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תַּתְּנַי

𐤕𐤕𐤍𐤉

Tatenay

H8674 noun

SILEX Entry

Root uncertain uncertain; derives from personal name of foreign origin

Definition

Tattenai; proper name designating a Persian official, specifically the governor (peḥâ) of the province 'Beyond the River' (Eber-Nahar) west of the Euphrates during the reign of Darius I. The name appears exclusively as a personal name in the context of administrative correspondence concerning the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem under Persian rule.

Semantic Range

proper name of a Persian official, Tattenai; governor of Trans-Euphrates in Persian period; never used generically, designation of a specific individual in historical narrative

Root / Etymology

Etymology uncertain. The form תַּתְּנַי does not correspond to any securely-attested Hebrew root and is generally regarded as being of foreign (Persian or possibly Akkadian) origin. No plausible Hebrew derivation has been identified for the name.

Historical & Contextual Notes

The name תַּתְּנַי occurs only in the Book of Ezra (Ezra 5:3, 5:6, 6:6, 6:13) as the title of a Persian-appointed governor who oversaw the region of 'Beyond the River', which included the territory of the former kingdoms of Israel and Judah during the Achaemenid (Persian) period. Tattenai’s role is bureaucratic and administrative, not religious or ethnic. His engagement with the returning Judahites (Judeans) and the rebuilding of the Jerusalem Temple occurs in the context of enforcing imperial edicts and legal process. There is no evidence to suggest that Tattenai himself was an Israelite or Judahite, nor are there equivalent Hebrew forms or derived meanings. The English rendering 'Tattenai' follows the approximate consonantal value, but the underlying name reflects the multicultural and multilingual administrative environment of the Persian Empire. In post-biblical and translation traditions, Tattenai sometimes appears as a generic 'governor', but in the Hebrew context, it is strictly a proper noun. The use of the word is chronologically restricted to the Persian period of the biblical narrative.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

of foreign derivation; Tattenai, a Persian; Tatnai.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

— (—) — uncertain; foreign personal name

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H116 אֱדַיִן then
H133 אַדְמָתָא Admatha
H175 אַהֲרוֹן and in Aharon
H1834 דַּמֶּשֶׂק Damascus
H1867 דָּֽרְיָוֵשׁ Darius

Word Forms

1 distinct form

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H8674-01 תַּ֠תְּנַי tatenay ANp Tattenai Tattenai 4

Occurrences in Scripture

4 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H8674-01 Ezra 5:3 תַּ֠תְּנַי tatenay ANp Tattenai Tattenai
H8674-01 Ezra 5:6 תַּתְּנַ֣י tatenay ANp Tattenai Tattenai
H8674-01 Ezra 6:6 תַּ֠תְּנַי tatenay ANp Tattenai Tattenai
H8674-01 Ezra 6:13 תַּתְּנַ֞י tatenay ANp Tattenai Tattenai
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