View Message

Barzillai
I started reading “In the Heart of the Sea”, a book about a disastrous 19th c.whaling expedition where a boat was attacked by a whale and shipwrecked, it’s actually the inspiration for Moby Dick. Anyway one of the sailors (most of which were Nantucket quakers) was named Barzillai, an obscure Biblical name. I don’t really like it but thought it was interesting."We have met the enemy and he is us" Walt Kelly
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

Had to look up who Barzillai was in the Bible. He was a Gileadite that served under King David after the latter fled Jerusalem during a revolution set up by Absalom. He was given the opportunity to become part of his court, but he turned David down and went back home.Strange name; never heard it before until today.

This message was edited 5/21/2020, 8:20 PM

vote up1
I'd have guessed it was a surname. It's definitely interesting.It also reminds me of Barza (stork?), which probably is really random, but I've seen it in a song title before (A Stork Crosses The Danube In The Company Of A Raven / Barza nachlea a pai, arachlieape la Ciorai), so it looks vaguely Eastern European to me.

This message was edited 5/21/2020, 9:28 AM

vote up1
Coincidentally enough the book I mentioned in my Arion post also talks about In the Heart of the Sea. Barzillai wasn’t mentioned, though. It doesn’t read as a first name to me, it reads more as a surname, and if I did encounter it as a surname I’d think it was a pretty cool one. The meaning, “iron-hearted,” is great too. To use it as a first name I think you would have to be either very bold or very religious, or maybe both.
vote up1
I feel like it should be shouted while one is surfing or something or whenever one would yell, "Cowabunga!" "Barzillai!"
vote up1
Haha i Guess it sounds a bit like “banzai”
vote up1