🔼The name Susi: Summary
- Meaning
- Swift, Horseman
- Etymology
- From the noun סוס (sus), horse.
🔼The name Susi in the Bible
The name Susi (which in Hebrew is not diminutive of Susan, by the way) occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of the father of Gaddi of Manasseh, who joined the contingent of spies that Moses deployed to scout out Canaan (Numbers 13:11). This same contingent contained Hosea, whom Moses renamed Joshua.
🔼Etymology of the name Susi
The name Susi comes from the noun סוס (sus), meaning horse:
סוס
The unused verb סוס (sus) probably meant to dart forth or be swift. The noun סוס (sus) literally means "swift one" and is applied to a bird, namely the swallow, and a large land mammal, namely the horse. The feminine version is סוסה (susa), but instead of it meaning mare (as is commonly thought) it rather refers to the horse-force of an army.
Long before any animal would become a pet, the horse was a unit of cavalry. Regular people didn't ride horses; they had mules and donkeys, and merchants didn't use horses; they had camels. Seeing a horse in the ancient world was like seeing a tank today.
The letter י (yod) upon which our name ends, may either create an adjective (horse-like or belonging to the horse), a possessive form (my horse), or may be a remnant of יה (Yah) = יהו (Yahu) = יו (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton יהוה, YHWH, or Yahweh.
🔼Susi meaning
For a meaning of the name Susi, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names take the final י (yod) to be an adjective maker and read Horseman.