Ethanim

English

Alternative forms

• Etanim

Etymology

Borrowed from Hebrew איתנים.

Pronunciation

• enPR: ethʹ-a-nim

Proper noun

Ethanim

1. Synonym of Tishrei
   • 1537, Matthew's Bible‎^[4], page Lxxxi, column 2:

     And all the men of Iſrael aſſembled unto kynge Salomon to the feaſt that falleth in the moneth* Ethanim which is the ſeuenth moneth.

     * That is September.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 8:1–4:

     1 Then Solomon assembled the Elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chiefe of the fathers of the children of Israel, vnto king Solomon in Ierusalem, that they might bring vp the Arke of the Couenant of the Lord, out of the citie of Dauid, which is Zion.
     2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselues vnto king Solomon, at the feast, in the moneth Ethanim, which is the seuenth moneth.
     3 And all the Elders of Israel came, and the Priests tooke vp the Arke.
     4 And they brought vp the Arke of the Lord, and the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tabernacle, euen those did the Priests & the Leuites bring vp.

   • 1687, Increaſe Mather, “Againſt profane Chriſt-maſs-keeping.”, in A Testimony Against ſeveral Prophane and Superſtitious Customs, Now Practiſed by ſome in New England, The Evil whereof is evinced from the Holy Scriptures, and from the Writings both of Ancient and Modern Divines.‎^[5], London, →OCLC, pages 21–22:

     Moreover , the Feaſt of Tabernacles, which ſignified the Incarnation of Chriſt, was in the ſeventh moneth. Inaſmuch as the Paſſover typified Chriſts Death , he was crucified in that moneth. Why then may we not think ſince the Feaſt of Tabernacles typified his Nativity , he was in that moneth born? There were alſo ſeveral other Feſtivals in that moneth , which might fitly type the Good Tidings of great joy that ſhould be to all People by reaſon of Chriſts being born into the world at that ſeaſon af the Year. Llikewiſe in the ſame moneth was the Ark by Solomon brought into the Temple.
     From theſe conſiderations, ſome of the Jewiſh Rabbins (and Midraſh Ribba) have concluded that Meſſiah ſhoutd be born in Ethanim or Tiſri, h. e. in the 7th Moneth.

   • 1774, “ABIB”, in The Modern Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, or, Complete System of Literature‎^[6], page [7], column 2:

     Hence the month Abib, or Niſan, which before was the ſeventh month, was by God’s particular command to Moſes, reckoned the firſt month of the year; and that which had been called the firſt, was termed the ſeventh month. Hence the Chaldee paraphraſt on the I Kings, chap. viii. 3. ſays, the month Ethanim, which was called by the ancients the firſt, is now called the ſeventh.

   • 1862 September 26, “LOCAL INTELLIGENCE.; ROSH HASHONA. The Jewish New-Year.”, in The New York Times‎^[8], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on March 20, 2024, page 2‎^[9]:

     Fifty thousand of our fellow-citizens of Hebrew blood were yesterday, and are to-day, engaged in one of the most ancient and solemn observances of the Jewish Faith. Rosh Hashona, or the Head of the Year, comprises the first two days of Tisri, the seventh month of the Israelitish sacred year, or the first of the civil year. In the First Book of Kings, this great month is called Ethanim or Continually Flowing, from the fact that the autumn rains then began to fill the dried up beds of brooks and rivers and to overflow the parched levels of Judea. This latter is the more ancient name, deriving its origin from the patriarchal period preceding the captivity.

   • 1903 [4th century BCE], G. A. Cooke, “A and B. Kition.”, in A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions: Moabite, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Nabataean, Palmyrene, Jewish‎^[10], Clarendon Press, translation of original in Phoenician, →OCLC, page 66:

     Total (?) for the month Ethanim. ² On the new-moon of the month Ethanim:——³ To the gods of the new-moon QP’ 2.

     אתנם The month of steady flowings, the 7th month, Oct.-Nov.; cf. 30 4, 1 K. 8 2 יֶרַח הָאֵתָנִים. Like the name of the month bul (5 1 n.), the name ethanim was prob. of Canaanite origin, and adopted by the Israelites from the Canaanite calendar: Benzinger Hebr. Arch. 201.

   • 1903 [363 BCE], G. A. Cooke, “Tamassos”, in A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions: Moabite, Hebrew, Phoenician, Aramaic, Nabataean, Palmyrene, Jewish‎^[11], Clarendon Press, translation of original in Phoenician, →OCLC, page 89:

     This statue (is that) which Menaḥem, son of Ben-ḥodesh, son of Menaḥem, son of ʽAraq, gave and set up to his lord Reshef of Eliyath, in the month Ethanim in the thirtieth year, 30, of king Milk-yathon, king of Kition and Idalion, because he heard (his) voice : may he bless!

   • 1968 [9th century CE], “The building of Solomon's Temple”, in William G. Braude, transl., Pesikta Rabbati (Yale Judaica Series)‎^[12], volume XVIII, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, translation of original in Hebrew, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 125:

     They did not know it was God’s intention to bring the rejoicing at the completion of the Temple into the month in which Abraham was born, into the month of the Ethanim (1 Kings 8:2), which is Tishri. Why should the seventh month be described as of the Ethanim? To tell us that Tishri, [the seventh month], is the month of the birth of Abraham, who in the verse Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite³³ (Ps. 89:1) is referred to as Ethan, “the enduring rock.”³⁴

     34. According to one tradition, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—each “an enduring rock,” an Ethan—were born in the month of Tishri (see B.RH 11a). Hence Ethanim, the plural of Ethan. Tishri thus becomes “the month in which were born the Patriarchs, men [whose works] are as enduring as rocks.” According to another tradition, the Patriarchs were born in Nisan (ibid., and above in this Section).

   • 2010, David Miano, “Calendars”, in Shadow on the Steps: Time Measurement in Ancient Israel‎^[13], number 64, Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 38:

     For example, it is stated that, in Solomon's reign, the ark of the covenant was brought to the temple in the month of Ethanim, and then it is added that this was the seventh month (1 Kgs 8:2). However, it would be a mistake to conclude that in Solomon's time, Ethanim was, in fact, the seventh month according to the calendar then in use. The historian apparently needed to add a gloss (marked off by the independent pronoun הוא) explaining to his readers that Ethanim corresponded to month seven because they were not familiar with the old month names. All we can say for sure is that in the editor’s time, Ethanim corresponded to the seventh month.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Ethanim.

Usage notes

Under the influence of literal reading of 1 Kings 8:2, in modern usage, the term Ethanim is closely associated with Tishrei. However, the potential meaning of Ethanim in translations of pre-modern texts can be understood as somewhat obscure. The comment within 1 Kings 8:2 associating Ethanim with the seventh month is generally accepted to be a scribal gloss. Note that the mention of Ethanim does not appear in the parallel version of 1 Kings 8:2 found in 2 Chronicles 5:3.

Translations

Translations

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: please add this translation if you can

  Mandarin: 以他念月

• Hebrew: איתנים m
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can

See also

• Ethan

Further reading

• “Ethanim”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• Ethanim, Etanim, Athanin at Google Ngram Viewer
• “Ethanim”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Ethanim”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.