🔼The name Ibri: Summary
- Meaning
- One Who Transits, A Hebrew
- Etymology
- From the verb עבר ('abar), to pass over.
🔼The name Ibri in the Bible
The name Ibri occurs only once in the Bible. He is mentioned as a son of Jaaziah of Merari of Levi (1 Chronicles 24:27).
🔼Etymology of the name Ibri
The name Ibri is spelled and pronounced the same as the Biblical word for Hebrew. Both come from the verb עבר ('abar), meaning to pass over:
עבר
The important verb עבר ('abar) means to pass or cross over (a river, border, obstacle or terrain). The derived noun עבר ('eber) describes what or where you end up when you do the verb: the other side or region beyond.
🔼Ibri meaning
The name Ibri means exactly the same thing as the ethnonym Hebrew: One Who Transits. Alfred Jones (Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names) makes a giant additional leap and assumes that Ibri was named such because he was born "across the river". What river that might be Jones doesn't disclose, but for Ibri Jones reads Beyond At The River.
NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads the rather odd A Hebrew, which is technically true, but the opposite is truer: Ibri was not named after the Hebrew, but the Hebrew was named after the meaning of the name Ibri. BDB Theological Dictionary does not translate this name but does confirm that it is identical to the word for Hebrew.
Another ethnonym that is used as a personal name is Cushi.