🔼The name Zemirah: Summary
- Meaning
- Song
- Etymology
- From the verb זמר (zamar), to prune or praise.
🔼The name Zemirah in the Bible
The name Zemirah occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of one of the sons of Becher, who was a son of Benjamin, the eleventh son of Jacob and second one of Rachel (1 Chronicles 7:8).
🔼Etymology of the name Zemirah
The name Zemirah obviously stems from the verb זמר (zamar), but it's not clear from which noun exactly. It could be the masculine noun זמיר (zamir), meaning song, made feminine by adding a ה (he). Or it's the feminine noun זמרה (zimra), also meaning song, with an added י (yod) for flavor:
זמר
Verb זמר (zamar) basically means to cultivate and is used in two main ways: (a) to prune trees in an orchard or vineyard, and (b) to hone a crowd into a choir.
The first instance of our verb זמר (zamar) is commonly translated with to trim or prune. Noun זמיר (zamir) means a trimming or pruning. Noun זמורה (zemora) means branch or shoot. Noun מזמרה (mazmera) denotes a pruning knife.
The second instance of the verb זמר (zamar) is commonly translated with to sing or praise or play musical instruments. Nouns זמרה (zimra) and זמיר (zamir) mean song (the latter is identical to the noun meaning a trimming or pruning). Noun מזמור (mizmor) refers to an "agent of zamar", which would plausibly refer to a song that invited the audience to partake: a sing-along song. This noun is commonly translated with the word psalm.
There is also a sort of animal named זמר (zemer). This animal was probably a sheep or antelope, but it's unclear why this animal would be dubbed either a pruner or a praiser. Perhaps it stood on its hind legs and ate from high up branches, or perhaps it had horns from which folks made trumpets or it resembled a harp. We don't know.
🔼Zemirah meaning
For a meaning of the name Zemirah, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Song.
BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name.