🔼The name Bartholomew: Summary
- Meaning
- Son Of Talmai, One Of The Plowmen
- Etymology
- From (1) the noun בר (bar), one of, and (2) the verb תלם (talam), to plow.
🔼The name Bartholomew in the Bible
The one and only Bartholomew (or rather Bartholomaios) in the Bible is one of Jesus' twelve apostles. Three out of four gospels tell of Bartholomew (Matthew 10:3, Mark 3:18 and Luke 6:14) and always in close proximity to Philip, but John doesn't mention him at all.
John, however, talks of a man named Nathanael, who was introduced to Christ by Philip, the associate of Bartholomew (John 1:45 and 21:2). This led scholars to assume that Bartholomew and Nathanael are the same person — a man named Nathanael Bartholomew.
The name Bartholomew occurs 4 times in the New Testament; see full concordance.
🔼Etymology of the name Bartholomew
The name Bartholomew consists of two elements, the first being בר (bar), the Aramaic word for son:
בר
The Aramaic noun בר (bar) is cognate with the Hebrew noun בן (ben) and both mean "one of," i.e. one of a certain house, one of a certain profession, one of a certain country, and so on. These nouns are also the regular words for "son."
The second part of the name Bartholomew comes from the Hebrew name Talmai, and that name comes from the root תלם:
תלם
The noun תלם (telem) means furrow and is assumed to derive from a verb תלם (talam), to plow or till the soil.
The name Talmai may mean My Furrow, Plowman, Furrows, or Hill Man.
🔼Bartholomew meaning
The name Bartholomew means Son Of Talmai, and thus One Of The Plowmen, or Son Of Furrows, etcetera.