🔼The name Shamhuth in the Bible
The name Shamhuth occurs only once in the Bible. It belongs to Shamhuth the Izrahite, who was one of the twelve military commanders who cycled through the divisions of king David's army (1 Chronicles 27:8).
🔼Etymology of the name Shamhuth
It's unclear where the name Shamhuth comes from or how it is constructed. Scholars generally propose that this name is "probably" a corrupted form of the name שמות (Shammoth), but supply no argument or reason to actually accept this. But if it were, it would have been derived from the verb שמם (shamen), meaning to be desolate or appalled:
A Hebrew audience, however, would have likely objected to the unaccounted for letter ה (he) that sits in the middle of our name. A creative member of that audience might have even figured that the name Shamhuth consists of two distinct elements. The first one of these could be the noun שם (shem), meaning name or fame:
The second (hypothetical) part of our name could be taken from the verb הות (hut), meaning to shout at:
The name Shamhuth looks like it could mean Famous Shouter or Here's A Shout. But for a meaning of the name Shamhuth, NOBSE Study Bible Name List follows the way of least resistance and reads Desolation. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names, equally uninspired, proposes Deserts. BDB Theological Dictionary doesn't interpret our name but likewise assumes that it is the same as Shammoth.