🔼The name Kore: Summary
- Meaning
- Partridge, Caller
- Etymology
- From the noun קרא (qore'), partridge, from the verb קרא (qara'), to call near.
🔼The name Kore in the Bible
There are three men named Kore in the Bible, and all are Levites. The names of the first two Kores are spelled קורא and that of the final one is spelled קרא:
- The father of Shallum, who is mentioned among the Levites who returned from the Babylonian exile, and who was the overseer of the tabernacle service prior to the repair of the temple of YHWH in Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 9:19).
- A descendant of Asaph and father of Meshelemiah, who was a gatekeeper of the tabernacle in the days of king David (1 Chronicles 26:1).
- A son of Imnah, who was the keeper of the eastern gate of the temple of YHWH in Jerusalem. He was also in charge of the temple offerings and their distribution among the Levites (2 Chronicles 31:14).
🔼Etymology of the name Kore
The name Kore appears to be identical to the noun קרא (qore'), meaning partridge, from the verb קרא I (qara'), meaning to call, call near or proclaim:
קרר
Root קרר (qarar) means to cool off in a thermodynamic sense: to go from hot gas to cool liquid to a cold solid. Socially this would describe warring tribes "cooling off" into culturally compatible peoples and liquid trading networks and ultimately the formation of cities and solid nations. Intellectually, diverse viewpoints might congeal into local conventions and ultimately a global standard.
Adjective קר (qar) means cool. Nouns קר (qor) and קרה (qara) mean cold. Noun מקרה (meqera), meaning coolness.
Noun קיר (qir) is one of a few words for wall. It might relate to the root because bricks are congealed mud, and a wall is bricks pieced together (non-standard bricks take some puzzling and pounding). The noun קרקע (qarqa') means floor; earth trampled into a compact state. The verb קרקר (qarqar) means to forcibly compact, to pound down.
קרה
Verb קרה (qara), and its by-form קרא (qara'), mean to near, to meet or to happen upon. Noun קורה (qora) describes a rafter or beam; the things that come together to form a roof, and which obviously relate to bricks pieced into a wall. Verb קרה (qara) means to piece beams together and noun מקרה (meqareh) means literally place of beams; beam-work.
Nouns קרה (qareh) and מקרה (miqreh) mean chance or accident, fortune or fate. Noun קרי (qeri) means opposition, contrariness. At a social level, chance meetings and opposition are the very rafters that carry society's roof.
For this same reason, the nouns קריה (qiryah) and קרת (qeret) are the words for city and federation of cities.
קרא
Verb קרא (qara'), which is identical to the by-form of the previous, means to call or call near. Adjective קריא (qari') means called or summoned. Noun קריאה (qeri'a) means proclamation. And noun מקרא (miqra') means convocation or called assembly. The noun קרא (qore') describes a partridge; literally "a caller."
🔼Kore meaning
For a meaning of the name Kore, both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Partridge. But since a partridge was literally known as a "caller," it's probably more likely that a Hebrew audience would recognize the name Kore with a meaning of Caller or Proclaimer.
BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate the name Kore but does list it under the קרא I (qara' I) meaning to call and confirms that it's identical to the noun קרא (qore'), meaning partridge.