Bible Word Study
אֲחִישַׁחַר
ʼĂchîyshachar · Achishachar, an Israelite
אֲחִישַׁחַר
Achishachar, an Israelite
Definition
Achishachar is a proper name of an Israelite man, appearing only once in the Old Testament as a descendant of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 7:10). The name is a compound Hebrew word meaning 'brother of the dawn' or 'my brother is dawn.' As a personal name, it does not carry multiple senses or meanings beyond identifying this specific individual within a genealogical list. Its sole biblical function is to record lineage, contributing to the chronicle of the tribe of Benjamin.
Biblical Usage
This word is used exactly once in the entire Old Testament, in 1 Chronicles 7:10, within a genealogical list of the tribe of Benjamin. It functions solely as a personal name to identify an individual among the descendants of Benjamin's son, Jediael. There are no patterns of usage or different contextual meanings, as it appears only in this list.
Etymology
The name Achishachar is a compound of two Hebrew words: 'ach' (H251, אָח), meaning 'brother,' and 'shachar' (H7837, שַׁחַר), meaning 'dawn' or 'morning.' It is constructed as a personal name, likely with a poetic or symbolic meaning such as 'brother of the dawn.' This follows a common Hebrew naming convention where names are formed from nouns describing relationships or natural phenomena.
Semantic Range
In ancient Israelite culture, personal names often held significant meaning, reflecting circumstances of birth, parental hopes, or attributes of God. A name like 'Brother of the Dawn' may have carried poetic or symbolic resonance, possibly alluding to concepts of new beginnings, hope, or light. However, for this specific individual, no narrative or further cultural context is provided in Scripture beyond his placement in a genealogy. As a unique proper noun, Achishachar has no direct synonyms. Other Hebrew personal names are compounds with 'ach' (brother), such as: Achim (H313) — a shortened form; Achiman (H289) — 'brother of the right hand' or 'my brother is a gift.'
Word Details
How this works
Definitions are from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon (BDB, 1906, public domain). Concordance and morphology data are from the OSHB (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible).
Full methodology & sources →References
- Abbott-Smith, G. (1921) A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Brown, F., Driver, S.R. and Briggs, C.A. (1906) A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press. [Public Domain]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Tyndale Brief lexicon of Extended Strongs for Greek (TBESG). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Formatted full LSJ (TFLSJ). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
- Thayer, J.H. (1889) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. [Public Domain]
- Gesenius, W. (1846) Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament. [Public Domain]
- Dodson, J. (2010) Greek Lexicon. Biblical Humanities. [CC0]