🔼The name Yaudi: Summary
- Meaning
- Praising, Let Him Be Praised
- Etymology
- From the verb ידה (yada), to praise.
🔼The name Yaudi in the Bible
It's not clear whether Yaudi is actually a Biblical name, or rather: why those who think it is actually do so. According to only the New International Version (NIV), the name Yaudi occurs in 2 Kings 14:28, where the author states that all the acts of king Jeroboam — including his efforts to recover for Israel the cities Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Yaudi — were written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
Other translations note that (a) no metropolis-owning Yaudi is ever mentioned anywhere else in the Bible, and (b) the name Yaudi is identical, in both spelling and Masoretic pronunciation, to the name Judah.
The whole phrase goes like this: ליהודה בישראל (l'yehuda b'israel), which means [Jeroboam recovered the cities] for Judah in Israel. Why the NIV speaks of a Yaudi here must remain a mystery.
🔼Etymology of the name Yaudi
The name Yaudi, like Judah, comes from the verb ידה (yada), meaning to praise:
הוד ידה
The related verbs ידה (yada), to praise, and הוד (hod), to be worthy of praise, conjugate into such similar forms that it's often not clear which verb in which tense is used. From the verb ידה (yada), to praise, come:
- The plural noun הידות (huyyedot), meaning songs of praise.
- The noun תודה (toda), meaning confession or praise.
From the verb הוד (hod), meaning to be praise-worthy, comes the noun הוד (hod), meaning splendor, majesty, vigor, glory or honor.
🔼Yaudi meaning
There's much more to this name than simply Praising, but see our article on the name Judah for more details. None of the sources we usually consult acknowledges the name Yaudi, but NOBSE Study Bible Name List translates Judah with Let Him (God) Be Praised. Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) proposes Praised. BDB Theological Dictionary appears to deem the name Judah inexplicable and lists it alphabetically, not under the verb ידה (yada).