Note 82 — XIII. JEREMIAH UNDER PERSECUTION.
Reading edition
The name is probably a quadriliteral from פשח, Ethiopic ተፋሥሐ "to be glad," Assyrian pashâchu "to be at ease," "to rest," (which comes nearest to the Hebrew root). The Arabic verb means "The place was roomy, wide, ample"; whence "free from distress or narrowness of mind." Thus Pashchur = "case," "tranquillity," and is formed like Achbor, kaphtor, "a capital," (LXX. Pashchor). But the name might remind a Hebrew of the root פוש "to leap," "prance," Jer. l. 11, and חר "free" (plur. only), as if it were a compound of pāsh and chōr. "Glad and free:" cf. the LXX. vocalisation Πασχώρ. I think this popular etymology pash + chor is probably what Jeremiah thought of.
