דּוֹד

From the study of Isaiah 5:1

Range of meaning

(1) Beloved, lover: the dominant use in the Song of Songs, where the woman calls the man 'my dodi' over thirty times. (2) In the plural, 'love-making, love' (Song 1:2, 'your love is better than wine'; Prov 7:18). (3) Uncle or kinsman, father's brother (Lev 10:4; 1 Sam 10:14). The name David (dawid) may come from the same root, though this is uncertain.

Against the English

English versions use 'beloved' for both yedid and dod, which erases the switch. NIV and ESV fold the phrase into 'a song about…' or 'my love song', which conveys the genre but loses the double mention of the friend. The Latin Vulgate took the kinship sense: 'my cousin/kinsman' (patruelis mei).

Used elsewhere in the period

Song of Songs throughout; Isa 5:1 is the only place outside the Song and the kinship texts where dod clearly carries the lover sense in prophetic poetry. The Septuagint uses agapētos.

From the study of Song of Songs 5:1

Range of meaning

The singular dôd means "beloved" (the woman's usual name for the man in the Song) and also "uncle." The plural dôdîm usually means love in its physical expression: caresses, lovemaking (Song 1:2, 4; 4:10; 7:12; Prov 7:18; Ezek 16:8; 23:17, "the bed of love"). It can also be read simply as the plural of "beloved," so "lovers."

Against the English

BSB and KJV "O beloved" sounds like one person addressed, or like a preacher's "dearly beloved." NIV and ESV take it as love itself ("of love," "with love"). NASB and YLT keep a plural address ("O lovers," "O beloved ones").

How it drifted

"Beloved" in church English has become a warm address to a congregation. Here the word is plural and sensual.

Used elsewhere in the period

Proverbs 7:18: "Come, let us drink our fill of dôdîm," where the adulteress uses the same drinking-and-love language. Song 1:2 and 4:10: "your dôdîm are better than wine." The Vulgate renders it carissimi ("dearest ones"). The Septuagint has adelphoi ("brothers") in the standard printed text.

From the study of Song of Songs 5:6

Range of meaning

(1) Uncle or kinsman, its common meaning in narrative and law (Lev 10:4; 1 Sam 10:14). (2) Beloved or lover, mainly in the Song (over 30 times) and Isa 5:1. (3) In the plural, dôdîm means lovemaking or caresses (Song 1:2, 4; 4:10; 7:12/13; Prov 7:18; Ezek 16:8; 23:17).

Against the English

Most versions say "beloved". That is accurate, but in modern English it can sound gentle, formal or devotional. "My lover" (used by some modern versions) gets closer to the romantic and physical warmth of the word in the Song.

How it drifted

"Beloved" fell out of everyday speech and survives mostly in church language and old-fashioned letters, so it now carries a pious or platonic tone the Hebrew does not have.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Prov 7:18 the seductress says "let us drink our fill of dôdîm". Ezek 16:8 speaks of "the time of dôdîm", the age for love. The word may be related to the divine or personal name element in Ugaritic and Mesha-inscription material ("Dodo"), though that link is uncertain.