Replies
I think that at least two possibilities should be studied, regarding the name of Shutelah:
1. Four-consonantal roots are rare in Hebrew, and some of them are loanwords.
2. Since Shutelah is son/descendant of Ephraim, born in Egypt (and even Ephraim had an Egyptian mother), an Egyptian origin of the name should be searched for. There are a few Egyptian words from that period, like PINHAS (Phineas, „dark skinned”), SHA‘TNEZ (mixt stuff, „false woven”, Lev 19:19) etc.
3. It is also possible that the word SHUTELAH was originally the name of an animal not mentioned in the Bible. Some animals in Hebrew are called by four-consonantal words: ARNEBETH (hare), TAHMAS (ostrich?), TINSHEMETH (white owl; chameleon), ‘ATALEPH (bat), HARGOL (kind of locust), ‘AKBAR (jerboa).
1. Four-consonantal roots are rare in Hebrew, and some of them are loanwords.
2. Since Shutelah is son/descendant of Ephraim, born in Egypt (and even Ephraim had an Egyptian mother), an Egyptian origin of the name should be searched for. There are a few Egyptian words from that period, like PINHAS (Phineas, „dark skinned”), SHA‘TNEZ (mixt stuff, „false woven”, Lev 19:19) etc.
3. It is also possible that the word SHUTELAH was originally the name of an animal not mentioned in the Bible. Some animals in Hebrew are called by four-consonantal words: ARNEBETH (hare), TAHMAS (ostrich?), TINSHEMETH (white owl; chameleon), ‘ATALEPH (bat), HARGOL (kind of locust), ‘AKBAR (jerboa).