🔼The name Elidad: Summary
- Meaning
- God Has Loved
- Etymology
- From (1) the word אל ('el), God, and (2) the verb ידד (yadad), to love.
🔼The name Elidad in the Bible
The name Elidad occurs once in the Bible. Elidad, the son of Chislon of Benjamin was assigned together with representatives of the other tribes, to apportion Canaan for inheritances of the various tribes (Numbers 34:21).
🔼Etymology of the name Elidad
The name Elidad consists of two elements. The first part is אל (El), the common abbreviation of Elohim, meaning God (or gods):
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The second part of our name comes from the verb ידד (yadad), meaning to love:
ידד
The root ידד (yadad) has to do with love, and that mostly in the affectionate, physical sense. Adjective ידיד (yadid) means beloved or lovely. Noun ידידות (yedidot) means love, as in "a song of love" and noun ידידות (yedidut), meaning love in the sense of beloved one.
Curiously, an identical verb ידד (yadad II) means to cast a lot and instead of being kin to the previous, it appears to be related to the verb ידה (yada), which originally meant to cast but which evolved to mean to praise.
That our root has to do with physical fondling and love-making is demonstrated by the verb דדה (dada), which means to move slowly. Noun דד (dad) denotes a women's nipple or breast specifically as object of one's husband's interest.
Unused verb דוד (dwd) probably meant to gently swing, dandle, fondle. Noun דוד (dod) or דד (dod) means beloved or loved one, and may also describe one's uncle. The feminine version, דודה (doda), means aunt. Noun דודי (duday) literally means a "love-bringer" and describes a mandrake. Noun דוד (dud) refers to a kind of pot or jar (perhaps one that was rocked or stirred?).
It may or may not be that the noun יד (yad), meaning hand, also has something to do with this root.
🔼Elidad meaning
For a meaning of the name Elidad, NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary read God Has Loved. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Whom God Loves.