השם הפרטי 'עכבר' במקרא ובמקורות המזרח הקדום

This article deals with the name 'Akhbar', i.e. 'Mouse' as a first name in the Bible and in the Ancient Near East. Name books show that within the nontheophoric name group, animal names are very significant. We can presume that the animals' characteristics have had the main influence on the decision of naming a child such a way. Within the genre of animal names there is a group of negative animal names. The name "Mouse' is one of those names. The name 'Akhbar' as a first name, with its variations, appears in the Bible and in north-west Semitic inscriptions. It also appears in cuneiform texts from Mesopotamia beginning from the Old Babilonian period. This article studies also the geographical and archaeological distribution of the name 'Akhbar' in the literary works in Antiquity.