🔼The name Shalishah: Summary
- Meaning
- Three, A Third Part, Triangular
- Etymology
- From the noun שלש (shalosh), three.
🔼The name Shalishah in the Bible
The name Shalishah occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of one of the regions (that were named after towns) through which Saul son of Kish travelled while looking for his missing donkeys (1 Samuel 9:4). That journey brought Saul to Samuel the seer, who promptly proceeded to anoint Saul king over Israel (1 Samuel 10:1).
🔼Etymology of the name Shalishah
The name Shalishah appears to be drawn from the root שלש, having to do with the number three:
שלש
The noun שלש (shalosh) or שלוש (shalosh) or שלשה (shalosha) means three and is also the base for the words for thirteen, thirty, third, and so on. The number three may represent confirmation (of two witnesses), the smallest form of "many," i.e. a few or some, or the smallest possible cycle.
It's probably prudent to note that the contemporary idea of a Divine Triad or Trinity stems from the Roman Capitoline Triad and not in the least from anything remotely Biblical. Of course there are Father, Word and Spirit but they are one and not at all three, or five or a hundred. Nobody within the Jewish tradition associated God with any number other than one.
🔼Shalishah meaning
For a meaning of the name Shalishah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads A Third Part, and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names has Triangular.
BDB Theological Dictionary does not offer an interpretation of the name Shalishah but does list it under the root שלש.