🔼The name Elnaam: Summary
- Meaning
- God Is Pleasantness, God Of Pleasantness
- Etymology
- From (1) the word אל ('el), God, and (2) the verb נעם (na'em), to be pleasant.
🔼The name Elnaam in the Bible
The name Elnaam occurs just once in the Bible. The Chronicler lists him as the father of Jeribai and Joshaviah, who were two of the mighty-men of David (1 Chronicles 11:46). The same list of mighty-men occurs in 2 Samuel 23, but no Elnaam is mentioned.
🔼Etymology of the name Elnaam
The name Elnaam consists of two elements. The first one is אל, El, the prominent Canaanite deity whose name became applied to the God of Israel, or the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God:
אל אלה
In names אל ('el) usually refers to אלהים ('elohim), that is Elohim, or God, also known as אלה ('eloah). In English, the words 'God' and 'god' exclusively refer to the deity but in Hebrew the words אל ('l) and אלה ('lh) are far more common and may express approach and negation, acts of wailing and pointing, and may even mean oak or terebinth.
The second part of our name comes from the verb נעם (na'em) meaning to be pleasant, sweet, delightful, beautiful:
נעם
The verb נעם (na'em) means to be pleasant, delightful or sweet. Derived nouns נעם (no'am) and נעמן (na'aman) mean pleasantness. Adjective נעים (na'im), means pleasant. The plural noun מנעמים (man'ammim) describes "sweets" or dainties. The adjective נעים (na'im) describes a soft or pleasant sound.
🔼Elnaam meaning
For a meaning of the name Elnaam, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and BDB Theological Dictionary read God Is Pleasantness. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes God Of Pleasantness.