Bible Word Study
אַרְוָדִי
ʼArvâdîy · an Arvadite or citizen of Arvad
אַרְוָדִי
an Arvadite or citizen of Arvad
Definition
An Arvadite is a citizen or inhabitant of Arvad, an ancient Phoenician island city-state. The term is used exclusively as a gentilic, identifying a person's origin from this specific location. In the biblical genealogies of Genesis 10:18 and 1 Chronicles 1:16, the Arvadites are listed among the descendants of Canaan, placing them within the Canaanite peoples. The word does not carry any additional metaphorical or extended meanings beyond this ethnic and geographic designation.
Biblical Usage
This word appears only twice in the Old Testament, both times in genealogical lists. It is used in Genesis 10:18 and its parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 1:16 to classify the Arvadites as one of the Canaanite tribes. The usage is purely descriptive and ethnogeographic, with no narrative or poetic context.
Etymology
The word אַרְוָדִי (ʼArvâdîy) is a patrial noun, derived directly from the place name אַרְוַד (ʼArvad, H719), meaning 'a place of fugitives' or 'wandering.' As a patrial, the suffix -ִי (-iy) denotes 'belonging to' or 'coming from,' thus forming 'one from Arvad.'
Semantic Range
Arvad (modern Ruad, Syria) was a significant island city and maritime power in ancient Phoenicia, known for its sailors and merchants. Being listed among the Canaanite tribes (Genesis 10:15-18) situates the Arvadites within the peoples whose land was promised to Israel. This places them in a context of both historical neighborly interaction and, later, divinely ordained conquest, reflecting the biblical theme of God apportioning territories to nations. צִידֹנִי (Tsîydônîy, H6722) — a citizen of Sidon, another major Phoenician city-state. כְּנַעֲנִי (Kᵉnaʻănîy, H3669) — a Canaanite, the broader ethnic grouping to which the Arvadites belonged.
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]