Hebrew Names in Babylonian GarbCross-file under (open-access) New Book.Have you ever wondered about the origin and meaning of your personal name? This quest for understanding can be particularly challenging with Hebrew names, as they appear in various contexts, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and often trace back to biblical times. Hebrew names, for instance, are found in cuneiform sources from the time of the Babylonian Captivity and shortly afterwards. This article explores how to recognize these names in cuneiform garb, what they might reveal about their bearers, and some of the challenges involved in this process.
See also “Hebrew Names” in Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100 BCE): An Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2024).
By Kathleen Abraham
History Department
KU Leuven, Belgium
September 2024
The first half of this article is technical. It is of interest mainly to philologists. But the second half is accessible to a more general audience.
For many PaleoJudaica posts on the unprovenanced, but apparently genuine, Al-Yahudu Babylonian cuneiform archive, start here (cf. here) and follow the links. I do not follow the reasoning in the current article for translating Āl Yāhūdu, even loosely, as "Jerusalem." The name, as the article goes on to note, means "Town of Judea."
Alas, the only PaleoJudaica post involving the Murashu (Murašû) archive now leads to a dead link.
For more on Babylonian (and Aramaic) scribes, see here. I see that that odd translation "Jerusalem" came up there too.
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.