1881.] ^^* [Lesley. 



Although one of Jesse's nine children (notably one of his two daughters, 

 and not one of his seven sons) Zeruiah, seems to carry the Jah, it is re- 

 markable that it does not appear in the names of her three sons, Ahishai, 

 Joab and AsaJiel, ity^X. 3X1% nty^'- (ABSI, lUAB, OSEAL) in the first and 

 second of which ab, father, is the main element,* the si (shi ?) of the one 

 and the iu of the other, being of unknown sense ; for iu :=Jah, (Jahveh) 

 there is no evidence whatever. 



The third name, Asahel, is given in our modern hebrew text as a com- 

 pound name, with a hyphen between the OSE and the AL, evidently 

 inserted to support a popular or Masoretic etymology Si<~nti'i^> ' ' Grod 

 made," i. e. him ; or "God works " in the indefinite or abstract sense. f 



The other sister of David, Abigail, married Jether the Ishmaelite, and 

 bore Amasa, whose name has a pure Egyptian ring ; and, considering the 

 relations of the desert to the delta, we should expect to find plenty of 

 Egyptian elements in Ishmaelite nomenclature. Amasa is written OMSA, 

 which might easily be the Judaean pronunciation of am-se, " (his) mother's 

 son ;" but a vague conjectural suggestion like this, however poetical and 

 even proper to the circumstances, can be of no scientific value. 



The grand fact stands out visibly, that in the family circle of David, the man 

 after Jehovah's own heart and the supposed instituter of Jahvish, there is 

 but the one trace of the existence of a Jehovah worship, viz., in the name of 

 one of his sisters, Zeruiah, n'llV. ^nd that is doubtful for good reasons. 



That there were two philological elements in Judaea is curiously 

 illustrated by the fact that the unfortunate son of Saul and rival of David 

 is named in one document (1 Sam. xiv: 49), ISUI, ■'ity (Ishui) ; and in 

 another document (2 Sam. ii : 8) a translation ofisui is made into AIS-BST 

 r\iyb~ty'X (Ish-bosheth) "man of folly." Is?mi was his Ephraimite or 

 Hebrew name, and Ishbosheth was the nickname given to him in the camp 

 and at the court of the men of Judah. Had it occured first in Chronicles, 

 we would be compelled to consider it a priestly term of reproach of the 

 times of Ezra. 



Jedidah was a similar nickname given to Solomo7i at his birth by Nathan 

 the prophet, but from an opposite (Jahvist) stand point. It occurs in one 

 of the older and more reliable documents, 2 Sam. xii : 25, and is probably 

 one of the earliest genuine instances of the actual establishment of the 

 Jehovah cultus, and goes far towards removing our doubts of its existence 

 in the times of David. n'T'T' (IDIDIE,) can hardly mean anytliing else 

 than "Jehovah's darling ;" (compare JerftfZa/t "Her beloved," the proper 

 name of the mother of King Josiah ; 2 Kings, xxii : 1, and Jedideka, "thy 

 beloved ones" in Ps. 127:2. There is but one suspicious circumstance, 

 viz., that it is a pretty fair pun upon the name of the baby's father, David, 

 ^^^ (DUD) or as it is written also yy^ (DUID) Hosea iii : 5. 



* Unless the Egyptian ab, libating priest be preferred; as in the name Ka-ab 

 of /Ufa's son, (6, D. g 151, 155 MS.) 



t Another TW^ is given by Gesenius as an absolute root meaning "to be 

 hairy, rough, shaggy." c. Arabic. Hence proper name Esau. But the proba- 

 bility is that the whole story of Esau's hairiness was worked out of this late 

 etymology, itself entirely worthless. 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XIX, 109. 3b. PRINTED JULY 13, 1881. 



