🔼The name Corban: Summary
- Meaning
- Gift, Offering, Approach
- Etymology
- From the verb קרב (qarab), to approach.
🔼The name Corban in the Bible
Corban may be a name in our day and age, in the Bible it isn't. The word Corban occurs in the New Testament only once. In Mark 7:11 Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and scribes on their liberal use of the Mosaic corban instructions.
🔼Etymology of the name Corban
The word corban is a transliteration of the Hebrew noun קרבן (qorban), denoting a cultic gift or offering. It comes from the root קרב (qarab), meaning to approach:
קרב
The verb קרב (qarab) means to come near or approach, whether in space, time, socially or emotionally.
Adjective קרב (qareb) means near or approaching. Noun קרב (qerab) means approach and became used to mean battle (somewhat alike our word "engagement"). Noun קרבה (qirba) means approach. Adjective קרוב (qarob) means near and came to denote one's kinsman or neighbor. Noun קרבן (qorban) means offering, or rather a thing one approaches the altar with. Noun קרבן (qurban) denotes a special wood-offering requested for the second temple.
The noun קרב (qereb) is used to denote the internal of either a building or a person. It's been suggested that this word derives from a whole other verb (of unknown meaning) but it may also simply demonstrate that an approach doesn't need to end at a building's outer wall or a person's skin.
This word קרבן (qorban) occurs 80 times in the Bible, all in the books of Leviticus and Numbers and twice in Ezekiel (20:28, 40:43). Although the word קרבן (qorban) is used only once in the New Testament, the phenomenon permeates all of it (Matthew 15:5, 27:6, 1 Peter 1:19, Hebrews 13:15).
🔼Corban meaning
The name Corban means Gift or Offering.