Chemdan

חמדן


Genesis 36:26 names him as a son of Dishon in the genealogy of Esav.

1 Chronicles 1:41 gives Chamran (חַמְרָן), but this is almost certainly an error; many translations restore Chemdan, with or without a footnote (click here for the English Standard Version, which does, or here for more detail). The King James, which is the first link in this paragraph, does neither; it simply mis-reads Chamran as Am-Ram, and renders it as Amram! This may be excusable as an attempt to make sense of the Septuagint, whose version is even more remote from the Yehudit original (click here for the Greek): "The sons of Sonan, Daeson: and the sons of Daeson; Emeron, and Asebon, and Jethram, and Charran." I am afraid I do not know Greek, so I cannot help you unravel the original Septuagint text, except by sending you to ecmarsh.com's translation.

The name means "pleasant", from Chamad (חמד) = "to desire/delight", and is thus a synonym for Na'amah (נעמה) in Genesis 4:22, and Na'ami (נָעֳמִי), who is usually rendered as Naomi, in the Book of Rut (Ruth).

Chamudi is used in modern Ivrit to mean "darling".

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