Samson and Delilah: What's In A Name?

TALMUD SOTAH 9b (Koren Talmud Bavli, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz)
"And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Judah HaNasi says: Even if she had not been called by the name Delilah, for she weakened (dildela) his strength, she weakened his heart, she weakened his deeds, thereby decreasing his merits. The Germara explains: 'She weakened his strength', as it is written: "And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man and had the seven locks of his head shaved off; and she began to afflict him and his strength went from him" (Judges 16:19). 'She weakened his heart', as it is written: "And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart" (Judges 16:18). 'She weakened his deeds,' thereby decreasing his merits, as the Divine Presence left him, as it is written: "And she said: The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said: I will go out as at other times, and shake myself. But he knew not that the Lord had departed from him" (Judges 16:20).

Sotah 10a (Koren Talmud Bavli, Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz)
And Rabbi Yochanan says: Samson judged the Jewish people as their Father in Heaven does, with complete justice, as it is stated: “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel” (Genesis 49:16), which is interpreted to mean that Samson from the tribe of Dan, judges his people just as God, Who is “One.” And Rabbi Yochanan says: “Samson [Shimshon] is called by the name of the Holy One, Blessed be he, as it is stated: “For the Lord God is a sun [shemesh] and a shield” (Psalm 84:12). The Gemara comments: If that is so, then his name should not be erased, just like other sanctified names are not erased. Rather, he is not called by the name of God, but his name is akin to the name of the Holy One, Blessed is He, for just as the Holy One, Blessed is He, protects the entire world, so too Samson, in his generation, protected all the Jewish people.

HEBREW AND ARAMAIC LEXICON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
2090 דלל
I דלל: MHb.² to be poor, Syr. to be thin, scarce, MHb. hif. make scarce, MHb. JArm.^bg dldl, passive, become poor; Arb. OSarb. dÑalla to be unimportant, abject; Akk. dalaÒlu be unimportant D oppress; ï I זלל.
qal: pf. דַּ֫לּוֹתִי, דַּלּוֹתִ֫י Ps 1166 )BL 428d(: to be or to become little, tiny Ju 66 Is 174 196 )water( Ps 798 1166 1427, cj. Nah 114 )rd. דָּֽלְּלּוּ for (אֻמְלַל;
—Is 3814 דַּלּוּ rd. כלה) כָּלוּ, Begrich Ps. Hisk. 37f(. †
Der. II דַּל, II דַּלָּה.
2091 דלל
II דלל: MHb. דִּלְדֵּל to allow to hang down, Syr. spin; Arb. dalla II suspend, tadaldala dangle; Eth. dluÒl dangling curls Ruzëicëka 48; Leslau 17; ï זלל III.
qal: pf. דַּלּוּ dangle )of miners on a rope( Jb 284, cj. Pr 267 ? *דַּלּוּ, for דַלְּיוּ )II (דלה the legs of a cripple. †
Der. I דַּלָּה, דְּלִילָה )?
2092 דלל
cj. III דלל: ? Akk. dalaÒlu to proclaim, glorify, Mnd. MdD 111a; Arb. dalla exhibit: (2S 33 )Sept.( for כִּלְאָב and 1C 31 )Sept.^AL( for דָּנִיֵּאל Δαλουια = *דַּ֫לּוּ )impv. qal, BL 429j( + י׳: praise )Widengren Königtum 104(. †
דְּלִילָה
דְּלִילָה: n.f.; fem. of *דָּלִיל, Ug. n.m. dll, daliÒli )UTGl. 665 :: Akk. DaliÒlu Stamm 277, MHb. thin thread; Saf. n.m. DaliÒl and fem. DaliÒlat )Ryckmans 1:66(; II דלל, “with dangling curls” (Noth 227; Malt. dliel loose hair, JSS 3:65) or (Montgomery JQR 1935:262) “flirtatious”, Arb. dalla I and V to flirt, dall flirtation: Samson’s Philistine wife Ju 164-18. †

HEBREW AND ARAMAIC LEXICON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
שְׁמְשׁוֹן
שְׁמְשׁוֹן: n.m.; שֶׁמֶשׁ + oÒn; Sept. Σαμψων; Jose-phus Σαμψὼν )Schalit Namenwb. 106); Vulg. Samson; cf. Ug. personal name sëpsën, sëpsëyn (Gröndahl Personennamen 195), the latter is also spelled syllabically sëapsi-ia-nu (Gröndahl Personennamen 354a), = Ugaritica 5: p. 184, text 88:15'; cf. also Gröndahl Personennamen 52; Hebrew in cuneiform SèamsëaÒnu, see Gesenius-Buhl Handw., and Gerh. Wallis Die soziale Situation der Juden in Babylonien zur Achämenidenzeit aufgrund von fünfzig ausgewählten babylonischen Urkunden (Diss. Phil. Berlin, 1952) p. 26 and 208; Egyptian Sèa-m-sëu-m (Albright Vocalization 57): the personal name can be explained either as mainly mythological, or as secular.
—a. for the mythological explanation see e.g. Hertzberg Jos.-Ri.-Ru (ATD 9) 228: it can be supposed from the name, as well as from the many similarities between the one who bore the name and the Greek figure of Herakles, that behind the figure and the stories of Samson there lies a myth of the sun; according to R. Meyer-Opificius, the Samson of the OT is a manifestation of the ancient Near Eastern hero with six or eight locks of hair, (UF 14 (1982) 149-151, see especially p. 151); for further bibliography see H.P. Stähli OBO 66 (1985) 14 with note 63.
—b. there are two possible explanations for a secular interpretation of the name: α) -oÒn is a diminutive ending so that the personal name is an affectionate formation meaning little sun; see Stamm Fschr. 7; but compare previously Nöldeke Beiträge 105², and Bauer-Leander Heb. 500u with note; β) KBL refers to Josephus Antiquities 8: 285, where Samson is described as ῄσχυρός; this suggests that the original word in Heb. was שָׁמֵן, on which see also Driver, Annual of Leeds University Oriental Society 4 (1962-63) 17f, who for his part goes on to consider the Arb. sumsumu(n) active, experienced, as the word from which the Heb. would have been derived; for sumsumun see G.W. Freytag Lexicon Arabico-Latinum 2 (1833) 353a: the name of an animal, formica rubra; as an adj. the forms noted are samsaÒm corresponding to samsanaÒn, and sumsumaÒn, celer, agilis; so there are no particular objections to be made against this second explanation (β).
—c. Noth Personennamen 223 occupies a position between the mythological and the secular interpretation when he explains the name שִׁמְשׁוֹן as the child of the sun, adding the further comment (see note 4) that in any event the name comes from a myth of the sun. That is also the meaning accepted by H.P. Stähli (OBO 66), who mentions both the mythological and the secular explanations (see p. 13f) without coming to a decision himself: Samson Ju 1314nd.16:30 (38 times). †

Samson Agonistes, John Milton
Sam. Appoint not heavenly disposition, Father,
Nothing of all these evils hath befall'n me
But justly; I my self have brought them on, [ 375 ]
Sole Author I, sole cause: if aught seem vile,
As vile hath been my folly, who have profan'd
The mystery of God givn me under pledge
Of vow, and have betray'd it to a woman,
A Canaanite, my faithless enemy. [ 380 ]
This well I knew, nor was at all surpris'd,
But warn'd by oft experience: did not she
Of Timna first betray me, and reveal
The secret wrested from me in her highth
Of Nuptial Love profest, carrying it strait [ 385 ]
To them who had corrupted her, my Spies,
And Rivals? In this other was there found
More Faith? who also in her prime of love,
Spousal embraces, vitiated with Gold,
Though offer'd only, by the sent conceiv'd [ 390 ]
Her spurious first-born; Treason against me?
Thrice she assay'd with flattering prayers and sighs,
And amorous reproaches to win from me
My capital secret, in what part my strength
Lay stor'd, in what part summ'd, that she might know: [ 395 ]
Thrice I deluded her, and turn'd to sport
Her importunity, each time perceiving
How openly, and with what impudence
She purpos'd to betray me, and (which was worse
Then undissembl'd hate) with what contempt [ 400 ]
She sought to make me Traytor to my self;
Yet the fourth time, when mustring all her wiles,
With blandisht parlies, feminine assaults,
Tongue-batteries, she surceas'd not day nor night
To storm me over-watch't, and wearied out. [ 405 ]
At times when men seek most repose and rest,
I yielded, and unlock'd her all my heart,
Who with a grain of manhood well resolv'd
Might easily have shook off all her snares:
But foul effeminacy held me yok't [ 410 ]
Her Bond-slave; O indignity, O blot
To Honour and Religion! servil mind
Rewarded well with servil punishment!
The base degree to which I now am fall'n,
These rags, this grinding, is not yet so base [ 415 ]
As was my former servitude, ignoble,
Unmanly, ignominious, infamous,
True slavery, and that blindness worse then this,
That saw not how degeneratly I serv'd.