Adam's name refers to the fact that he was made from earth (Adamah).
Seth's name was given to him by Eve because he was a replacement
(Heb."Shass", "put") for Abel. "Enosh" is a word frequently used in
the Bible for "man" (just as "Adam" is). "Kenan" may mean "acquisition",
just as "Kayin" does; note the parallelism between Adam-Kayin and
Enosh-Kenan. "Mahalalel" means "Praised is G-d". "Yered" means
"descendant" or "descended". "Chanoch" means "dedicated" or "taught".
In "Mesu-shelach", the "Mesu" may be a singular form of the word
"Mesim" (mortals?), which refers to a population, and "shelach" means
"sent". "Lemech" may be related to an Akkadian word for "priest". Note
that in Cain's line there was also a Lemech whose father was Mesu-shael
(shael = borrowed). "Noach" is from "nach" (rested); his father called
him that because he foresaw that Noach would be a comfort (Menachem)
to humanity.
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