Benjamin

Meanings

Proper Noun

• The youngest of the sons of Jacob and Rachel in the Bible.
• A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
• small city, county seat Knox County (county) Texas (state) USA (country).

Noun

• A US$100 bill, which bears a portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Often used in the plural form to indicate large sums of money.

Related

Similar words

• Franklin

Origin

• From Late Latin Benjamin, from Ancient Greek Βενιαμίν, from Ancient Hebrew בִּנְיָמִין. Authorities differ on the meaning of the original Hebrew. Philo of Alexandria, the Samaritan Pentateuch The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and Midrash Leḳaḥ-Ṭob understand יָמִין to mean "days" (a meaning attested in Daniel 12:13) understanding the name to mean "son of days (i.e. old age)" (compare to the direct translations into Arabic بِنْ يَومِين (bin yawmīn) "son of the days" and Arabic بِنْ يَمِين "son of the right hand"), a formula paraphrased in Genesis 40:22 where Benjamin is described as a child of Jacob's old age. Rashi in his commentary on Genesis also gives this as a possible meaning but favors an understanding of יָמִין to mean "right" in the sense of "the south", noting that Benjamin was the only son of Jacob born in the south. Jerome understood the name to mean "son of the right hand" and Gesenius speculated that this expression might have meant "son of good fortune".