🔼The name Me-jarkon: Summary
- Meaning
- Waters Of Green
- Etymology
- From (1) the noun מי (may), "waters of ...", and (2) the adjective ירקון (yeraqon), green.
🔼The name Me-jarkon in the Bible
The name Me-jarkon occurs only one time in the Bible. It's the name of a city located in the territory assigned to the tribe of Dan (Joshua 19:46).
Actually, the name of this place isn't really Me-jarkon, it's Me-hayarkon, and it's unclear why translators choose to omit the definite article in front of the jarkon-part.
🔼Etymology of the name Me-jarkon
The name Me-jarkon consists of two elements. The first part is an assimilated version of the noun מים (mayim), meaning waters:
מים
The noun מים (mayim) means water, or rather: waters. It's a plural word for which there is no singular form. But if there were it would be מי (mi), which is identical to the common particle of inquisition, מי (mi), meaning "who?". In constructions (waters of such and such), the final ם (m) drops off, and what remains is identical to our particle of inquisition.
Water represents the great unknown from which the dry land (ארץ, 'eres) of the known emerges. The ancients knew that vapor rises from the seas and becomes rain and compared this cycle to that of cognition (Isaiah 55:10-1). The words for rain and teacher are the same: מורה (moreh), which are closely related to the familiar word Torah.
The second part of the name Me-jarkon is the same as the adjective ירקון (yeraqon), literally meaning a green thing, from the root ירק I (yaraq I):
רקק
The verb רקק (raqaq I) means to be thin or weak. Adjective רק (raq) means thin. Adverb רק (raq) means only or solely. Noun רקיק (raqiq) denotes a thin cake or wafer of unleavened bread. Noun רקה (raqqa) denotes the part of the head called temple.
Identical verb רקק (raqaq II) means to spit and noun רק (roq) means spittle.
Root ירק (yaraq I) denotes a color ranging from green or pale to ashen or dusky-white or even silver. Note that in nature, small and thin things are often green (leaves, grasses), whereas bigger things are usually not (fruits, tree trunks). Noun ירק (yereq) means green or green things. Noun ירק (yaraq) means herbs or herbage. Noun ירוק (yaroq) also means green thing. Noun ירקון (yeraqon) means either mildew or paleness. Adjective ירקרק (yeraqrag) means greenish or pale-green.
Identical verb ירק (yaraq II) means to spit.
🔼Me-jarkon meaning
The name Me-jarkon probably means something like Waters Of Green, but note that it is mentioned together with the related name Rakkon.
For a meaning of the name Me-jarkon, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads a rather elaborate Waters Of Yellow Color. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has the evenly peculiar Water Of Great Greenness. BDB Theological Dictionary does not interpret our name but does list it under the verb ירק I (yaraq I), meaning to be green.