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Absalom (name)

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For other uses, see Absalom (disambiguation).
Absalom
Pronunciation/ˈæbsələm/ AB-sə-ləm
Gendermasculine
Language(s)Hebrew
Origin
Meaning"father of peace"
Other names
See alsoAxel

Absalom (Hebrew: אַבְשָלוֹם, Modern: ʼAvšalōm, Tiberian: ʼAḇšālōm, "father of peace"; Biblical Greek: Αβεσσαλωμ) is a masculine first name from the Old Testament, where Absalom is a son of King David.[1]

The variant Avishalom (Hebrew: אֲבּישָׁלוֹם, Modern: ʼAvīšalōm, Tiberian: ʼĂḇīšālōm, "my father is peace") is used as the name of the father-in-law of Rehoboam in 1 Kings (15:2,10), who in 2 Chronicles 11:20,21 is referred to by the shorter form Avshalom.[2] The modern Scandinavian first name, Axel, has developed (via Axelen) from Absalon, a 12th-century Danish archbishop and statesman.[3] The variant Absolon is a German surname.

The name was also used in medieval England (variants Absolon, Apsolon, and Abselon). As in the biblical story, as Absalom was pursuing his father, King David, in the forest of Ephraim and had his long hair caught in a tree, the name appears to have been a nickname for a man with long or thick hair, as suggested by a passage in the Canterbury Tales,

Now was ther of that Chirche a parish clerk, The which that was ycleped Absolon ... Curl was his heer and as the gold it shoon.

— "The Miller's Tale"

This use as a nickname is possibly also the origin of Absalom as an English surname.[4][unreliable source?] The name Absalom continued to be used in English Protestantism in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Hebrew name was used among Palestinian Jews in the 19th to early 20th centuries and remains current in Israel; it is mostly anglicized as Avshalom, reflecting Modern Hebrew pronunciation.

First name

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Absalom
Absalon/Absolon
Avishalom/Avshalom

Surname

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Absalom
Origin
Region of originEngland
Other names
Variant form(s)Asplen, Aspling, Ashplant; Absolon

"Absalom" is a rare English surname, recorded as early as the 13th century. It derives from the first name Absalom, which became popular in England in the 12th century. The surname remained rare throughout its existence, but it gave rise to a number of variants, such as Asplen, and via the latter, Aspling and Ashplant.[5]

The variant Absolon is found in England as well as in France and Germany, reaching Central Europe in the late medieval period, so that Absolon (feminine Absolonová) is now also a Czech and Slovak surname.

Absalom
Absolon

References

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  1. ^ Hanks, P. (2003). Dictionary of American Family Names: 3-Volume Set. Oxford University Press, USA. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-19-508137-4. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  2. ^ See Strong's Concordance H53.
  3. ^ "Danish names". behindthename.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-18.
  4. ^ via a patronymic; one Absolon filius Apsolon is recorded in the Feet of Fines for Cambridgeshire in 1199, one Stephen Abselon is mentioned in the Curia Regis Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1208, and one Thomas Absolom is mentioned in the Calendar of Letter Books for the City of London in 1281. Name Origin Research www.surnamedb.com
  5. ^ David Hey, Family Names and Family History, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006, p. 65.

See also

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