🔼The name Tahrea: Summary
- Meaning
- Unclear, but perhaps Very Clever
- Etymology
- Unclear, but possibly from the verb חרע (hr'), to discern or be clever.
🔼The name Tahrea in the Bible
The name Tahrea or Tarea belongs to one of four sons of Micah, the son of Merib-baal, the son of Jonathan, the son of king Saul. For some unknown reason, the Chronicler lists this genealogy twice, in close succession, but speaks of תארע (Tarea) in 1 Chronicles 8:35 and of תחרע in 1 Chronicles 9:41.
There are a great many of these discrepancies, both within Chronicles and in relation to other books, but it has yet to be explained satisfactorily what the Chronicler is trying to convey with them.
🔼Etymology of the name Tahrea
It's not clear where the name Tahrea of Tarea comes from, or even if they are simply different spellings of the same name or else two completely different names; the letters ח (heth) and א ('aleph) don't normally alternate. The letter ת (taw) frequently serves as a prefix (roughly as an intensifier), so that leaves the roots ארע ('r') and חרע (hr') — unfortunately, neither occurs in the Hebrew of the Bible. Assumed root חרע (hr'), however, may occur in Aramaic, with the meaning of to be clever or shrewd, and in Arabic as to split or invent (as BDB Theological Dictionary generously offers).
Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) thinks our name is a compound, namely of an expression of the verb אחר ('ahar), meaning to tarry of delay (see the name Aher), and the noun רע (rea'), meaning noise, but this seems a bit contrived (also because the form רע may mean several things, including evil, friend, aim or purpose).
🔼Tahrea meaning
For a meaning of the names Tahrea and Tarea, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads an inexplicable Flight and Alfred Jones suggests a rather creative Delaying Cries, "i.e. a son slowly born".
BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't offer an interpretation of our name(s), but following the hints would lead to Very Shrewd or Totally Original.