🔼The name Hagab(ah): Summary
- Meaning
- Grasshopper
- Etymology
- From the noun חגב (hagab), grasshopper.
🔼The names Hagab, Hagaba and Hagabah in the Bible
The three names Hagab, Hagaba and Hagabah differ only in their suffixes and are really quite the same — compare the similar variations in the names Baana(h), Ezra(h), Jaala(h), Shebna(h), and so on.
The "name" Hagab occurs only in some older translations (particularly 16-17th century Dutch, German and French ones) of Leviticus 11:22 — "Arbe mit seiner Art und Selaam mit seiner Art und Hargol mit seiner Art und Hagab mit ihrer Art" (Luther 1545) — as transliteration (rather than translation) of the Hebrew words for certain clean and edible insects.
The proper name Hagabah (חגבה, hagabah) occurs in Nehemiah 7:48 and Ezra 2:45 only, which list the returnees from the Babylonian exile among the Nethinim. The variant חגבא (hagaba') occurs in some rare versions of Nehemiah 7:48.
🔼Etymology of the name Hagabah
The name Hagabah is a feminine version of the otherwise only masculine noun חגב (hagab), meaning grasshopper:
חגב
The noun חגב (hagab) describes the grasshopper, a kosher animal comparable to the locust in much the same way that an informal or amateur scholar (or naive artist) compares to a formally educated and degree-carrying maestro. In related languages this word is associated with covering or concealment, even with shrines (that which conceals).
עגב
The verb עגב ('agab) means to desire or lust, not merely in the sense of seeking extra-covenantal intimate relations, but any sort of getting swept up in some collective spirit that entices one to lower one's barriers and suspend one's conscience and dignity. Noun עגב ('agab) means lust, and noun עגבה ('agaba) means lustfulness. Noun עוגב ('ugab) described a musical instrument, a pipe of some sort, which would produce the dance music that in the pagan arenas was associated to deities like Pan (Genesis 4:21, Job 21:12), but in other settings with the collective joy of knowing the Lord (Psalm 150:4).
🔼Hagab(ah) meaning
The name Hagabah means Grasshopper, but the Grasshopper may actually relate to the Locust the way the modern day Laity relates to the Clergy (see our article on the related name Agabus for a longer look at this).