🔼The name Chesulloth: Summary
- Meaning
- Stupidities, Constellations
- Etymology
- From the verb כסל (kasal), to be a mental invertebrate.
🔼The name Chesulloth in the Bible
The name Chesulloth occurs only one time in the Bible. It's mentioned among the towns that were situated in the territory allotted to the tribe of Issachar (Joshua 19:18).
🔼Etymology of the name Chesulloth
The name Chesulloth appears to be a plural form of a noun derived from the root כסל (kasal):
כסל
The verb כסל (kasal) means to have no skeletal strength or engage in pareidolia (falsely recognizing images in random patterns, such as Mickey Mouse in a cloud). It describes muscle- and boneless body parts, or a "belief" in the systematic link between uncorrelated events. It typically describes stellar constellations, which are obviously as fantastic as useless.
Nouns כסל (kesel) and כסלה (kisla) mean stupidity or (misplaced) confidence. The former may also describe a body part, probably the loin or lower belly (or blubber butt). The feminine noun כסילות (kesilut) means stupidity.
Noun כסיל (kesil) means fool or dunce; someone who "sees" structure in uncorrelated events. This is also the word for stellar constellations in general, and more specific the constellation Orion.
🔼Chesulloth meaning
For a meaning of the name Chesulloth, NOBSE Study Bible Name List has Loins or Slopes and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Confidences.
BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't separately interpret the name Chesulloth, but does list it under the root כסל. BDB also claims that Chesulloth is the same as Chisloth-tabor (Joshua 19:12), which BDB translates with Loins or Flanks Of Tabor. But Chisloth-tabor was situated in Zebulun, while Chesulloth was in Issachar. Issachar's territory reached up to Tabor (Joshua 19:22), but that doesn't mean that Chesulloth was near Tabor.