🔼The name Bath-rabbim: Summary
- Meaning
- Daughter Of Multitudes, Daughter Of Great Ones
- Etymology
- From (1) בת (bat), daughter, and (2) רבב (rabab), to be great or many.
🔼The name Bath-rabbim in the Bible
The name Bath-rabbim occurs only once in the Bible, namely in the Song of Solomon 7:4, where the Groom compares the eyes of the Bride to the pools of Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Heshbon was a noted city but this gate is not mentioned anywhere else, and it's ultimately not known why it warrants comparison with the Bride's eyes.
🔼Etymology of the name Bath-rabbim
The name Bath-rabbim consists of two elements. The first is the common word בת (bat), meaning daughter, which stems from the noun בן (ben), meaning son:
בן
The noun בן (ben) means son, or more general: a member of one particular social or economic node — called a "house", which is built upon the instructions of one אב ('ab), or "father" — within in a larger economy (hence: the "sons of the prophet" are the members of the prophet-class; the prophets). This noun obviously resembles the verb בנה (bana), to build, and the noun אבן ('eben), stone.
Our noun's feminine version, namely בת (bat), means daughter, which resembles the noun בית (bayit), meaning house. Sometimes our noun is contracted into a single letter ב, whose name beth comes from בית (bayit) and means "house" as well. As a prefix, the letter ב (be) means "in." The word for mother, אם ('em), is highly similar to that of tribe or people, אמה ('umma).
The second part of our name is a plural of a noun derived from the verbs רבב (rabab) and רבה (raba), both meaning to be great or many:
רבב
The verb רבב (rabab) means to be or become many. Adjective רב (rab) means much, many or great, and the identical noun רב (rab) means chief or captain; hence too the familiar noun ραββι (rabbi), meaning Rabbi. Noun רב (rob) means multitude or abundance. Nouns רבבה (rebaba), רבו (ribo) and רבוא (ribo') mean ten-thousand or myriad. Noun רביבים (rebibim) denotes copious showers.
Noun רבב (rabab), describes a smear of viscous fat, an obvious sign that someone was well off. That same noun was spelled רבד (rabad), which may have helped the formation of the word ραβδος (rabdos), staff, rod or scepter.
Possibly a second yet identical verb רבב (rabab) means to shoot, particularly of arrows. This may very well be a specified usage of our verb since arrows are customarily shot en masse by many archers. Noun רב (rab) means archer, and is identical to the adjective meaning many.
The slightly more common verb רבה (raba) is obviously a by-form of רבב (rabab) and means to be or become great, many, much or numerous. Noun מרבה (marbeh) means increase or abundance. Noun מרבה (mirbah) means much. Nouns מרבית (marbit) and תרבות (tarbut) mean increase, greatness, multitude. Noun תרבית (tarbit) means increment or usury. Fittingly, noun ארבה (arbeh) denotes a kind of locust.
Possibly a second yet identical verb רבה (raba) means to shoot.
🔼Bath-rabbim meaning
For a meaning of the name Bath-rabbim, both BDB Theological Dictionary and NOBSE Study Bible Name List read Daughter Of Multitudes. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has the similar Daughter Of Many.