a common practice of many cultures (cf., e.g., the Hebrew “Yedid-yahu”, i.e., YHWH has loved, with Greek “Theophilus” and German “Gottlieb”."
- Michael Zank, Boston University.
The practice was Christianized in familiar forms such as Theodore ("gift of God") [1], Amadeus.
Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes are also found in the Hebrew Bible.
Perhaps the quintessential Biblical example of theophory is in the name Jeconiah - the name is con and has theophoric extensions at the start and end; the Bible elsewhere refers to the same person as Coniah (with only the theophoric suffix) and Jehoiahchim (with both Jeho and Iah added as prefixes).
[edit] The derivation of Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes and/or "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes
James Strong's Concordance states that Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes are derived from the compounding of "YHWH = Yehovah" with a second Hebrew word, however James Strong's Concordance states that Theophoric names with "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes are derived from the compounding of "Yahh" [e.g. a contraction of "YHWH" = "Yehovah"] with a second Hebrew word.
Other scholarly sources believe that both Theophoric names with "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes and Theophoric names with "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes are all derived from the compounding of "YHWH = Yahweh" with a second Hebrew word.
[edit] View # 1: "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes are derived from YHWH, which is "Jehovah"
- Wilhelm Gesenius
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- Wilhelm Gesenius believed that Yehowah more satisfactorily explained the Theophoric names which began with the "abbreviated syllable YHW [Yeho] or YW [Yo]", yet other evidence convinced Gesenius that God's name was "Yahweh" not "Yehowah".
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- In a post made on 08/22/03 at 12:36 am the following information is found:
- Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures agrees saying:
- "Those who consider that YHWH [Yehowah] was the actual pronunciation are not altogether without ground on which to defend their opinion. In this way can the abbreviated syllables YHW [Yeho] and YH [Yo], with which many proper names begin, be more satisfactorily explained."
- George Wesley Buchanan Professor Emeritus, Wesley Theological Seminary Washington, DC
- Gesenius in his Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon of the Old Testament Scriptures agrees saying:
- In a post made on 08/22/03 at 12:36 am the following information is found:
- Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
- In section # 3.1 is found a table of Theophoric names with "Yeho" and "Yo" prefixes. The Data in that table is found in a 1958 reprint of the 1890 Edition of James Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible. All the Hebrew names listed are Theophoric names starting with "יְהוֹ" [i.e. "Yeho"] or "יוֹ" [i.e. "Yo"]. James Strong believed that all of these Theophoric names were derived from Hebrew word # 3068, [i.e. "יְהֹוָה" = Yehovah].
[edit] Table of Theophoric names with "Yeho" and "Yo" prefixes
[Note! Hebrew reads from right to left.]
[Note that the Theophoric names with "יוֹ" [i.e. "Yo"] are written in bold letters.]
| Strong's # | Hebrew word | Strong's Transliteration |
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[edit] "Yeho" prefixes changed to "Yo" prefixes
In the table in section 3.1 it should be noted that 13 Theophoric names with "Yeho" prefixes have corresponding forms [in bold type] in which the letters "e" and "h" have been omitted.
In Scott Jones' Article:"Jehovah", it states:
- In the 19th century a converted Jew and Masoretic scholar, Christian Ginsburg, undertook a detailed study of the Masoretic text. In this study, he traced the pedigree of the Scriptures and noted how the Jewish guardians of the Hebrew text took safeguards in order to make sure the Tetragrammaton was not accidentally pronounced at the wrong time or by the wrong people or in the wrong place -
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- "There are, however, a number of compound names in the Bible into the composition of which three out of the four letters of the Incommunicable Name have entered. Moreover, these letters which begin the names in question are actually pointed יְהוֹ Jeho, as the Tetragrammaton itself and hence in a pause at the reading of the first part of the name it sounded as if the reader was pronouncing the Ineffable Name. To guard against it an attempt was made by a certain school of redactors of the text to omit the letter He so that the first part of the names in question has been altered from Jeho ( יְהוֹ) into Jo ( יוֹ)."
- Christian Ginsburg, Introduction To the Massoretico-Critical Edition Of The Hebrew Bible, p 369.
[edit] View # 1a: "Yah" and "Yahu" suffixes are derived from "Yahh"
[edit] Table of Theophoric names with "Yah" and "Yahu" suffixes
[Note! Hebrew reads from right to left.]
| Strong's # | Hebrew word | Strong's Transliteration |
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[edit] View # 2: "Yeho" or "Yo" prefixes and/or "Yah" or "Yahu" suffixes are derived from YHWH, which is "Yahweh"
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- If the explanation of the form above given be the true one,
- the original pronunciation must have been Yahweh ( יַהְוֶה ) or Yahaweh ( יַהֲוֶה ).
- From this the contracted form Jah or Yah ( יהּ ) is most readily explained, and also the forms Jeho or Yeho ( יַהְוְ = יְהַו = יְהוֹ ) and Jo or Yo ( יוֹ ) contracted from ( יְהוֹ ), which the word assumes in combination in the first part of compound names, and Yahu or Yah ( Hebrew font omitted ) in the second part of such names.
- In the Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1910-11, vol. 15, pp. 312, in the Article “JEHOVAH”) it states:
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- The name Jhvh enters into the composition of many names of persons in the Old Testament, either as the initial element, in the form Jeho- or Jo- (as in Jehoram, Joram), or as the final element in the form -jahu or -jah (as in Adonijahu, Adonijah).
- These various forms are perfectly regular if the divine name was Yahweh, and, taken altogether, they cannot be explained on any other hypothesis.
- In Chapter 1 of The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures, under the heading: THE PRONUNCIATION OF GOD'S NAME it states:
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- The issue of pronunciation of God's name may best be summarized by a statement from Insight on the Scriptures, Volume 2, page 6:
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- Hebrew Scholars generally favor "Yahweh" as the most likely pronunciation.
- They point out that the abbreviated form of the name is Yah (Jah in the Latinized form), as at Psalm 89:8 and in the expression Halelu-Yah (meaning "Praise Yah, you people!").
- (Ps 104:35; 150:1,6)
- Also, the forms Yehoh', Yoh, Yah, and Ya'hu, found in the Hebrew spelling of the names of Jehoshaphat, Joshaphat, Shephatiah, and others, can all be derived from Yahweh...Still, there is by no means unanimity among scholars on the subject, some favoring yet other pronunciations, such as "Yahuwa," "Yahuah," or "Yehuah.
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[edit] See also
- The name "Christopher" literally means "Christ-bearer".
- List of Arabic theophoric names
[edit] External links
- http://www.ancientneareast.net/religion mesopotamian/cult ritual/names theophoric.html Theophoric names]: bibliography
- Lexicon of Greek Personal Names
- Ogden Goelet, "Moses' Egyptian Name"
- Jewish onomastics
[edit] Technical note
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