Questions tagged [onomastics]
Onomastics or onomatology is the study of the significance, usage, and etymology of names. Questions about names of God should additionally be thus tagged.
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Jacob's name is Israel. So why is he still called Jacob?
When born, Jacob is given the name "Jacob" meaning, "trickster, supplanter, heel grabber." After he wrestles at Jabbok, he is renamed "Israel" meaning "strives with God." However, after this ...
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What is the difference in meaning between the phrases «Χριστός Ἰησοῦς» (“Christ Jesus”) and «Ἰησοῦς Χριστός» (“Jesus Christ”)?
In the New Testament, sometimes the authors use «Χριστός Ἰησοῦς» (“Christ Jesus”), where «Χριστός» precedes «Ἰησοῦς»,1 yet other times they use «Ἰησοῦς Χριστός» (“Jesus Christ”).2
What is the ...
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What is the significance of Methuselah's name?
I've heard that Methuselah's name was given to him by Enoch in response to a prophecy concerning the flood. Since he seems to have died in the year of the flood (according to the Masoretic and ...
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Are "Uzziah" and "Azariah" the name of the same king?
This is with reference to the two passages
2 Chronicles 26:
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old,
and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
2 He built
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The significance of the designations of families who will mourn in Zechariah 12
As the prophet Zechariah proclaims the greatness of Jerusalem's mourning, he says:
12“All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David ...
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Why does Matthew 28:19 say "in the name" and then proceed to give three names?
If written out in full would this verse read "in the name of the Father, and in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit"? Or is there some other reason apart from trimming obviously ...
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Did someone really name their son Fool?
In 1st Samuel 25, we read about Abigail's first husband, who is named Nabal. Near the end of the story, she pleads with David to save his life:
My lord should not pay attention to this wicked man ...
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Tetragrammaton originally יהיה (yihayah) (3PersMascSing 'exist, be') and subsequently the nominal form (יהוה) (the Being)?
The Question Essentially
Is it possible that God's name is a nominal version of the third person masculine singular verb to exist or to be: יהיה.
Can יהיה be validly understood as "he [that] ...
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Was Immanuel a real name?
Was Immanuel (עִמָּנוּאֵל, "God with us") a legitimate name that predated Isaiah's writing it? Was it something that you might actually name your baby boy? Or is it a made-up symbolic name ...
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Why does Moses change Hosea's name to Joshua?
Name changes throughout the Bible are pretty significant.
Numbers 13:16 says that "Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua."
What is the significance of this name change? What are ...
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In John 17:6 and John 17:27 what name of the Father did Jesus want to "make manifest" and "declare" to his disciples?
The question is based of Jesus’ prayer recorded at John Ch. 17 in which he made the following statements in verses 6 and 27:
KJV John 17:
6 “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest ...
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What is the significance of the insertion of the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet into the names of Abraham and Sarah?
In Genesis 17 (verses 5 and 15) God gives Abram and Sarai new names.
v. 5: No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of ...
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What is the Hebrew name of the prophet Jeremiah—Yirmeyah or Yirmeyahu?
When the question was asked on Christian hermeneutics the response was both:
Please read what I wrote. Jer. 28:5 has יִרְמְיָה (Yirmeyah) and
Jer. 7:1 has יִרְמְיָהוּ (Yirmeyahu). As for your ...
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Who is Iscah in Genesis?
Gen. 11:29 states:
And Abram and Nahor took themselves wives; the name of Abram's was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of ...
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In Matthew 6:9, what name is Jesus referring to?
Jesus taught:
Mat 6:9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your
name.
Matthew/Jesus appears to allude to the Torah which provides the name as "YHVH" (perhaps "Yehovah"):
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Is Isaiah 9:6-7 relating to Jesus the covenant promises of Abraham from Genesis 17:1-8?
I have often heard it suggested that by Isaiah referring to the Messiah as "Everlasting Father" as a name, or part of his name, Isaiah is saying that the Messiah was to be "fully God&...
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What is the meaning and significance of the name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14)?
This name is repeated many times in chapter 7 and 8 of Isaiah. What is the significance of this name, and what is Isaiah's trying to convey with it? Also how can Isaiah predict deliverance and doom at ...
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In Hebrews 1:4 what does it mean that Jesus "inherits" a more excellent name?
[Heb 1:4 DBY] (4) taking a place by so much better than the angels, as he inherits a name more excellent than they.
1:4 τοσούτῳ κρείττων γενόμενος τῶν ἀγγέλων ὅσῳ διαφορώτερον παρ᾽ αὐτοὺς ...
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In Acts 19:14 - How else could "Seven sons of Skeva" be translated?
In Acts 19:14, Is "Seven Sons of Skeva" a valid translation? Are there any other plausible interpretations?
Westcott and Hort / [NA27 variants] ἦσαν δέ τινος Σκευᾶ Ἰουδαίου
ἀρχιερέως ἑπτὰ υἱοὶ ...
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Etymology of the name Mary? [closed]
Why does Strongs 4813 say "מרים [miryâm] \meer-yawm'\" is
From 4805; rebelliously; {Mirjam} the name of two Israelitesses: - Miriam
when St. Jerome writes (Liber de Nominibus Hebraicis col. 886):
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