Thoughts about Ivtzan and Tanachic name-meanings in general

 One of the names that has long puzzled me is Ivtzan. You know, short-time judge from the Book of Shoftim, comes from Beit Lechem. According to the gemara, Ivtzan was Boaz. But that's another story. Perhaps worthy of a post around Shavuot-time.

I first began pondering Ivtzan's name around the summer of my fifth year in Yeshiva. For a while I thought it might come from the mineral name Avatz (אבץ) - zinc, but I couldn't find any evidence that Avatz is an old word. Also, why name a person after zinc?

A few months ago, I noticed that there was a place in Israel called Tevetz (תבץ). That still doesn't explain the etymology, but it is a plausible direction. It would work with multiple other names of people that are merely taken from place-names; evidence of early Zionism.

However, a couple of weeks ago, while reading Ben-Tzion Luria's Shaul and Binyamin, I came across a paragraph where he pointed out that the meaning of Gilad comes from the treaty between Yaakov and Lavan: Gal-ed. I realized then, that I know next to nothing about the ways in which people of Biblical times tilted words to turn them into names. Take the name Nechemaiah. It comes from Nacham or Nichem and the name of Hashem. Well, why isn't the name Nachamaiah or Nichemaiah? *Giant shrug* I don't know, it just is. Names somehow evolve that way. I expect, though, that the ancients had some sort of system. Based on Luria's Gilad-Galed idea, I thought this could be brought as evidence for Ivtzan and another name: Pinchas.

It's long been thought that Pinchas comes from Panches, Black in Egyptian, as in the place-name Takhpanches. Same vowelization tilt of the word: from Pan-ches to Pin-chas. From Gal-ed to Gil-ad. Likewise, Ivtzan: From Av-tzen to Iv-tzan.

Okay, so what does Av-tzen (אב-צן) mean?

In my opinion, it comes from Av (אב) - father, and Tzina (צנה) - shield. Or in other words, Father of shield. This works exceptionally well with the drashic explanation (that I can't recall right now where I saw) that "Beit Lechem" comes from "Lechima" - "combat", and not bread, which, ding-dong, is where Ivtzan was said to have come from.

(apparently, this is what a Canaanite warrior looks like)


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