Wikipedia's first sentence called it “hebrew masculine given name”. Today it says “masculine given name derived from hebrew”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2015
Caleb is a Hebrew masculine given name.1The Hebrew spelling of the name Caleb - כלב - is identical with the spelling of the word "dog" - "kelev". The composing of the Bible antedates by thousands of years the introduction of the Niqqud system of diacritical signs which modern Hebrew uses to represent vowels. Thus, it is difficult to ascertain how the name was originally pronounced. Many name books and websites list the meaning of "Caleb" as "Dog". It is noteworthy that many Biblical characters bore animal names, including names which in the sensibilities of later times would be considered insulting, such as the woman prophet Hulda whose name means "weasel". In some traditions, Caleb's being a "dog" symbolizes his devotion to God. An alternate Hebrew meaning offered for "Caleb" is "faithful, devotion, whole hearted, bold, brave". This, on the basis of its being actually a compound word, a phenomenon quite common in ancient Hebrew. Col (כל, Caf + Lamed) = "all" or "whole"; Lev (לב, Lamed + Bet) = "heart". Therefore, Caleb (or Calev as pronounced in Hebrew) would actually mean "whole hearted". This might be due to the Biblical Caleb, a companion of Moses and Joshua, being noted for his astute powers of observation and fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Another plausible origin is a transposition of a name found in other ancient Semitic languages such as Phoenician and Ugaritic , meaning "servant of the Lord" [1] The early Medieval King Kaleb of Axum was the most well-known monarch of this kingdom (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). The name "Caleb" was popular among the English Puritans , and was introduced by them to America.2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 648097130.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Caleb is a Hebrew masculine given name. The Hebrew spelling of the name Caleb – כלב – is identical with the spelling of the word dog – "kelev". The composing of the Bible antedates by thousands of years the introduction of the Niqqud system of diacritical signs which modern Hebrew uses to represent vowels. Thus, it is difficult to ascertain how the name was originally pronounced. Many name books and websites list the meaning of Caleb as "Dog". Many Biblical characters bore animal names, including names which in the sensibilities of later times would be considered insulting, such as the woman prophet Hulda , whose name means "weasel". In some traditions, Caleb's being a "dog" symbolizes his devotion to God. An alternate Hebrew meaning offered for Caleb is "faithful, devotion, whole hearted, bold, brave". This is on the basis of its being actually a compound word, a phenomenon quite common in ancient Hebrew. Col (כל, Kaf + Lamed) = "all" or "whole"; Lev (לב, Lamed + Bet) means "heart". Therefore, Caleb (or Calev as pronounced in Hebrew) would actually mean "whole hearted". This might be due to the Biblical Caleb, a companion of Moses and Joshua, being noted for his astute powers of observation and fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds. Another plausible origin is a transposition of a name found in other ancient Semitic languages such as Phoenician and Ugaritic , meaning "servant of the Lord". The early Medieval King Kaleb of Axum was the most well-known monarch of this kingdom (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). The name Caleb was popular among the English Puritans , and was introduced by them to America.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 962275161.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 14 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Caleb is a Hebrew masculine given name meaning faithful.It can also mean "whole hearted" or "loyalty." Behind the Name, " Caleb ", accessed 9 August 2021
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178439994.
The opening as it stood in 2025 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Caleb is a masculine given name derived from Hebrew , meaning either "faithful" or "whole-hearted", and also "dog".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296536616. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “hebrew masculine given name”. Today it says “masculine given name derived from hebrew”. Read the current article and compare.
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2015, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
hebrew masculine given name
Now
masculine given name derived from hebrew
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
