🔼The name Calcol: Summary
- Meaning
- Sustenance, Completer
- Etymology
- From the verb כול (kul), to contain, or כלל (kalal), to make perfect or whole.
🔼The name Calcol in the Bible
There are two men named Calcol mentioned in the Bible, but there is an obvious, albeit unexplained correlation between the two:
- One of the five sons of Zerah, who was one of two twin sons of Judah and Tamar. The Chronicler lists these five sons as: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Dara (1 Chronicles 2:6).
- One of four proverbially wise sons of Mahol, whose wisdom was nevertheless inferior to the wisdom of Solomon. These four sons are listed as: Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda (1 Kings 5:11).
For a brief discussion of this curious symmetry, see our article on the name Heman.
🔼Etymology of the name Calcol
The name Calcol is possibly a so-called Pilpel expression of the verb כלל (kalal), meaning to make perfect or whole:
כלל
The root כלל (kll) deals with limits, and particularly the limit on growth or progression. This limit may be incurred by interment or incarceration, but it may also mark the asymptotic quality of perfection or completion.
Verb כלא (kala') means to shut in or shut up. Nouns כלא (kele'), כלוא (klw') and כליא (keli) mean imprisonment. Noun מכלה (mikla), means enclosure or fold. Verb כול (kul) means to contain or cause to contain.
Verb כלה (kala) denotes the bringing to a completion of some process, and that usually but not always in a negative sense. Noun כלה (kala) mostly describes complete destruction or complete annihilation. Adjective כלה (kaleh) describes a failing with desire and noun כליון (killayon) means either a failing or pining of the eyes or annihilation. Noun מכלה (mikla) means completeness (and is identical to the word meaning enclosure or fold). The noun תכלה (tikla) means perfection. Noun תכלית (taklit) means end or completeness. The very common noun כלי (keli) describes any kind of article that (possibly) took a while to make but is now finished, or a vessel that was designed to hold some finished product; a holding pot.
Verb כלל (kalal) means to complete or make perfect. The very common noun כל (kol) means all or the whole. Adjective כליל (kalil) means entire or whole. Nouns מכלול (miklol) and מכלל (miklal) mean perfection. Noun מכלל (maklul) describes something made perfect.
The noun כלה (kalla) means bride or daughter-in-law, and noun כלולה (kelula) means espousal, which obviously reflects the Bible's expectation that humanity's ultimate perfection makes her a Bride to the Creator.
🔼Calcol meaning
For a meaning of the name Calcol, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names derives our name from the verb כול (kul), to contain or sustain: reads Sustenance. Neither NOBSE Study Bible Name List nor BDB Theological Dictionary translates this name, but BDB does list it under the verb כול (kul).