Elizur

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A masculine first name of Hebrew origin meaning God is my rock, borne in the Bible by a leader of the tribe of Reuben
2. A male given name of Hebrew origin, also the name of a biblical man listed among the princes of the tribe of Reuben
3. Masculine personal name of Hebrew derivation, recorded in the Old Testament as the father of a tribal prince of Reuben

Etymology: Elizur is a name rather than a common word, and its history is set down in the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Numbers, Elizur son of Shedeur is the Reubenite leader chosen to help count the tribes in the wilderness, and the name is built from two Hebrew elements: "el", meaning God, and "tsur", meaning rock. Read together, they give the sense "God is my rock," a common pattern in Hebrew names of the period, where the divine element came first. The name has stayed in use in Jewish and Christian communities, and it passed into English-speaking use largely through the Bible, where Puritan-era readers often chose names drawn from the Old Testament. Its spelling in English follows the Hebrew closely, with the "tz" sound rendered as "z."