“Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a horned snake in the path that bites at the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I wait for thy salvation, O’ Lord.”

Tribe of Dan

Part 1: If we look at the Hebrew genealogies in the Jewish Tanakh, specifically at the Dibh're Hayyamim, דברי הימים, Greek Paralipomenon, book of Chronicles, there is a very sparse genealogy for the tribe of Dan. Dan is the name of a tribe of Israel, which descended from Dan, the son of Jacob and Bilhah, the handmaid of Rachel. Dan's only full brother is Naphtali.

But prior to the existence of Dan the tribe, there was a town (or region) named Dan, mentioned in the War of Four against Five Kings (Genesis 14:14). In Judges 19:7 we learn about a city called Laish, near Beth-rehob, which is destroyed by a band of Danites. They rebuild the city and called it Dan, after their tribal founder.

The biblical meaning of Dan comes from Rachel who cried out, "God has judged me, and has indeed heard my voice and has given me a son" (Genesis 30:6). Later, Jacob - now named Israel – he gathers his people around his death bed, and states, "Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel" (Genesis 49:16). It's appealing, but innocuous to say that the designation of Dan as a judge has biblical significance.

Dan comes from the Hebrew verb דָּ֖ן ‘d-n’ etymologically meaning “to judge, contend, plead.” Some derivatives are דָּ֖ן ‘din’, meaning “judgment”; דָּ֖ן ‘dayyan’, meaning “judge”; מָדוֹן֙ ‘madon’, meaning “strife, contention”; and מדינה a very important word ‘Medina’, meaning “province,” or (and in all probability), “jurisdiction.” The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition ©: me·di·na  (mĭ-dēnə) n. The old section of an Arab city in North Africa. [Arabic madīna, city, from Aramaic mədintā, mədinā, jurisdiction, district, from dān, to judge, administer; see dyn in the Appendix of Semitic roots.]

Dan, whose territory in southwestern Palestine was invaded by the Philistines in Joshua 19:47; Judges 18:1 et seq., and the tribe's name after their tribal ancestors found in Joshua 19:47. The idea of the name of Dan as early as the time of Abraham and Moses, see Genesis 14:14; and Deuteronomy 34:1, is therefore anticipated by the later chronicler (compare "Beth-el" in Genesis 12:8, Then he proceeded from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. and Genesis 28:19, He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz.). Consequently, there is no reason to assume from Genesis 14:14, When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan., and Deuteronomy 34:1, Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan., the existence of any other city called Dan.

The place seems to be identical with Dan-Jaan found in II Samuel 24:6, which was situated east of the Lake of Gennesaret toward Sidon; and as this was the route on which Laish-Dan was located (Judges 18:7, 29), it is probable that "Dan-Jaan" is a corruption of "Dan-jaar" meaning “Dan in wood(s),” and that this was merely an occasional designation of the city of Dan. The etymology of the word wood (wod) in the adjective form means, "violently insane,” from the Old English word wod meaning "mad, frenzied," from Proto-Germanic *woth- (cf. Gothic woþs "possessed, mad," Old High German wuot "mad, madness," German wut "rage, fury"). The Proto-Germanic root word *woth- is the same root word that we get the words wroth or wrath.

Waddân or Vedan וְדָן, apparently, the proper name of a location, found only in Ezekiel 27:18-20, "Damascus was your customer because of the abundance of your goods, because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth, because of the wine of Helbon and white wool. ¹⁹"Vedan and Javan paid for your wares from Uzal; wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were among your merchandise. ²⁰"Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding.…” 

Wedan and Yawan (compare text VB and references) Waddân near Medina or المدينة ‎Al-Madīnah, المنورة (City) al-Munawarah. According to Glas Skizze ii. ⁴²⁸: ᵐ5,” ^{11 ff}. Da and others; Ew Hi read דְּדָן (Dĕ̇dán), but דְּדָן is in following see, and anticipation improbable, compare Stal.c.; Co reads ודן ויון, (proper translation וְדָן וְיָוָן, Ezekiel 27:19 Wedan and Yawan (compare VB and references) but identification wholly dubious; Waddân near Medina) and וְאַרְנָבָן, on the basis of Babylonian & Assyrian Aranabanim, Arnabani, proper name, of a location, following –ilbunim (חֶלְבּוֺן) in lists of places ‘whence wine was brought’ (compare יֵין חֶלְבּוֺן Ezekiel 27:18, & ᵐ5 καὶ οἶνον for ויון; also COT Ezekiel 27:18). If we look at Strong’s concordance at the Hebrew word Vedan, meaning: ‘Dan also’. The etymological root is unclear, but the probable context for the root of the word Vedan, it may have been Eden; Waddân or Vedan (Aden), meaning a “place in Arabia.” 

Mecca is the transliterated word for Makkah and is a city in the Hejaz which is the capital of the Province of Saudi Arabia. Mecca is the holiest city for all Muslims worldwide. The word Makkah (مكة المكرمة‎ Makkah l-Mukarramah) in Semitic etymology מַכָּה has Makkah or makkeh meaning: “a blow, to wound, or slaughter.” We see the origins of the word Makkah from the Hebrew root מָקַק maqaq, meaning "ruined, to decay, rot, fester, pine away,” or possibly from the Arabic word miḥrāb, from Old South Arabian mḥrb, “part of a temple,” from ḥrb, “to fight,” possibly from muḥarrab, “pointed,” from ḥarraba, “to sharpen, sharp point,” from ḥarba, meaning   “lance: to pierce with a lance," or spear: weapon with a penetrating head.” Realistically it comes from the Semitic root maqaq which was later transliterated to Magog (meaning: region of Gog (גוג); but a better translation would be the “place of Góg.”   

Makkeh, מַכָּה (Noun Feminine), {muk-keh'}; (plural only) from nakah; to smite (in 2 Chronicles 2:10, of the flail); by implication, a wound; as well as figuratively, carnage, as well as pestilence – “beaten, blow, plague, slaughter, smote, X sore, stripe, stroke, wound.” Flail (n.) "Instrument for threshing grain.”