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Meaning and etymology of the Hebrew name Elkanah




Elkanah Elkanah


The name Elkanah occurs ten times in the Bible. Most famous is Elkanah the father of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1). Other Elkanahs are a son of Korah (Exodus 6:24), a son of Kohath (1 Chronicles 6:23) and his own son (1 Chronicles 6:27), a mighty man of David (1 Chronicles 12:6), two Kohathite musicians (1 Chronicles 6:34 & 36), a Levite who returned from the Babylonian exile (1 Chronicles 9:16), an unfortunate officer under king Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:7), and a gatekeeper of the ark (1 Chronicles 15:23).

The name Elkanah consists of two parts:

The first part is el (El), the common abbreviation of Elohim, the genus God.

The second part comes from the verb qana (qana) meaning get, acquire, create (for a closer look at this verb, please see the name Cain). Derivatives of qana are wealth, cattle, purchase.

For a meaning of the name Elkanah, NOBS Study Bible Name List reads God Has Possessed. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names reads God Has Redeemed, and submits a lengthy defence on why the name Elkana cannot mean God Has Created because the verb qana never means to create.
BDB Theological Dictionary is not impressed with Jones and renders God Has Created or God Has Taken Possession.






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