🔼The name Tikvah: Summary
- Meaning
- Hope
- Etymology
- From the verb קוה (qawa), to gather into strength, to hope.
🔼The name Tikvah in the Bible
There are two men named Tikvah in the Bible:
- The father-in-law of Huldah, the prophetess who dispensed the Lord's message concerning the book of the Law that was found during king Josiah's reorganization of the temple (2 Kings 22:14). In the parallel text of 2 Chronicles 34:22 this man is called Tokhath.
- The father of Jahzeiah, who was one of four men who opposed the horrible mass-divorce during the purge of Ezra (Ezra 10:15). Since the events described by Ezra take place a good century after the reign of king Josiah, these two Tikvahs are probably not the same person.
🔼Etymology of the name Tikvah
The name Tikvah is identical to the word תקוה (tiqwah), meaning hope, from the root קוה I:
קוה
The verb קוה (qawa) describes the act of combining a multiple of strands and coiling those into a single, much stronger cable. It is used to mean to gather or collect, but also in the sense of to hope or eagerly await.
Deriving from the strong cable-making sense, the nouns קו (qaw) and קוה (qow) mean line or measuring line. Noun תקוה (tiqwah) means cord. The exactly identical noun תקוה (tiqwah) means hope. Noun מקוה (miqweh) also means hope. Noun קוקו (qawqaw) means might or strength.
Deriving from the collecting sense, the noun מקוה (miqweh) means collection or collected mass. Noun מקוה (miqwa) means reservoir.
🔼Tikvah meaning
For a meaning of the name Tikvah, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads Hope. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, curiously, doesn't treat the name Tikvah. BDB Theological Dictionary does not interpret our name but does confirm that it is identical to the noun תקוה (tiqwah), meaning hope.