Samuel
proper nouncommon in dialogue
- //ˈsæmjuːəl//
A male given name from Hebrew.
proper noun
- 1
A male given name from Hebrew.
I went down the dark road between the hawthorn hedges puzzling over the why of like, repeating SAMUEL to myself and aloud and listening to the rolling wonder in its sound that had charmed her soul and led her life in tragic places. SAMUEL! There was a rolling wonder in the sound. Aye, there was!
Samuel Storch, 55, lived in Miami and commuted by air to New York to operate two metalcraft factories with other members of his family.
- 2
One of two books of the Old Testament and the Hebrew Tanakh.
- 3
The primary author and central character of the first book of Samuel.
Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the LORD.
- 4
A surname.
Etymology
From Latin Samuēl, from Ancient Greek Σαμουήλ (Samouḗl), from Biblical Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmûʾēl, literally “'God has set' or 'God has placed'”). Taken to mean a contraction of popular folk etymology שְׁאִלְתִּיו מֵאֵל (“I have asked/borrowed him from God”) (Modern: Šəʾīltīv mēʾĒl, Tiberian: Šĭʾīltīw mēʾĒl) by way of שָׁאוּל מֵאֵל (“asked/borrowed from God”) from 1 Samuel 1:20.