🔼The name Harhaiah: Summary
- Meaning
- Ignition Of Yah
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb חרה (hara), to ignite, and (2) יה (yah), the name of the Lord.
🔼The name Harhaiah in the Bible
The name Harhaiah occurs only once in the Bible. In Nehemiah 3:8 we learn of an Uzziel, son of Harhaiah of the goldsmiths, who was part of the effort to repair Jerusalem and its wall and features.
🔼Etymology of the name Harhaiah
The name Harhaiah consists of two elements, the final one being יה (yah), which is short for יהוה or YHWH.
The first part of our name comes from the verb חרה (hara), to ignite or be angry:
חרר
The root חרר (harar) describes a society's central and enclosed source of heat. It thus may express a geographical depression, but more so a being hot and ultimately a being a ruler (whether by might, political clout or wisdom).
Verb חרר (harar I) means to be hot, burned or charred. Noun חרר (harer) denotes a parched place and noun חרחר (harhur) describes a violent heat or fever. The unused verb חרר (harar II) means to be free in cognate languages, which is the opposite of being a slave. Noun חר (hor) means noble or nobleman. The unused verb חרר (harar III) appears to refer to the enclosure of kilns and ovens, as the first ones were most likely built in natural hollows. The nouns חר (hor) and חור (hor) mean hole or cavern, but obviously relate to the previous word in that freemen surround themselves with walls and armies.
Verb חרה (hara) means to burn or ignite (in the Bible solely in an emotional way: to get angry). Noun חרון (haron) describes the burning of anger. Noun חרי (hori) refers to a general burning.
Verb חור (hawar) means to be or grow white (like ash or baked bricks). Nouns חור (hur) and חורי (huray) refer to any white stuff, including garments and linen, and noun חרי (hori) describes white bread or cake.
Verb נחר (nahar) looks very much like a passive or reflexive version of חרר (harar) or its participle. This verb isn't used in the Bible but nouns נחר (nahar) and נחרה (naharah) describe the vigorous snorting of a horse, and noun נחיר (nahir) means nostril (which in turn reminds of a cavern).
🔼Harhaiah meaning
For a meaning of the name Harhaiah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Yahweh Is Protecting and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Anger Of The Lord.
BDB Theological Dictionary declares the root and meaning of our name unknown and even insists that it is spelled incorrectly and should be חרחיה instead of חרהיה (the difference is the third letter from either direction). This was probably thought because of the diacritics added by the Masoretes, which were still believed to be original to the text when BDB was first published. Since then we've learned that the Masoretes did their work more than a thousand years after the text was written, and their additions thus reflect a much later tradition.