שְׁמוּאֵל

From the study of 1 Samuel 1:20

Range of meaning

A personal name ending in 'el ('God'). Proposed meanings for the first part: (1) shem, 'name': 'name of God' or 'his name is El'; (2) a shortened form linked to shama', 'to hear': 'heard by God' or 'God has heard'; (3) a contraction of she'ul me'el, 'asked from God'. Option (3) is the hardest to support from Hebrew grammar. Most lexicons (BDB, HALOT) treat 'name of God' or 'his name is El' as the most likely linguistic origin.

Against the English

English versions simply transliterate the name as 'Samuel'. Their footnotes and study notes vary: some say 'Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard of God', others give 'asked of God'. The BSB footnote and most modern notes say it sounds like the Hebrew words, which is a careful and honest way to put it.

How it drifted

Baby-name books and sermons tend to turn Hannah's explanation into a dictionary meaning ('Samuel means asked of God'). The text offers an explanation that works by sound and story, which is how Hebrew naming speeches usually work.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus (Antiquities 5.10.3) already took the name as 'asked of God' (he renders it with the Greek Theaitētos, 'God-requested'). That shows Hannah's explanation was being read as the name's meaning by the 1st century AD. Comparable naming speeches that work by sound include Moses (Exod 2:10, Egyptian name explained by Hebrew mashah, 'draw out'), Noah (Gen 5:29, explained by nacham, 'comfort') and the sons of Jacob (Gen 29–30).