Editing Simeon (section)

==Meaning==
The name is derived from [[Simeon (son of Jacob)|Simeon]], son of [[Jacob]] and [[Leah]], patriarch of the [[Tribe of Simeon]].  The text of  [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] (29:33) argues that the name of ''Simeon'' refers to Leah's belief that [[Tetragrammaton|God]] had heard that she was hated by Jacob, in the sense of not being as favoured as [[Rachel]].
{{poemquote|{{lang|he|כִּי־שָׁמַע יְהוָה כִּי־שְׂנוּאָה אָנֹכִי וַיִּתֶּן־לִי גַּם־אֶת־זֶה וַתִּקְרָא שְׁמֹו שִׁמְעֹון׃}}
Because the LORD had heard that I was hated, he had therefore given me this son also: and she called his name Simeon.}}
Implying a derivation from the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] term ''shama on'', meaning "he has heard"; this is a similar etymology as the Torah gives for the theophoric name ''[[Ishmael]]'' ("God has heard"; Genesis 16:11), on the basis of which it has been argued that the tribe of Simeon may originally have been an [[Ishmaelites|Ishmaelite]] group (Cheyne and Black, ''[[Encyclopaedia Biblica]]''). Alternatively, Hitzig, W. R. Smith, Stade, and Kerber compared שִׁמְעוֹן ''Šīmə‘ōn'' to Arabic سِمع ''simˤ'' "the offspring of the hyena and the female wolf"; as supports, Smith points to Arabic tribal names ''Simˤ'' "a subdivision of the defenders (the [[Medina|Medinites]])" and ''Samˤān'' "a subdivision of [[Banu Tamim|Tamim]]".<ref>''Encyclopædia Biblica: Q to Z'', edited by Thomas Kelly Chase. [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Hw_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA4531 p. 4531]</ref>

In [[classical rabbinical literature|classical rabbinical sources]], the name is sometimes interpreted as meaning "he who listens [to the words of God]" ([[Genesis Rabba]]h 61:4), and at other times thought to derive from ''sham 'in'', meaning "there is sin", which is argued to be a prophetic reference to [[Zimri (prince)|Zimri]]'s sexual miscegenation with a [[Midian]]ite woman, a type of relationship which rabbinical sources regard as sinful (''Jewish Encyclopedia'').