Ga'tam

געתם


Genesis 36:11 names him as a son of Eli-Phaz, Esav's son by Adah.

Is the Ayin (ע) a misreading or an interpolation? Without it we would have a reference to the city of Gat (גת) of the Pelishtim, where Gol-Yat (Goliath) was born. A Gat was a wine-press, and various towns take their name from it: Gat-Rimmon, Gat-Chepher etc. Otherwise it is a most unusual name! 

Lingo'a (לנגוע) means "to touch", whence Gat'am could mean "their touch", except that it would require another letter before the Gimmel (ג). This is written as Ga'tam, not Gat'am, which makes it more likely that the root is Gey (גי) = valley (as in Gey Hinnom), but then it would be pronounced Geytam - and who can say that it wasn't?




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