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The KJV (mainly Hebrew?) reads, "And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD."

The Septuagint (e-Sword) reads, "και απεστειλεν εν χειρι ναθαν του προφητου και εκαλεσεν το ονομα αυτου ιδεδι ενεκεν κυριου."

So what is ιδεδι? Other words in this verse have Strong's numbers, but not this one. What does it mean outside the Bible? How is it spelled? Is ιδεδι a compound word, or does it have a prefix or suffix, etc? Greek-English dictionaries online haven't heard of ιδεδι!

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    Idedi is, obviously, the transliteration of Jededi(ah).
    – Lucian
    Jun 11, 2019 at 19:39
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The rules for transliterating words from one language to another are inexact and quirky. This is a perfect example.

The Hebrew name is יְדִ֣ידְיָ֑הּ (yə·ḏî·ḏə·yāh) means "Beloved of Yah". The quirks of English turn the initial "y" into a "J", but Greek uses a "I" (iota). The Shewa "ə" (equivalent to a kind of vowel grunt) is handled in a variety of ways: In English it is often translated by "e", but is often ignored by Greek or with "i" when it is final.

Finally, and inexplicably, the Greek has ignored the final "yah" of the name just leaving the first part meaning "beloved".

Thus, in English we end up with "Jedidiah" and Greek ends up with "Idedi"

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  • Ignoring Jah, a name for God, is not inexplicable. Very likely ignored to avoid disrespecting God's name.
    – Revelation Lad
    Jun 12, 2019 at 11:50
  • I haven't studied Hebrew or Greek. I was just wondering if ιδεδι had its own rabbit trail in Greek, like Solomon in Hebrew. Strong's: H8010 (Solomon) leads to H7965 (shalom), which leads to H7999 (shalam). [Thanks, by the way!] FYI: according to Google Translate, ιδεδι means "idea." Wrong!
    – user30100
    Jun 12, 2019 at 18:06

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