🔼The name Ibsam: Summary
- Meaning
- He Will Smell Sweetly, Perfumer
- Etymology
- From the verb בשם (basam), to smell sweet, be precious or pure.
🔼The name Ibsam in the Bible
The name Ibsam (or in some translations: Jibsam) occurs only once in the Bible. He is mentioned as a son of Tola, who was a son of Issachar, the ninth son of Jacob and the fifth of Leah (1 Chronicles 7:2).
🔼Etymology of the name Ibsam
The name Ibsam comes from the root בשם (bsm), which probably meant to smell sweetly:
בשם
The meaning of the unused verb בשם (basam) is unknown but it possibly meant to smell pleasant. Its sole extant derivative is the noun בשם (basam), which describes spice or balsam, or their signature sweet smell. These commodities in turn served as tokens or even units of wealth. And since they were produced via painstaking purification, they also denoted purity and cleanness.
Our name starts with the letter י (yod), which usually indicates the third person singular of the verb: "he will cause to smell sweet". Perhaps Ibsam was a perfumer.
🔼Ibsam meaning
For a meaning of the name Ibsam, NOBSE Study Bible Name List sees an adjective and reads Fragrant. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names sees the verb in action and proposes He Will Smell Sweetly. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate this name but does list it under the verb בשם.