Hebrew word · H6423

פְּלֹנִי

peloni

someone

A rhyming idiom for an unnamed or unspecified person or place: 'so-and-so', 'such-and-such', 'what's-his-name'.

Appears 3 times in 3 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

a certain one

Also means: pal.mo.ni (פַּלְמוֹנִי "certain" H6422)

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Ruth 4:1

Range of meaning

A rhyming idiom for an unnamed or unspecified person or place: 'so-and-so', 'such-and-such', 'what's-his-name'. Its derivation is uncertain; it has been linked to roots meaning 'to be set apart/distinct' and 'to be mute/hidden', but the pair works as a jingle rather than through the meaning of each part.

Against the English

BSB, WEB, NIV, ESV and others render it 'friend' or 'my friend', a warm form of address. KJV 'such a one' and YLT 'such a one, such a one' keep the anonymity. Hebrew has no word for 'friend' here.

How it drifted

Translators reasonably felt that Boaz would not literally shout 'So-and-so!' at a man he knew, so they turned the placeholder into a polite address. But this replaces the storyteller's deliberate silence about the name with an affectionate tone the Hebrew does not have.

Used elsewhere in the period

Elsewhere only of places: 1 Sam 21:2 (Eng. 21:2–3), David's 'such-and-such a place'; 2 Kgs 6:8, the Aramean king's 'such-and-such a place'. A contracted form palmōnî, 'a certain one', appears in Dan 8:13. Later Hebrew uses pəlōnî for 'so-and-so' in legal examples.

Where it appears

Ruth · 1

  1. Ruth 4:1 פְּלֹנִ֣י a certain one

    Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

    Here: First half of a rhyming pair meaning 'So-and-so'. It is a placeholder for a name that is not given, not a friendly term of address.

1 Samuel · 1

  1. 1 Samuel 21:2 פְּלֹנִ֖י a certain one

    “The king has given me a mission,” David replied. “He told me no one is to know about the mission on which I am sending you. And I have directed my young men to meet me at a certain place.

2 Kings · 1

  1. 2 Kings 6:8 פְּלֹנִ֥י a certain one

    Now the king of Aram was at war against Israel. After consulting with his servants, he said, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.