Kirjath-arba
Kirjath-Ar'ba (Hebrew Kiryath'- Aba', אִרבִּע קריִת, city of Arba ; Sept. πόλις Α᾿ρβόκ, Ge 23:2; Jg 14:15; Jg 15:13,20; Jg 20:7; Καριαθαρβόκ, Jos 21:11; Jg 1:10; πόλις τοῦ πεδίου, Ge 35:27; once with the art. קַריִת הָאִרבִּע, Kiryath'-ha-Arba'; Septuag. Καριαθαρβό v. r. Καριαθαρβόκ, Ne 11:25; Auth. Vers. " city of Arba," in Ge 35:27; Jos 15:13; Jos 21:11), the ori alame fHrnc, in the mountains of Judah, so called from its founder, one of the Anakim, and inhabited under the same name after the exile. Hengstenberg, however, thinks that Hebron was the earlier name, and Kirjath-Arba only was imposed by the Canaanites (Beitr. 3:187). Sir John AMandevillo (cir. 1322) found it still " called by the Saracens Karicarba, and by the Jews Arbotha" (Early Travels, p. 161), It is a Jewish gloss (first mentioned by Jerome) which interprets the latter part of the name (אִרבִּע arba, Heb. "four") as referring to the four great meil buried there (the saints Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; so the Talmud, see Keil. ad loc.; or the giants Anak, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Tolmai, according to Bochart, Canan, i, 1).
