Retroactive nomenclature

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Retroactive nomenclature is the telling of the earlier history of a person, place or thing while referring to said person, place or thing by a name that came into use at a later date.

One easily understandable example of retroactive nomenclature is the way, in many western cultures (though not all), a woman adopts the surname of the man she marries while remembering her “maiden name” as the way she was referred to in the past. Radio talk-show host Michael Medved once made the statement: “Hillary Clinton used to be conservative when I knew her in our college days.” But in Hillary Rodham’s college days she was not yet married to Bill Clinton (later 42nd U.S. president); therefore there was no “Hillary Clinton” at that time. However, such a case as this is easily understood that he meant the woman who later became Hillary Clinton.

When people today read ancient histories, confusion sometimes results from the fact that in earlier ages historical characters changed their names more often than is common for people to do today, and ancient historians often told earlier stories using later names.

The Bible often uses retroactive nomenclature when telling its histories. Some skeptics, unaware of the ancient custom of frequent name changing and later references to persons or places by names that came into use after the fact, dispute some of its histories on this basis.

The names “Sodom” and “Gomorrah,” which were given to the cities the Bible records as having been destroyed by fire, are understood to mean “scorched” and “ruined heap,” and some skeptics discredit the story as fiction on the basis that these names could only have been given after their destruction—though they would probably not dispute Hillary Clinton's existence on the grounds that a later name was used when referring to an earlier time in her life—whereas conservatives believe the names “Sodom” and “Gomorrah” were given after their destruction and remained in use posthumously, though the cities were likely called by different names during the time in which they thrived.

Job’s name means “Afflicted,” though he was probably not called that until after the time when he was afflicted. Skeptics have sometimes disputed his existence on this basis.

King David’s name during his boyhood and youth was Elhanan, and his father Jesse, likewise, had the earlier names of Jaare-Oregim and Jair. Although he was not known as “David” until later, one Biblical account tells the story of his slaying the Philistine giant Goliath, while still calling him David.

Other biblical characters who were known by different names at different times include Abram/Abraham, Sarai/Sarah, Esau/Edom, Jacob/Israel, Naomi/Mara, Solomon/Jedidiah/Qoheleth and some believe Abraham’s second wife Hagar was the same woman as Keterah, whom he was mentioned as being married to after Sarah’s death.

“Jew” originally meant a person from the nation of Judah (called “Judea” by the Grecian and Roman Empires), which came into existence after the reign of Solomon, when the nation of Israel was divided in two. Those from Israel prior to then, the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, as well as the Patriarchs from whom they descended, were not “Jews” in this technical sense, but Jewish historians still refer to these earlier ancestors as Jews, and this is acceptable on the grounds that it is retroactive nomenclature.