Simeon (/ˈsɪmiən/) is a given name, from the Hebrew שמעון (
BiblicalŠimʿon,
TiberianŠimʿôn), usually transliterated as Shimon. In Greek, it is written Συμεών, hence the Latinized spelling Symeon. It is a cognate of the name
Simon
Meaning
The name is derived from
Simeon, son of
Jacob and
Leah, patriarch of the
Tribe of Simeon. The text of
Genesis (29:33) argues that the name of Simeon refers to Leah's belief that
God had heard that she was hated by Jacob, in the sense of not being as favoured as
Rachel.
כִּי־שָׁמַע יְהוָה כִּי־שְׂנוּאָה אָנֹכִי וַיִּתֶּן־לִי גַּם־אֶת־זֶה וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמֹו שִׁמְעֹון׃
Because the LORD had heard that I was hated, he had therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.
Implying a derivation from the
Hebrew term shama on, meaning "he has heard"; this is a similar etymology as the Torah gives for the theophoric name Ishmael ("God has heard"; Genesis 16:11), on the basis of which it has been argued that the tribe of Simeon may originally have been an
Ishmaelite group (Cheyne and Black, Encyclopaedia Biblica). Alternatively, Hitzig, W. R. Smith, Stade, and Kerber compared שִׁמְעוֹן Šīmə‘ōn to Arabic سِمع simˤ "the offspring of the hyena and the female wolf"; as supports, Smith points to Arabic tribal names Simˤ "a subdivision of the defenders (the
Medinites)" and Samˤān "a subdivision of
Tamim".[1]
In
classical rabbinical sources, the name is sometimes interpreted as meaning "he who listens [to the words of God]" (
Genesis Rabbah 61:4), and at other times thought to derive from sham 'in, meaning "there is sin", which is argued to be a prophetic reference to
Zimri's sexual miscegenation with a
Midianite woman, a type of relationship which rabbinical sources regard as sinful (Jewish Encyclopedia).
This page or section lists people that share the same
given name. If an
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References
^Encyclopædia Biblica: Q to Z, edited by Thomas Kelly Chase.
p. 4531