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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Kedar


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Kedar Kedar

Kedar is one of the twelve sons of Ishmael. Kedar is most notably mentioned by the bride of the Song of Solomon, where she compares her blackness to the tents of Kedar (1:5). Kedar also features prominently in the Abrahamic Standard Model of Elementary Particles.

The name Kedar comes from the verb qadar (qadar 1989), be dark, whether of appearance or of mood (Mi 3:6, Jer 4:28). TWOTOT notes that there are many more verbs that deal with darkness, blackness and growing dim, but that this verb carries a clear overtone of mourning (Joel 2:10), which makes Song 4:7 all the more beautiful (while it should probably also be stressed that the bride is not sad that she is black, but rather ashamed of the fact that she has to slave in the field, and that she is not as pretty as she might have been if the sun hadn't burned her skin). This verb is often used in connection with the end times, when the sun will grow dark and people will mourn (Isa 13:10, Zeph 1:15).

Derivatives of this verb are qadrut (qadrut 1989a), darkness, only used in Isa 50:3, and qadar (qedorannit 1989b), mourners, only used in Mal 3:14.

Jones suggests that Kedar and the Kedarenians (who are referred to but not mentioned as such in the Bible) are Negroid. BDB offers that perhaps only their tents were black. Besides the bride of the Song, also David mentions the tents of Kedar as a figure of gloom (Ps 120:5).

A related name is Kidron.


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