🔼The name Madmenah: Summary
- Meaning
- Dunghill, Manure Pit
- Etymology
- From the noun מדמנה (madmena), manure pit, from the verb דמן (dmn), to produce waste.
🔼The name Madmenah in the Bible
The name Madmenah belongs to a city probably somewhere north of Jerusalem and possibly in the territory of Benjamin. The prophet Isaiah mentions Madmenah in his sermon on the remnant of Israel, and in a chain of cities which appear to be positioned on a trajectory from the north-east toward Jerusalem (Isaiah 10:31).
🔼Etymology of the name Madmenah
The name Madmenah is identical to the feminine noun מדמנה (madmena), meaning manure pit, from the root דמן (dmn), which has to do with manufactured manure:
דמם
The root דמם (ddm) is all about beginnings — or rather the simplicity from whence complexity arises — from being still before the noise starts to being monochromatic before color vision starts. Verb דמם (damam) means to be still, noun דממה (demama) denotes calmness and דמה (dumma) denotes a silenced person. Noun דומה (duma) describes the silence of death, noun דומיה or דמיה (dumiya) the silence of waiting and noun דומם (dumam) the silence of inertia or inactivity.
Verb דמה (dama I) describes making a (still) image. Nouns דמות (demut) and דמין (dimyon) mean likeness. Verb דמה (dama II) means to stop, halt or arrest. Noun דמי (domi) means a halting. Whatever the unused verb דמן (dmn) might have meant, noun דמן (domen) denotes refuse and מדמנה (madmena) a manure pit.
Unused verb אדם ('dm) may have meant to produce or begin to produce. Noun אדם (adam) is one of a few words for man but means literally probably "product" or likeness-made-from-soil; man as corporeal unit of humanity. This word is never used in plural, and its feminine equivalent, namely אדמה (adama), denotes arable soil or clay-red earth.
Red is the first color a baby learns to see and red or ruddy is indeed the color of rudiment: verb אדם ('adom or 'adem) means to be red, adjective אדם ('adom) means red, noun אדם ('odem) denotes a ruddy gem, possibly quartz, noun אדם ('edom) denotes a kind of red stew, adjective אדמדם ('adamiddam) means reddish, and adjective אדמוני (admoni) means red or ruddy.
The ubiquitous noun דם (dam) means blood; the seat of life, whose circulatory system always sits inside an organic body, isolated from the world at large. When a river turns to blood, it not so much assumes the color and thickness of blood but becomes isolated from the greater hydrological cycle. The life that is seated in the blood is therefore primarily an issue of waste-management. Without it, the organism pollutes and dies.
🔼Madmenah meaning
For a meaning of the name Madmenah, Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names and NOBSE Study Bible Name List both read Dunghill. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but does confirm that it is identical to the noun מדמנה (madmena), meaning manure pit.