🔼The name Ardon: Summary
- Meaning
- Fugitive
- Etymology
- From the verb ערד ('arad), to flee or be free.
🔼The name Ardon in the Bible
The name Ardon occurs just once in the Bible. He's a son of Caleb, son of Hezron (that's not the famous friend of Joshua) and his wife Azubah (1 Chronicles 2:18). The Hebrew of that verse is a bit shady (see for a close look at how shady, the name Jerioth), but Ardon's brothers are named Jesher and Shobab. They have a half-brother named Hur, son of Ephrath.
🔼Etymology of the name Ardon
The name Ardon is part of a series of names that are a bit mysterious because we're not sure where they came from, or what they mean. But cognate languages contain verbs that are similar to this name, and that mean to flee or wander. Note that the letter א (aleph) sometimes alternates with the letter ע (ayin):
ערד
The verb ערד ('arad) doesn't exist in extant Biblical texts but in cognate languages it means to flee or be free. A derived noun, ערוד ('arod), refers to the wild ass, and does occur in the Bible.
רוד
Verb רוד (rud) means to wander or roam restlessly. Noun מרוד (marod) means restlessness or homelessness.
The waw-nun couple upon which this name ends is a common extension that personalizes or localizes a root.
🔼Ardon meaning
For a meaning of the name Ardon, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names goes with the foreign verbs that mean to flee, and reads Fugitive. NOBSE Study Bible Name List is either wildly guessing or has stumbled upon some other relation in another language and reads Descendant. To a Hebrew audience, this name certainly doesn't mean that.