Barak (name)

Barak, also spelled Baraq, is a given name of Semitic origin. As a Hebrew name, from the root B-R-Q, it means "lightning" and it appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name of an Ancient Israelite general Barak (ברק Bārāq). As an Arabic name, from the root B-R-K, it means "blessed" and is most commonly used in its feminine form Baraka(h).

Etymology

B-R-Q

The Semitic root B-R-Q has the meaning "to shine"; "lightning".[1]^:p.122 The biblical name ברק Bārāq is given after Barak, a military commander who appears in the Book of Judges.

The Arabic cognate is بَرْق barq (not to be confused with بَارَك bārak, which is cognate with Hebrew בָּרוּךְ‬ bārûch). The epithet Barcas of the Punic general Hamilcar is derived from the same root, as is the name of Al-Buraq, the miraculous steed of Islamic Mi'raj tradition.

Although the given name is mostly Jewish and found predominantly in Israel, it has occasionally been used by Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the early modern period, when given names from the Hebrew Bible were in fashion, as in the name of Barak Longmate, an 18th-century English genealogist.

B-R-K

The Semitic root B-R-K has the original meaning of "to kneel down", with a secondary meaning "to bless".[1]^:p.121

In Islamic mysticism, Barakah (Arabic: بركة‎) is a concept of spiritual presence or revelation. The cognate Hebrew term is Berakhah (בְּרָכָה) "benediction, blessing". Baruch (Hebrew: בָּרוּךְ, Modern: Barukh, Tiberian: Bārûḵ, "blessed") is a Biblical Hebrew given name, most notably the name of Baruch ben Neriah, aide to the prophet Jeremiah.

The Arabic masculine given name Mubarak is the Arabic stem III passive participle, mubārak (مبارك), meaning "blessed (one)".

People with the name

From Hebrew

Barak Norman (c.1670–c.1740), English musical instrument maker
Barak Longmate (1738–1793), English genealogist and engraver
Aharon Barak (born 1936), Israeli former President of the Supreme Court of Israel
Ehud Barak (born 1942), Israeli former prime minister
Barak Sopé (born 1955), Vanuatu politician
Barak Badash (born 1982), Israeli football player
Barak Yitzhaki (born 1984), Israeli football player
Barak Bakhar (born 1979), Israeli football player
Barak Moshe (born 1991), Israeli football player

From Arabic

Barak Sultan (1731—1750), member of the Kazakh Khanate dynasty
Ghiyas-ud-din Baraq (1266–1271), a Khan of the Chagatai Khanate

References

Murtonen, Aimo (1986). Hospers, J.H. (ed.). Hebrew in its West Semitic setting: a comparative survey of non-Masoretic Hebrew dialects and traditions. Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 9789004088993.

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[murtonen-1] Murtonen, Aimo (1986). Hospers, J.H. (ed.). Hebrew in its West Semitic setting: a comparative survey of non-Masoretic Hebrew dialects and traditions. Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 9789004088993.