🔼The name Hanoch: Summary
- Meaning
- Inaugurated, Trained
- Etymology
- From the root חנך (hanak), to inaugurate or train.
🔼The name Hanoch in the Bible
There are two Hanochs mentioned in the Bible:
🔼Etymology of the name Hanoch
The name Hanoch comes from the root חנך (hanak):
חנך
The root חנך (hanak) deals with the beginning of discernment, which is the beginning of wisdom: discernment via taste, which is the first discernment and thus mode of wisdom a baby learns (hence the many Biblical metaphors that equate wisdom with food or milk).
The noun חך (hek) means mouth as the seat of taste (the more common word for mouth, namely פה, peh, emphasizes the mouth as orifice). From the noun חך (hek) comes the verb חנך (hanak), to "mouth," i.e. to inaugurate, train or dedicate. Likewise, adjective חניך (hanik) means trained or experienced. Noun חנכה (hanukka) means dedication.
Noun חכה (hakka) describes a fishing hook, or a hook that grabs a prey's jaw, or rather a prey's sense of taste. Perhaps accidentally similar, but perhaps not, the verb חכה (haka) means to wait or await for, and particularly to wait for sustenance. Often this verb's object is the Creator, or the sustaining insight in the Laws of the Creator.
🔼Hanoch meaning
The name Hanoch is closely similar to Enoch, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names doesn't even treat Hanoch as a separate name. Jones proposes Initiated for Enoch. NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Dedicated for both Enoch and Hanoch.