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Re: Caleb
As far as I know, Caleb (in Hebrew Calev) would mean someone who does things with all his heart "kol" = all, "lev" = heart in Hebrew.
It could also mean the voice of the heart (kol also means "voice").Dog would be Kelev.


~~ Claire ~~
My ! are Alia, Eidel, Enola, Israel, Dudel, Yuri, Lina, Lorelei, Leilani, Owen, Julian, Glorinda, Mirinda
My ? are Hillel, Meshullam, Johnny, Ginny, Cordelia, Fiammetta, Yocheved
My ~ are Tehila, Tilda, Hailey, Gillian, Huldah
My / are Aglaia and July
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Replies

Never thought/heard of that.And I don't think it makes much sense because then the name would probably have a double L (ëììá?)
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No idea, it was in a Hebrew names book. Maybe it's wrong.
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Well, the interpretation of the sound of the heart is definitely wrong - sound/voice is spelled with a kuf ÷ and the name with a caf ë.And I checked, and Caleb doesn't even have a dagesh in the L - so there's no sign that the name Caleb was ever two words. Thus, this theory about it meaning "all the heart"/"sound of the heart" seems wrong.
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Again, it's fine to interpret the name for yourself this way if you want to. But in terms of historical etymology, you can't just look in a dictionary (of any language) and say that a name means the same thing as words it resembles, without having evidence that the name was created from those words at the time it was first used. Someone could look in an English dictionary and say that Ashton would mean "2,000 pounds of burnt wood", but that's NOT its historical etymology.
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Unfortunately, most Hebrew names have tons of interpretations that are all considered valid, and I am not a rabbi to decided which interpretation is valid according to tradition and which is not. Just do a search on a Jewish site.
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Well, frankly, I would not necessarily accept what a rabbi says about the original meaning of an ancient Hebrew name unless he or she was also an expert in ancient Semitic languages. And there are plenty of sites put up by Christians that spread nonsense about the origin of traditional Christian names, so just because a site is "Jewish" doesn't mean it's correct.
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I believe what the Talmud says on names. They probably had a better knowledge than us. I would also think a rabbi studied the Talmud, so I would believe him unless it sounded totally off (then I would ask for more details about how he got his information).
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LMAOThanks for the laugh!
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