אַבְרָם

From the study of Genesis 17:5

Range of meaning

Abram is a common West Semitic name of the type 'Father (or the divine Father) is exalted' / 'exalted father'. Abraham is spelled the same with an added hē (h). As a word it has no clear meaning in ordinary Hebrew, and the text explains it by its sound.

Against the English

Some English footnotes say flatly that 'Abraham means father of many'. The Hebrew verse does not offer a dictionary derivation. It offers a sound-based explanation: ʾab-rāhām echoes ʾab-hămôn. In Genesis the meaning a name is given counts for more than where the word historically came from.

How it drifted

Popular books treat both name meanings as exact translations, and some make the added 'h' a symbol in its own right (see popular_drift). The ancient text works by wordplay, which was the normal way Israel explained names (compare Eve, Cain, Isaac, Jacob, Moses).

Used elsewhere in the period

Names built like 'Abram' are well known: Abiram (Num 16:1; 1 Kgs 16:34) and similar 'father + exalted' names in second-millennium Mesopotamian and West Semitic name lists. Linguists commonly explain 'Abraham' as a dialectal longer form of the same name, inserting h, as some Aramaic-type forms do. Some have pointed to an Arabic root rhm related to 'large number', but that link is uncertain (HALOT). Genesis Rabbah and the Talmud make much of the change. b. Berakhot 13a even rules that calling him 'Abram' afterwards breaks a command, based on this verse.

From the study of Genesis 11:27

Range of meaning

Usually explained as 'ab ("father") + rām ("is exalted/high"): "the father is exalted" or "exalted father." Here "father" may well refer to a god, as it often does in ancient West Semitic names. Similar names are known outside the Bible (e.g. Abi-ramu in Mesopotamian records).

Against the English

English keeps the name and loses its meaning. Readers often do not notice that the name is changed to Abraham in 17:5 and reinterpreted there as "father of a multitude."

Used elsewhere in the period

Names built on 'ab + an adjective are common in the second millennium BC (e.g. Abiram in Numbers 16:1). Akkadian Abam-rāma and similar forms are attested.