🔼The name Jeatherai: Summary
- Meaning
- Pertaining To Remnants, He Will Abound Of Yah
- Etymology
- From (1) the verb יתר (yatar), to be a rest, and (2) perhaps the divine name יה (yah).
🔼The name Jeatherai in the Bible
The name Jeatherai occurs only one time in the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 6:21 he's mentioned as a son of Zerah. In verse 6:41 we meet another Zerah, whose son is called Ethni. Both Zerahs descend from Jahath, the son of Gershom, son of Levi, and this prompts countless scholars to assume that Ethni and Jeatherai are the same person. This is, of course always possible, and many players in the Bible have two names, but it doesn't seem necessary or even implied by the Chronicler, who seems to imply that Jeatherai and Ethni are distant cousins.
🔼Etymology of the name Jeatherai
The origin of the name Jeatherai is not immediately clear, but it seems to come from the verb יתר (yatar) meaning to remain over, be a rest:
יתר
The verb יתר (yatar) means to remain or to be a rest (a remainder). It may emphasize the survival of some carnage (being the last ones left), but it may also emphasize surplus (rest money after all bills are paid). Noun יתר (yeter) means remnant; יתרה (yitra) means abundance; יותר (yoter) means superiority; יתרון (yitron) means excellence.
The nouns יתר (yeter) and מיתר (metar) describe cords to tie things together with. This indicates that a remnant is not simply that what remains, but rather that which kept the original collective together in the first place.
The letter י (yod), upon which our name ends, creates a possessive form, which in English comes down to my rest, remnant of, or even an adjective meaning: Pertaining To Remnants. A final י (yod) may also refer to the divine name יה (yah), or YHWH.
🔼Jeatherai meaning
For a meaning of the name Jeatherai, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads a rather forced Steadfast. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names sees in the final י (yod) a truncated version of the divine name יה (yah) and proposes He Will Abound Of The Lord.