This section will be devoted to Scriptural words and their meaning. We will not only establish the etymological roots of these words, but we will reveal how many English words are actually Hebrew words. Everything and anything you might want to know about the Hebrew language will be discussed and presented in this section.E-mail us if you want to know what a particular word is and we will be happy to post it here for all to read. If you are interested in it, maybe many others are, too.
LAMECHAs it turns out, the name of Methuselah's son is rather spurious. The root meaning of his name does not appear in scripture; only his name appears in the text. Lamech is the Hebrew word lamak. The meaning of this word, according to some linguists, may be wrapped up in the circumstances surrounding it's first appearance in the generations of Cain.
B'reshiyt 4:23-24 Some see the meaning of Lamech as 'leading' or 'having power' and others see it as 'desperate' or 'despairing' and trace our English word to 'lament' from this Hebrew word. Personally, I see the association of desperation in the fact that Lamech was the first to have more than one wife. All right, I admit, that is not very scholarly. As a side note, I find it interesting that the Lamech of Cain's descendance was to be avenged seventy and seven fold, and the Lamech of Seth's descendance lived seven hundred seventy and seven years. Hmmmmm.
Shalom Alecheim!
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