the First Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Daughter
Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
In the Scriptures the word daughter is used in a variety of senses, some of which are unknown to our own language, or have only become known through familiarity with Scriptural forms of speech. Besides its usual and proper sense of—
A daughter sent or adopted, we find it used to designate.
A uterine sister, niece, or any female descendant (;;;;; ).
Women, as natives, residents, or professing the religion of certain places, as 'the daughter of Zion' (); 'daughters of the Philistines' (); 'daughter of a strange God' ().
Metaphorically, small towns are called daughters of neighboring large cities, to which they belonged, or from which they were derived, as 'Heshbon and all the daughters [Auth. Vers. ] thereof' (); so Tyre is called the daughter of Sidon (), as having been originally a colony from thence; and hence also the town of Abel is called 'a mother in Israel' (); and Gath is in one place (comp.; ) called Gath-Ammah, or Gath the mother town, to distinguish it from its own dependencies, or from another place called Gath. See other instances in;; , etc.
The people collectively of any place, the name of which is given; as 'the daughter (i.e. the people) of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee' (; see also;;;;; ).
Respecting the condition of daughters in families, see articles Woman and Marriage.
Public Domain.
Kitto, John, ed. Entry for 'Daughter'. "Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature". https://www.studylight.org/​encyclopedias/​eng/​kbe/​d/daughter.html.