🔼The name Emek-keziz: Summary
- Meaning
- Remote Valley, Severed Depth
- Etymology
- From (1) verb עמק ('amoq), to be deep or hidden, and (2) the verb קצץ (qasas), to cut off.
🔼The name Emek-keziz in the Bible
The name Emek-keziz (or simply Keziz as the King James and the Young Translation have) occurs only once in the Bible. It's the name of one of the cities of Benjamin (Joshua 18:21).
🔼Etymology of the name Emek-keziz
The name Emek-keziz consists of two elements. The first part is the noun עמק ('emeq), meaning valley (which prompts some interpreters to translate it and not consider it part of the name):
עמק
The verb עמק ('amoq) means to be deep or hidden. Noun עמק ('emeq) means valley and noun עמק ('omeq) means depth. Adjectives עמק ('ameq) and עמק ('amoq) mean deep, hidden or unintelligible. Plural noun מעמקים (ma'amaqqim) refers to scary depths.
The second part of our name comes from the root קצץ (qasas), meaning to cut off:
קצץ
The verb קצץ (qasas) means to remove by cutting off. Noun קץ (qes) means end. Adjective קיצון (qison) means outermost or at the end.
The verb קצה (qasa) also means to cut off. Nouns קצה (qaseh), קצה (qasa), קצה (qeseh), קצו (qasu), קצת (qesat) all mean end. Sometimes these words indicate a mere corner (the "end" of a wall), and sometimes a combination of them convey an "end to end" or "whole" of something.
The noun קצון (qasin) describes the position of a man who has the authority to rule or make decisions: an end-maker, so to speak.
Verb קצע (qasa') means to scrape or scrape off. Noun קציעה (qesi'a) describes cassia, a kind of sweet smelling cinnamon powder, harvested by scraping it off from trees. Noun מקצעה (maqsu'a) denotes a scraping tool.
Perhaps a second verb קצע (qasa') appears to means to be cornered or to be set in corners. Noun מקצע (miqsoa') describes a corner structure.
🔼Emek-keziz meaning
For a meaning of the name Emek-keziz, NOBSE Study Bible Name List reads a rather incomplete Cut Off. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names proposes Vale Of Cuttings Off. BDB Theological Dictionary lists the keziz-part under the root קצץ (qasas) but adds a question mark to state that the formal etymology is unclear. A Hebrew audience would have not bothered with formalities and readily linked it to the meaning of cutting off.