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In regards to your reference above to the name RUTH & it's meaning as "friend"??
Not that, that isn't the meaning you found, BUT in common usage Ruth means compassionate or to show compassion or mercy.

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A little background to understand the usage:
In biblical reference, Ruth is compassionate to her mother-in-law, Naomi, a widow & who's 2 sons have also died, one being Ruth's own husband & the above also listed name "Orpha" being the wife of her other dead son; Ruth's sister-in-law.
Naomi, an impoverished widow living in Moab, no longer has anything to offer her much loved daughters-in-law & gives her blessing for them to each return to their families. Both of the women also have much love for Naomi & don't want to leave her, but eventual Orpha is convinced to return o her family home; which is how her name means "nape of the neck" or to "turn your back", although this was not done with malice, it was with sorrow.
On the other hand, Ruth would not leave Naomi & when her mother in law decided to return to her home land of Bethlehem, Ruth follows her to care for her & to See after her safety.
The name Naomi, does mean pleasant, and receives that definition also from the Bible story due to the description of Naomi's demeanor. But after the deaths of her husband & sons, he requests that she no longer be called Naomi, but instead Mara, which means "bitter", because as a Hebrew woman, she is bitter with God for her losses & new circumstance.
By the way, Ruth is not Hebrew, nor is her name. This is a misconception. Ruth & Orpha are Moab women, descendants of Lot, who also turned his back on his Uncle Abraham.

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