🔼The name Naarath: Summary
- Meaning
- Young Woman
- Etymology
- From the verb נער (na'ar), to be young.
🔼The name Naarath in the Bible
Naarath is a town on the border between the territories of Ephraim to the north and Benjamin to the south (Joshua 16:7). This Naarath may be the same as נערן (Naaran) mentioned in 1 Chronicles 7:28.
🔼Etymology of the name Naarath
The name Naarath probably comes from the root נער (na'ar):
נער
The verb נער (na'ar) has three major nuances. Its core meaning is to be to be young, but it may also mean to growl and to shake or shake loose. Noun נער (na'ar) means a scattering and noun נערת (ne'oret) refers to a kind of plant-product that involved beating and scattering. These words occur just a few times in the Bible. Much more common are the words that have to do with being young.
Noun נער (na'ar) means young one or child of both sexes. The feminine version of this word, נערה (na'ara), commonly refers to a marriageable but unmarried young woman. Nouns נער (no'ar), נעורים (ne'urim) and נערות (ne'urot) mean youth or early life.
🔼Naarath meaning
The sources that we commonly use consider Naarath a variant (older) spelling of the name Naarah, and for a meaning of that name, NOBSE Study Bible Name List proposes Girl and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads Handmaid. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't offer a translation of the name Naarath but lists it under נער (n'r III).