🔼The name Middin: Summary
- Meaning
- Measures
- Place Of Judgment
- Etymology
- From the verb מדד (madad), to measure.
- From the verb דין (din), to judge or govern.
🔼The name Middin in the Bible
The name Middin occurs only once in the Bible, and it belongs to a city that is mentioned as one of six cities of the wilderness of Judah (Joshua 15:61).
🔼Etymology of the name Middin
The name Middin may derive from the verb מדד (madad), meaning to measure, although the curious ין (yn)-ending isn't easily explained:
מדד
The verb מדד (madad) means to measure. Nouns מד (mad) and מדה (midda) mean measure or portion and may be used to refer to a (tailor-made) garment. The more specific nouns מדו (maddu) and מדוה (madweh) both mean (tailor-made) garment. Noun ממד (memad) means measurement and noun מדון (madon) means stature (how society sizes one up).
Our name may also derive from the prefix מ (me), which indicates "place / agent of," and the verb דין (din), meaning to judge or govern:
דין
The verb דין (din) means to judge or govern. It's an old verb that mostly describes the authority of a naturally superior (because that person is wiser, stronger, older, etcetera) in contrast to the governing done by a formal government (by politically favored and appointed officials).
The noun דין (dayyan) describes one such a leader, and noun דין (din) describes anything pertaining to primitive governing: a judgment, plea, complaint, contention. Noun מדון (madon) literally describes a "place or judging" and is synonymous with the contending that goes on in such a place. Noun מדונה (medina) described the jurisdiction of one judge, and became the word for province.
Note that the name Middin is spelled identical to the name Midian, and that the difference between these names did not exist in the written text until the Masoretes added their pronunciation symbols.
🔼Middin meaning
For a meaning of our name, all consulted sources go with the verb מדד (madad), to measure. NOBSE Study Bible Name List, somewhat creatively, reads Extensions. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has a conventional Measures. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate our name but does list it under the verb מדד (madad).