Regarding Ben Yehuda's etymology, maybe the idea is that the nobles were paler-skinned than the folks who had to work out in the fields? (Compare Shir HaShirim 1:6.) This would then be similar to the origin of the English term "blue-blooded" (http://www.allwords.com/word-blue-blooded.html), though there it has more to do with (supposed) racial "purity."
If anyone could tell me what Ibn Genach actually says about חורים I'd be interested - I think that would have more info than the short quote from Ben Yehuda.
I do think it's ironic that a word that might have originally meant "white" became associated with blacks in their search for freedom.
what about Persian-Zoroastrian 'Ahura Mazda' (god of light). If the term was picked up in the Persian exile, there may be a connection, no?
From here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahura
it would seem that they have very different origins...
"Heretic (c.1330) is ult. from Gk. hairetikos "able to choose." - etymonline.com
If "able to choose" is close enough to "free to choose", maybe the English word heretic is related to cherut.
Would Hur (grandfather of Bezalel) be named in the hope of freedom?
David G. - Possible, but it seems to me that the word meant "noble" before it meant "free" (the Daat Mikra explanation to the contrary). So he might have been a "nobleman".
To Phil: Anything's possible, I suppose. But Greek and Hebrew are in two entirely different language families (Indo-European for Greek and Semetic for Hebrew). I do wonder however how much borrowing there was between Greek and Aramaic in the days when they lived side-by-side.
the Greek word Xeir - means hand. A famous classicist once suggested that the Greek and the Hebrew were connected. Manumission, the freeing of slaves, literally means the hand sends. chorin can have a greek origin.
The question: Would Hur (grandfather of Bezalel) be named in the hope of freedom? ...Would seem to have its answer in that his grandson was a charosheth--and our Sages have noted that "engraved" (charat) should be read Cherut--freedom. Would it be safe to presume that Bezalel was a stone-cutter (& engraver) the son of stone cutter? Ironically, there is a phonetic connection to Charoseth which was to remeind us of working with the red-brick masonry of Mitzrayim.
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