Submitted Name Revision History

There's only one Seba in the Bible, and he's a son of Cush, son of Ham, son of Noah (Genesis 10:7).

There seems to be something secretive about this name. Neither BDB Theological Dictionary nor NOBS Study Bible Name List dare to even hint at an interpretation. Jones' Dictionary of Old Testament Proper Names ignores any Hebrew words that may have to do with the name Seba and goes after an Arabic cognate and concludes Eminent.

Perhaps that's what the name Seba meant to those who made it up, but to a Hebrew audience the name Seba sounded very clearly like it came from the verb Seba (saba), meaning to imbibe, even "heavy drinking" according to HAW Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 21:20, Isaiah 56:12, Nahum 1:10).

The two derivatives of this verb are Seba (sobe 1455a), meaning a drink (of an alcoholic beverage), and Seba (saba), meaning drunkard (Ezekiel 23:42). The King James Version actually invented a people here, the Sabeans, but later scholars assume that a meaning of drunkards is probably what was intended.

The name Seba means He Drank Wine, according to Klein's Etymological Dictionary of the Hebrew Language.