Diklah

Dik´lah, a tribe descended from Joktan (Gen 10:27). As the name in Aramaic and Arabic means a palm-tree, it has been judged necessary to seek the seat of the tribe in some territory rich in palm-trees. Bochart finds it in Southern Arabia, Michael is in the region of the Tigris (from the analogy of the name Diglath); but where the ground of search is so uncertain, it is impossible to obtain any satisfactory result.

A tribe descended from Joktan, Gen 10:27, and dwelling in Southern Arabia, or perhaps near the head of the Persian gulf.\par

Dik’lah. (palm grove). Gen 10:27; 1Ch 1:21. A son of Joktan, whose settlements, in common with those of the other sons of Joktan, must be looked for in Arabia. It is thought that Diklah is a part of Arabia containing many palm trees.

Arab tradition confirms Gen 10:26-29 in making Joktan (Kahtan) the great progenitor of all the pure tribes of central and southern Arabia. Thus Almodad equates to the Arabic Elmudad; Sheleph equates to Es-Sulaf in the Yemen; Hazarmaveth equates to Hadramaut on the S.E. coast of Arabia; Diklah equates to Dakalah, an important city in the Yemen; it means a fruit-abounding palm tree.

(Hebrews Diklah´ דִּקְּלָה, fem.; Sept. Δεκλά, Joseph. Δέκλας, Ant. 1:6, 4; Vulg. Decla), the seventh son of Joktan (B.C. post 2414); also the name of a district settled by a tribe descended from him (Gen 10:27). As the name in Aramaic and Arabic means a palm-tree, it has been judged necessary to seek the seat of the tribe in some territory rich in palm-trees; of such there are several in Arabia (comp. Strabo, 16:776; Pliny, 6:32). One famous place of palm-trees existed at the very entrance of Arabia Felix, hence called by the Greeks Φοινικών (Ptolemy, 6:7, 23); but this was remote from the other tribes of the Joktanidee. SEE UZAL.

Bochart (Phaleg, 2:22) finds it in Southern Arabia, in the district of the lMincei, which was also rich in palm-trees (Pliny, 6:28), now called Yemen (Niebuhr, Descr. page 201); Michaelis (Spicileg. 2:176) in the region of the Tigris (from the analogy of the name Diglath); but where the ground of search is so uncertain, it is impossible to obtain any certain result (see Fressnel’s Lettres, in the Journal Asiatique, 10:90-96, 176-200; Jomard’s Essai, in Mengin’s Hist. de l’Egypte, 3). As, however, there is still an Arab tribe in the region of Arabia Felix called Duklai, which is probably descended from Diklah — for the Arabs have always been as retentive of family names as the Jews themselves (Forster’s Geog. of Arabia, 1:115, 147) — we may conclude that the Diklaites settled in Yemen, and occupied a portion of it a little to the east of the Hejaz. SEE ARABIA.

[Dik’lah]

Son of Joktan of the family of Shem, whose descendants settled in Arabia. Gen 10:27; 1Ch 1:21.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Gerson B. Levi

A son of Joktan (Gen. x. 27, and the corresponding genealogical list, I Chron. i. 21). The names of the other sons of Joktan point clearly to an Arabic origin, and it is quite reasonable to suppose that Diklah also had in Arabic home. in Arabic is a common word meaning "date-palm." An Assyrian origin is suggested by Hommel because of the similarity between "Diklah" and the name of the Tigris—"Diḳlath" in Aramaic, and "Idiḳlat" in Assyrian.

DIKLAH.—The name of a son of Joktan (Gen 10:27, 1Ch 1:21), probably representing a nation or community. The names immediately preceding and following Diklah give no clue to its identification.

dik´la (דּקלה, diḳlāh, “place of palms”): One of the “sons” of Joktan (Gen 10:27; 1Ch 1:21). Perhaps a south-Arabian tribal or place-name connected with a palm-bearing district.