Hagarites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An ancient nomadic tribe east of Gilead that claimed descent from Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible
2. A people of the ancient region east of the Jordan, traditionally regarded as descendants of Hagar and often named alongside other desert tribes in the Old Testament
3. Members of a desert tribe in biblical Transjordan who traced their lineage to Hagar, the Egyptian servant of Abraham

Etymology: Hagarites were, in the Hebrew Bible, a people named after Hagar, the Egyptian servant of Abraham and mother of his son Ishmael. The name appears in the Psalms and in 1 Chronicles as a label for desert tribes living east of the Jordan, and it carries the sense of Hagar's descendants, a line traced through her rather than through Sarah. The English word is simply the plural of "Hagarite," a noun formed by adding the suffix "-ite" (indicating a follower or descendant of a named person or place) to the name Hagar. Its form therefore tells you the whole story: a people defined by their ancestress, and a term that exists only because a biblical name was turned into a tribal label.