🔼The name Tokhath: Summary
- Meaning
- Hope
- Etymology
- From the verb קוה (qawa), to gather into strength, to hope.
🔼The name Tokhath in the Bible
The name Tokhath occurs only once in the Bible. He is a son of Hasrah and the father of Shallum, the husband of Huldah the prophetess, who king Josiah consulted concerning the book of the Law, which was found during a thorough renovation of the temple (2 Chronicles 34:22). This man is called Tikvah in 2 Kings 22:14.
🔼Etymology of the name Tokhath
The name Tokhath comes from the verb קוה (qawa), meaning to hope:
קוה
The verb קוה (qawa) describes the act of combining a multiple of strands and coiling those into a single, much stronger cable. It is used to mean to gather or collect, but also in the sense of to hope or eagerly await.
Deriving from the strong cable-making sense, the nouns קו (qaw) and קוה (qow) mean line or measuring line. Noun תקוה (tiqwah) means cord. The exactly identical noun תקוה (tiqwah) means hope. Noun מקוה (miqweh) also means hope. Noun קוקו (qawqaw) means might or strength.
Deriving from the collecting sense, the noun מקוה (miqweh) means collection or collected mass. Noun מקוה (miqwa) means reservoir.
Our name is constructed from the root probably through the word תקוה (tiqwah), meaning hope. How exactly the final ת came applied to the word to form our name is not immediately clear.
🔼Tokhath meaning
NOBSE Study Bible Name List doesn't have a separate entry for Tokhath but reads Hope for a meaning of Tikvah. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names appears to skip both names (which is very rare for this otherwise wonderfully complete dictionary). BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate this name but does confirm that it comes from קוה.