Kidor: A TALMUDIC ONOMASTIC PUN, AND HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE ETYMOLOGY. PART ONE

The actual etymology of a peculiar man's name, found in a late antique nomen omen tale, has been elusive. The dishonest innkeeper Kidor from a Talmudic story (whose folkloric typology we discuss) had a name that, sounding like negative wording from a particular locus in Scripture, alarmed one sage (because of homiletic etymology), but his two companions consigned their belongings to that innkeeper, who would not return them. Kidor (or rather ) is not easy to etymologise. We progress considerably beyond its scholarly treatment thus far. We marshal onomastic data, make and compare hypotheses. Pre-Islamic Arabic anthroponymy may be involved (see Part Two); a Hebrew etymology is not ruled out. We point out Greek wordplay unlikely not to be detected in the Roman East. A Persian etymology, while not strictly impossible, is unconvincing. The most likely possibility is that the name was devised on purpose for the character in the tale, in order to illustrate nomen omen by referring to wording from Scripture homiletically (which is what the Talmudic tale does). But was there any onomastic item, in the broader region, which may have provided inspiration or a warrant for the tale credibly claiming that a person may have been bearing such a name?