Bible Dictionary

Melzar

The name Melzar means “circumcision of a narrow place, or of a bond”.

Easton's Bible Dictionary 1897

Probably a Persian word meaning master of wine, i.e., chief butler; the title of an officer at the Babylonian court (Dan. 1:11, 16) who had charge of the diet of the Hebrew youths.

Smith's Bible Dictionary 1863

(steward). The Authorized Version is wrong in regarding melzar as a proper name; it is rather an official title, (Daniel 1:11,16) the marginal reading, "the steward," is therefore more correct.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia 1915

mel'-zar (ha-meltsar; Septuagint Abiesdri, Theod. Hamelsad): Possibly a transliteration of the Babylonian Ameluucur, the officer to whom was entrusted the bringing-up of Daniel and his three companions (Da 1:11 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "the steward," margin "Hebrew: Hammelzar"). It has been suggested that the name is not the name of a person, but denotes the office of guardian, like the Babylonian maccaru. In this case the "l" would come by dissimulation from the first of the two "s" sounds, which on its side has come from an assimilated "n", the root being nacaru, "to protect" "to guard."

R. Dick Wilson