TO ASK, request — and, in a special sense, to LEND or give on loan. The verb generates the whole naming of 1 Samuel: Hannah 'ASKED' Samuel of Jehovah (1:20), and then 'LENT' him back — 'he is SHA'UL (lent/asked) to Jehovah' (1:28). ⚠️ The narrator's folk-etymology links the name SAMUEL to sha'al, though the name more likely means 'name of God' or 'God has heard'; and the wordplay reaches past Samuel to SAUL (Sha'ul, 'the asked-for one'), the king a people will 'ask' for (ch 8). One root quietly names the prophet, the gift, and the whole book's theme. → first discussed at 1 Samuel 1:20