Note 830 — APPENDIX.

The derivation from the root shmn is impossible, that from the root shmm far-fetched. The simple derivation from shemes ‘sun’ appears to be rejected by Bertheau (Buch der Richter, p. 169) only ‘because the long narrative concerning Samson presents no reference to a name of any such signification’ (as ‘the Sunny,’ the Solar hero), and because, as he says, ‘we do not expect to find a name of this kind anywhere in Hebrew antiquity.’ But the matter appears to us now in a very different light, and the connexion with the Sun which Bertheau did not expect to find has now become clear.