Editing Benjamin (section)

==Name==
The name is first mentioned in letters from King [[Sîn-kāšid]] of [[Uruk]] (1801–1771 BC), who called himself “King of Amnanum” and was a member of the [[Amorite]] tribal group the “Binu-Jamina” (single name “Binjamin”; Akkadian {{Transliteration|akk|Mar-Jamin}}).<ref name=Dietz>[[Dietz Otto Edzard]]: ''Die Nomaden in der altbabylonischen Zeit'' In: [[Elena Cassin]], [[Jean Bottéro]], [[Jean Vercoutter]]: ''Die Altorientalischen Reiche I - Vom Paläolithikum bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr. -'', Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1965 (gleichnamige limitierte Sonderausgabe 2003), S. 170.</ref> The name means "Sons/Son of the South" and is linguistically related as a forerunner to the Old Testament name "Benjamin".

According to the [[Hebrew Bible]], Benjamin's name arose when Jacob deliberately changed the name "Benoni", the original name of Benjamin, since Benoni was an allusion to Rachel's dying just after she had given birth, as it means "son of my pain".<ref>Genesis 35:18</ref> Textual scholars regard these two names as fragments of naming narratives coming from different sources - one being the [[Jahwist]] and the other being the [[Elohist]].<ref>[[Richard Elliott Friedman]], ''Who wrote the Bible?''</ref>

Unusual for one of the [[12 tribes of Israel]], the Bible does not explain the  [[etymology]] of Benjamin's name. Medieval commentator [[Rashi]] gives two different explanations, based on [[Midrash]]ic sources. "Son of the south", with south derived from the word for the right hand side, referring to the birth of Benjamin in [[Canaan]], as compared with the birth of all the other sons of Jacob in [[Aram-Naharaim|Aram]].<ref name="Rashi">{{cite web| url = https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8230/jewish/Chapter-35.htm#showrashi=true| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090305023940/http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8230/jewish/Chapter-35.htm| archive-date = 2009-03-05| title = Genesis - Chapter 35 (Parshah Vayishlach) - Genesis - Torah - Bible}}</ref><ref name="bdmtze">''Jewish Encyclopedia''</ref>  Modern scholars have proposed that "son of the south" / "right" is a reference to the tribe being subordinate to the more dominant tribe of Ephraim.<ref name = "bdmtze"/> Alternatively, Rashi suggests it means "son of days", meaning a son born in Jacob's old age. The [[Samaritan Pentateuch]] consistently spells his name "בנימים", with a terminal [[mem]], ("Binyamim"), which could be translated literally as "spirit man" but is in line with the interpretation that the name was a reference to the advanced age of Jacob when Benjamin was born.<ref name = "bdmtze"/>

According to classical rabbinical sources, Benjamin was only born after [[Rachel]] had [[fasted]] for a long time, as a religious devotion with the hope of a new child as a reward. By then [[Jacob]] had become over 100 years old.<ref name = "bdmtze"/> Benjamin is treated as a young child in most of the Biblical narrative,<ref name = "bdmtze"/> but at one point is abruptly described as the father of ten sons.<ref name="xhbyqx">{{bibleverse||Genesis|46:21|HE}}</ref> Textual scholars believe that this is the result of the genealogical passage, in which his children are named, being from a much later source than the [[Jahwist]] and [[Elohist]] narratives, which make up most of the [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] narrative, and which consistently describe Benjamin as a child.<ref name = "bdmtze"/>

By allusion to the biblical Benjamin, in [[French language|French]], [[Polish language|Polish]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]], "Benjamin" ({{lang|fr|benjamin}}/ {{lang|pl|beniamin}} /{{lang|es|benjamín}}, respectively) is a common noun meaning the youngest child of a family, especially a particularly favoured one (with a similar connotation to "baby of the family").