🔼The name Pinon: Summary
- Meaning
- Pivot, or Tuned In: i.e. Alert
- Etymology
- From the verb פנן (panan), to turn or turn to.
🔼The name Pinon in the Bible
The name Pinon occurs twice in the Bible, but only in one context: chief Pinon is listed as one of the chiefs of Edom (Genesis 36:41, 1 Chronicles 1:52). Nothing further is known about this person.
Note the close similarity with the name Punon (פונן) and even the first part of the name Phinehas (פינחס). Our name may even have to do with the name Phoenicia, as Edom is often associated with Latin Europe, and the royalty of Rome was considered founded by Trojan survivors or the Trojan War (see our article on Aeneas).
🔼Etymology of the name Pinon
The name Pinon appears to relate to the verb פנן (panan), which means to turn or to produce a corner (or even to be a corner stone):
פנה
The verb פנה (pana) means to turn toward. This verb's primary derivative is the plural noun פנים (panim), which literally means turnings or inclinations, but which is the common Biblical word for "face", and may also refer to anything's obvious front-end or visible surface, or anyone's scope, sight or attention.
This plural noun פנים (panim) is often used to describe someone's presence, in the sense that being out of someone's presence also means being out of their mind or scope or attention. This word occurs in the Bible's familiar idiom "the face of God", which describes God's presence or rather (as he is omnipresent) his immediate attention or interest. The very common compound לפני (lipne) means "in the face of ...", "in the presence of ..." or simply "before ...".
Adverb פנימה (penima) means toward the inside. Adjective פנימי (penimi) means inner. Noun פנה (pinna) means corner, and is commonly used to describe where a wall makes a turn. This noun is thought to have derived from a by-form or parental form of the verb פנה (pana), namely פנן (panan), of similar meaning.
A second derivation of this form is the plural noun פנינים (peninim), which describes a red coral, probably with swirling branches or otherwise corrugated structure. The noun אופן ('opan) describes a wheel of a chariot or a threshing device. Most notably, wheels are a significant feature of the throne of God.
🔼Pinon meaning
It's not immediately clear what Pinon's name was mean to represent, but quite possible his stature of (what in English would translate as) a pillar of society: someone society leans on or even turns upon or rotates around: Pivot. Or perhaps his name reflected his great attention in the sense that he was wise and unusually well informed: Tuned In or Alert.
For a meaning of the name Pinon, NOBSE Study Bible Name List goes with a rather inexplicable Darkness, but perhaps in pursuit of a similar avenue as the one favored by Alfred Jones'. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names blatantly equates the names Pinon and Punon and derives both from the enigmatic adverb אפונה ('apuna), which occurs only once in Psalm 88:15 and means something like "in turbulent disarray" or "in threshed turmoil". It's closely related to the much more common noun אופן ('opan), meaning wheel. Jones translates both names with Distraction, which is rather unwarranted since his chosen word typically does not convey distraction but rather a close focus on a wild array of things that require one's attention. BDB Theological Dictionary interprets neither name.