Belteshazzar

The name given to Daniel by the chief of the eunuchs (Dan. i. 7). The writer of the Book of Daniel sees in the first syllable the god Bel, but it is more probable that the name is to be explained as the Babylonian "balaṭsu [or "balaṭushu"]-uṣur," "May [Bel] guard his life" (Schrader, "C. I. O. T." ii. 125; compare Kohler, in "Zeit. für Assyriologie," iv. 49). George Hoffmann, however, translates the name "May Belit guard the king" ("Zeit. für Assyriologie," ii. 56).

G. G. B. L.