σαῦλος G4549
Saul; Hebrew name (Sha'ul, 'asked [of God]') used of King Saul and of Paul's pre-conversion identity.
A Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Sha'ul, meaning 'asked' or 'requested,' reflecting the prayer of the one who sought a child from God. In the New Testament it refers both to King Saul of Israel (Acts 13:21) and, more prominently, to Saul of Tarsus before his conversion to the apostle Paul. The risen Christ addresses him with this name twice on the Damascus road: 'Saoul, Saoul, why do you persecute me?' (Acts 9:4; 22:7). The Spanish and French renderings (Saul/Saoul) preserve the Septuagintal spelling, while German occasionally conflates it with other proper nouns in the same manuscript tradition.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The proper name Saul, a Hellenized form of Hebrew sha'ul ('asked, requested'). In the NT it designates two figures: Israel's first king, whom God gave the people when they demanded a monarch (Acts 13:21), and the Pharisee from Tarsus whom the risen Jesus confronts by this very name on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:4, 17; 22:7). The multilingual glosses (spa Saul, fra Saul, deu Felix/Samothrake notwithstanding) uniformly recognize this as a personal name carried over from the Hebrew Bible into the Greek text. 9×
AR["شاوُلَ", "شَاوُلُ", "شَاوْلُ"]·ben["শৌল", "শৌলকে"]·DE["Samothrake"]·EN["Saoul"]·FR["Saul"]·heb["שָׁאוּל"]·HI["शाउल", "शाऊल"]·ID["Saoul", "Saoul,", "Saul"]·IT["Saulo"]·jav["Saul", "Saul,"]·KO["사울", "사울-아", "사울아", "사울을"]·PT["Saul", "Saulo", "Saulo,"]·RU["Савл", "Саул", "Саула"]·ES["Saoúl", "Saúl"]·SW["Sauli"]·TR["Saul", "Şaul", "Şaul'u"]·urd["ساؤل"]
Related Senses
G3588 1. definite article (18298×)H0853 1. definite direct object marker (10915×)G2532 1. (8312×)H3068 1. YHWH (the divine name) (6522×)H0834a 1. relative pronoun (who/which/that) (4839×)H3588a 1. causal: because, for (3498×)G1161 1. and (2806×)H3478 1. Israel (proper name and nation) (2507×)G4771 1. you (plural address) (1853×)H1931 1. personal pronoun he/she/it (1431×)G3739 1. relative pronoun who/which/that (1149×)H1732 1. David (proper name) (1075×)H2088 1. this, this one (demonstrative) (1059×)G1063 1. (1047×)G3778 1. this thing, these things (1003×)H???? 2. (1002×)G2424 1. (924×)G3754 1. that (content clause) (881×)H2009 1. presentative particle: behold, look (881×)H0589 1. I (first person singular pronoun) (874×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
σαῦλος, η, ον, an adjective descriptive of gait and carriage, defined as τὸ φαῦλον καὶ διερρυηκός by Refs 5th c.BC+; σαῦλα ποσὶν βαίνουσα, applied to the gait of the tortoise, straddling, waddling, Refs; of the loose, wanton gait of courtesans or Bacchantes, σ. βαίνειν Refs 6th c.BC+; also of a prancing horse, σ. βαίνειν, ἵππος ὡς κορωνίης Refs 7th c.BC+