🔼The name Azmon: Summary
- Meaning
- Strong, Bone, Well Structured
- Etymology
- From the verb עצם ('asam), to have a skeleton.
🔼The name Azmon in the Bible
Azmon is a place of little consequence in the south of Canaan except that there the border of the territory of Israel makes a turn (Numbers 34:5). After the conquest, Azmon would mark the border of the land of Judah (Joshua 15:4).
🔼Etymology of the name Azmon
The name Azmon comes from the verb עצם ('asam), to have a skeleton:
עצם
Verb עצם ('asam) speaks of a skeletal structure that (a) lies hidden beneath an obvious surface, and (b) provides the invisible inner strength that keeps the whole in shape. Noun עצם ('osem) means might or skeleton. Noun עצמה ('osma) means strength. Noun עצם ('esem) means bone but may also be used to refer to one's whole body. Adjective עצום ('asum) means mighty or numerous. Noun תעצמה (ta'asuma) is a plural and intensive form meaning might but a whole lot of it.
Our verb may also mean to shut or close, predominantly of eyes, and presumably in order to review one's inner mental structures. Noun עצמות ('asumot) appears to refer to the "bones" of one's reason, the certainties upon which all creativities are grafted.
עצה
Like the previous, the verb עצה ('asa) also means to shut and its sole Biblical occurrence also speaks of closing one's eyes in order to hatch plans in one's heart: to review or form one's inner and structural strength. The very common noun עץ ('es) means tree (whose fruits proverbially show its "heart"). Collectively, trees are known as עצה ('esa). The similar noun עצה ('aseh) describes the backbone of an animal.
Obviously, the Bible is not concerned with the history of political power and solely with the evolution of the wisdom tradition and thus information technology (from cave paintings to the alphabet to blockchain). That means that very few references to wood and trees in the Bible — from the trees of Paradise to Noah's ark, Abraham's oaks, the cedars of Tyre and even the cross of Christ — should be expected to actually be about trees.
עוצ
Probably a by-form of the previous, the verb עוץ ('us) means to counsel or regard with deep inner contemplation.
🔼Azmon meaning
It's pretty safe to say that the name Azmon has to do with a meaning of strong or mighty. The waw-nun extension localizes or personifies the root, so Azmon probably means Strong One or Mighty One. Both NOBSE Study Bible Name List and Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names read Strong.