Ichabod

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow1 SAMUEL 4:19-22 reports that “…Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered…when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she…gave birth…she named the child Ichabod, saying the ‘The glory has departed from Israel!’” The word or name translated in English as “Ichabod” is the Hebrew word ī-khābhōdh” and literally means “Inglorious.” Speaking specifically of Ichabod’s name, Irving’s narrator notes that “that cognomen [name] of Crane was not inapplicable to his person,” suggesting that the protagonist is somehow “inglorious.”

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