🔼The name Giddel: Summary
- Meaning
- Strong, Great
- Etymology
- From the verb גדל (gadel), to become strong or great.
🔼The name Giddel in the Bible
There are only two men named Giddel in the Bible, and they occur in the same little list of returnees:
- The head of a family of Nethinim (temple servants) whose members returned from the Babylonian exile together with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (Ezra 2:47, Nehemiah 7:49).
- Another head of a family, of descendants of Solomon's servants this time, whose members returned to Canaan in the same wave as the previous family.
🔼Etymology of the name Giddel
The name Giddel comes from the verb גדל (gadel), meaning to become strong or great:
גדל
The verb גדל (gadel) means to become strong or great, particularly by combining many ordinary elements into a big strong strand or collection of some sort.
The noun מגדל (migdal) or מגדול (migdol) literally describes a place or agent for greatness. It's the word for tower, and a tower is not only a big strong thing consisting of many bricks, it also formed the center of a community around which all houses and all activity unfolded. From their tower people kept lookout over the community's territories, and launched offensives when the community was attacked. A tower could carry a fire and from it folks trumpeted signals. Towers drew its people from wherever they might roam. Over time they developed into central storage houses, banks and seats of government. Towers are buildings around which the greatness of a people forms and in which it becomes manifested.
Participle or adjective גדל (gadel) means a becoming great or growing up. Noun גדל (godel) means greatness or pride. Plural noun גדלים (gedilim) refers to tassels or festoons made from twisted strands. The very common adjectives גדול (gadol) and גדולה (gadola) mean great. Noun גדולה (gedulla) means greatness or great one.
🔼Giddel meaning
For a meaning of the name Giddel, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary read Very Great. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes He Has Become Great.