🔼The name Ashan: Summary
- Meaning
- Smoke
- Etymology
- From the noun עשן ('ashan), smoke.
🔼The name Ashan in the Bible
The name Ashan belongs to a city in the lowlands of Judah (Joshua 15:42), which was first given to the tribe of Simeon to inhabit (Joshua 19:7, 1 Chronicles 4:32), and then to the sons of Aaron as a city of refuge (1 Chronicles 6:59). Scholars generally assume that this city Ashen is the same as Chor-ashan or Bor-ashan mentioned in 1 Samuel 30:30.
🔼Etymology of the name Ashan
The name Ashan is the same as the noun עשן ('ashan), meaning smoke:
עשן
The negative root עשן ('sn) has to do with smoke as a sign of destruction and disintegration (not the pleasant smoke of incense). Noun עשן ('ashan) means smoke in that same sense. Verb עשן ('ashan) means to smoke in the sense of to burn up, to destroy, and is also used to mean to be violently angry, to fume. Adjective עשן ('ashen) means smoking, fuming.
🔼Ashan meaning
For a meaning of the name Ashan, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Smoke. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate the name Ashan but does confirm it's identical to the noun עשן ('ashan), meaning smoke.