🔼The name Achim: Summary
- Meaning
- Established
- Raised Up
- Etymology
- From the verb כון (kun), to be set up, fixed or established.
- From the verb קום (qum), to rise up or stand.
🔼The name Achim in the Bible
The name Achim occurs once in the Bible, in Matthew's genealogy of Christ (Matthew 1:14). This Achim is the son of Zadok and the father of Eliud, and there are four generations between Achim and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
🔼Etymology of the name Achim
The name Achim seems somewhat similar to the Hebrew name יקים (Jakim), a name that occurs twice in the Old Testament; once in a genealogy of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 8:19) and once in a Levitical kohanim-list (1 Chronicles 24:12). Neither Jakim can therefore be the same as the Judaic Achim of Matthew 1:14, but it does prove that the name existed. A problem is that the Septuagint transliterates the Hebrew name Jakim as Ιακιμ (Yachim) on both occasions.
Spiros Zodhiates' The Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament suggests that the name Achim is in fact a transliteration of the Hebrew name יכין (Jachin), meaning He Will Establish; the Septuagint transliterates the name Jachin as Αχειν (Achein).
The learned body of scholars behind the NOBSE Study Bible Name List states that Achim is in fact a "short form of Jehoiachim," but lists no Jehoiachim, only Jehoiachin (יהויכין — Yahweh establishes) and Jehoiakim (יהויקים — Yahweh raises up).
That means that the name Achim may come from either of the two following Hebrew verbs:
1) The name Achim may come from the Hebrew verb כון (kun), meaning to be set up, fixed or established:
כון
Root כנן (kanan) and hence verb כון (kun) mean to set, establish, fix, and so on. Nouns כן (ken), מכונה (mekona) and מכנה (mekona) denote a base or pedestal, noun מכון (makon) describes some fixed or established place, and noun תכונה (tekuna) means place or arrangement. Noun כון (kawwan) expresses a sort of ritualistic or sacrificial setup.
Adjective כן (ken) means right, true or honest, and adverb כן (ken) expresses confirmation: "thus" or "so". Verb כנה (kana) means to give a title or epithet or cognomen. Slightly unexpected, the noun כן (ken) denotes a gnat; the sort of proverbially plaguy insect that appears in huge swarms.
2) Or the name Achim may come from the Hebrew verb קום (qum) meaning to rise up or stand:
קום
Verb קום (qum) means to stand or rise up, both literally (getting up from sitting or erecting some statue) or figuratively (establishing someone in some office). Noun קימה (qima) means a rising up, noun תקומה (tequma), denotes an ability or power to stand, and noun מקום (maqom) describes some set location, place to stand or station.
Noun קמה (qoma) or קומה (qoma) means height or highness and noun קים (qim) describes someone who rises up against someone (an adversary or enemy). Noun קיממיות (qommiyut) means uprightness. Noun קמה (qama) denotes standing grain. And noun יקום (yequm) denotes substance or existence.
🔼Achim meaning
It's unclear from which verb Achim comes, but should we consider it to come from כון, Achim would mean something like Established. Should we reckon Achim to come from קום, it would mean Raised Up.