הָגוּת

From the study of Psalm 49:3

Range of meaning

A noun from the verb hāgâ (H1897), which covers low, repeated sound: a lion growling over its prey (Isa 31:4), a dove moaning (Isa 38:14; 59:11), a person muttering or reading half-aloud (Ps 1:2; Josh 1:8), and also inward planning or plotting (Ps 2:1; Prov 24:2). Hāgût itself occurs only here. It means the musing that goes on as someone turns a matter over, often voiced under the breath.

Against the English

"Meditation" (KJV, BSB, YLT, ESV, NASB) is the traditional rendering and is not wrong. But to modern ears it can mean silent contemplation, or a technique for quieting or emptying the mind. The Hebrew picture is of the mind working: chewing on a problem, murmuring it through, until it is ready to be spoken. WEB's "my heart will utter" catches the voiced side but drops the musing.

How it drifted

In older English "meditate" meant to think deeply about a subject. In the 20th century the word picked up the sense of meditation practices drawn from Eastern religions and the wellness movement, where the aim is often stillness or detachment instead of reasoning something through.

Used elsewhere in the period

Related nouns: hegyôn, "musing" (Ps 19:14, "the meditation of my heart"; also a musical marker in Ps 9:16), and hāgîg (Ps 5:1; 39:3). The Greek Septuagint uses meletē, "study, careful practice". In the Dead Sea Scrolls a related form names the "Book of Hagu/Hagi" (Damascus Document CD 10:6; 13:2; 1QSa 1:7), a text that leaders had to study closely, which shows the word group being used for intense, repeated study.