NOMENCLATURE. 105 



Uvmg='^T}-^ Her first-born son was named by her |ip, a possession; 

 because, oif giving birth to him, she said "irT^^JP; I ^^'W^ gotten a 

 man, HiiT' r\^, even Jehovah, supposing that he was the Mes- 



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SIAH, the promised seed. This might be considered a very early 

 misfit, only the name actually expressed Eve's wishes, and was an 

 embodiment of the first words she uttered after Cain's birth. 

 Noah, nij was not a misfit in any respect ; his name means rest, 

 consolation ; and he was such, as his father hoped he would be. 

 Abram means " high, or exalted father," Q'H 21K- In his case we 

 have an illustration of persons having their names varied, to ac- 

 commodate them to altered circumstances; he was afterwards 

 called Abraham, Dm^i^j because he was to be the father of a 



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multitude. ^^ is father, as before, but Dn^, multitude, is not 



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extant as a Hebrew word ; but if we go (as we must in all such 

 cases, in elucidating the meaning of names, where they are not 

 significant in the language of the country to which they belong) 

 to the cognate dialects, we shall find in Arabic, D^^illj o, multittide. 



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Jacob is another name which shews that the meaning was attended 

 to. He was called Hpl/'') heeler, from ^PI/j ^he heel, on account of 

 a circumstance connected with his birth. When he acted fraudu- 

 lently towards his brother, Esau said "Is he not rightly called 'the 

 supplanter' ?" i.e., he that metaphorically, as well as actually at his 

 birth, took him by the heel and tripped him up. I will give only 

 one other instance from Genesis, the oldest book in the world, viz., 

 that of " Melchizedek, king* of Salem"; in the original p'T^"'i2)'7Q 

 D7£^ "^7^- This is of interest as shewing that the insjDired 

 writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, whether S. Paul or Barnabas, 

 had a penchant for etymological studies, he translating Melchi- 

 zedek " King of righteousness," and the name of the city of which 

 he was King, "Peace." — Heb., vii, 2. "Melchizedek" is further 

 interesting as a connecting link between the names I have already 



* In Eve's case there is a difference between the sound of her name and 

 the word from which the sacred historian derives it ; the former sounds in 

 the original as cliav, the latter as chai. The difference between v, ^, and i, ^ 

 however, is that the former has a downward stroke which may or may not 

 be a mistake by some co]Dyist ; or, the difference may have arisen from there 

 having formerly been a word chav, meaning "life;" as in Abraham's case 

 there must have been a "raham" corresponding with the Arabic "roham." 



