🔼The name Dalphon: Summary
- Meaning
- Dripper, Weeper, Rain-maker
- Etymology
- From the verb דלף (dalap), to drip.
🔼The name Dalphon in the Bible
The name Dalphon occurs only one time in the Bible. He is the second of ten sons of Haman, who were killed by the Jews when their holocaust was averted (Esther 9:7).
🔼Etymology of the name Dalphon
The name Dalphon probably originates in a language other than Hebrew, but the way it is spelled makes it seem as if it was derived from the Hebrew verb דלף (dalap), meaning to drip:
דלף
The verb דלף (dalap) means to drop or drip, and may refer to rain or even the weeping of eyes. Noun דלף (delep) means a dripping (and rain, tears, and so on).
The name Dalphon is constructed from the root by adding the ון-couple to it, which localizes or personifies the root.
🔼Dalphon meaning
For a meaning of the name Dalphon, NOBSE Study Bible Name List taps into some unknown source and reads Crafty. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has found an Arabic root but doesn't say what it might mean, and translates the name Dalphon with Strenuous. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but does list it under the root דלף (or perhaps does so because this name follows the root alphabetically).
To a Hebrew audience, however, the name Dalphon would have meant Drip-Guy.