🔼The name Maarath: Summary
- Meaning
- Barren Place
- Etymology
- From the noun מערה, bare or naked place, from the verb ערה ('ara), to be naked.
🔼The name Maarath in the Bible
The name Maarath occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of a village that came to be situated in the territory of Judah, when Canaan was divided (Joshua 15:59).
🔼Etymology of the name Maarath
The name Maarath probably comes from the masculine noun מערה, meaning bare or naked place, from the verb ערה ('ara), meaning to be naked. But it may very well have to do with the similar feminine noun מערה (me'ara), meaning cave. This word shows up in the Bible transformed into מערת (identical to our name) due to a certain grammatical construction:
ערר
The root ערר ('arar) describes an accumulation in one place that results in an emptiness or barrenness everywhere else — both cities and clouds form from this principle, and indeed any sort of commercial or intellectual fortune. Adjectives ערירי ('ariri) and ערער ('ar'ar) mean stripped, childless or destitute. Noun מערה (me'ara) literally means "place of being stripped" and is the Bible's common word for cave. Noun ערוער ('aro'er) denotes some kind of tree or bush (probably one without leaves).
Noun עיר ('ir) is the Bible's common word for city, which constitutes an accumulation of people and goods, usually in the middle of a wide area without remaining trees. Noun עיר ('ayir) came to specifically denote the wild ass, but apparently stems from the more common behavior of standing around in clusters in the middle of a field that's been grazed clean (in other languages this word also denotes gazelles and such).
Verb עור ('awar) means to be or make blind, and blindness occurs most commonly due to a cataract (which looks like a skin forming over the eye, and is due to a cloudy accumulation of protein in the ocular lens). Adjective עור ('iwwer) means blind. Nouns עורון ('iwwaron) and עורת ('awweret) mean blindness.
Verb עור ('ur I) means to rouse oneself — literally to collect and bundle one's feelings. Noun עיר ('ir) means excitement.
Identical verb עור ('ur II) means to be exposed or laid bare. Noun מעור (ma'or) means nakedness and noun מערם (ma'arom) means naked one. Adjectives עירם ('erom), ערם ('erom), ערום ('arom) and ערם ('arom) mean naked. Noun עור ('or) means skin or hide.
Verb ערה ('ara) also means to be naked or bare. Nouns ערה ('ara), מערה (ma'ara) and מער (ma'ar) refer to bare or exposed places. Nouns ערוה ('erwa) and עריה ('erya) mean nakedness or exposure. Noun תער (ta'ar) denotes a thing that makes bare: a razor or sheath of a sword.
🔼Maarath meaning
The name Maarath may mean Cave or Barren Place. NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Barren Place. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes A Place Naked Of Trees. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't translate or interpret our name but does list it under the verb ערה ('ara), meaning to be naked.