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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Seir


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Seir Seir

Seir is originally the name of a Horite patriarch (Gen 36:20) who gave his name to the mountain where his people lived. Esau dispossessed them (or rather: God gave Seir to Esau; Deut 2:5, 12) and moved in. His family was already named Edom, so the two rapidly became synonymous. The later Seir covers the area south of the Dead Sea, east of the Negev.

The name Seir comes to us from other languages (probably Horite), but written in Hebrew it looks like it has to do with the unused root sr (s'r 2274). Derivatives are: sr (se'ar 2274a), hair; saara (sa'ara 2274b), a single hair; sair (sa'ir 2274c), hairy; sr (sa'ar 2274), be very afraid (possibly: bristle with terror - TWOTOT ); sair (sa'ir 2274e), he-goat; saara (se'ora 2274f), barley;

Another verb, which is spelled exactly the same as root sr, is sr (sa'ar 2275), sweep away, whirl away. Derivatives are: sr (sa'ar 2275a) and saara (se'ara 2275b), both meaning storm.

These things considered, the name Seir must have instilled terror in the hearts of anyone who heard it. The Seirites were known as The Hairy Guys, Bucks, and Riders On The Storm. All the more reason to fear the Edomites, who kicked the original Seirites out.

But that's far from all.

In the Bible there seems to be a certain symbolic meaning to hair, something that is completely lost in modern languages and translations. Read our extensive study on hair in the Bible.


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