Steve Watson

There is a standard word mattara, meaning “keeper of the watch,” deriving from the verb MMTR, “to guard, to protect.” In Shimmusha Rabbah, Enoch was clothed with the splendor of light and made into a guardian of all the souls that ascend from earth, so there is a possible connection between that function and Enoch. Consequently, Odeberg (3 Enoch 1.125-6), Jellinek (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kabbala, Leipzig: C.L. Fritzsche, 1852, 4) and Jastrow (A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, 767) propose that this may be the origin of ‘Metatron’.

Metathronios:

This is the ‘default’ derivation. It is accepted by Merkur (Gnosis, NY:SUNY, 1993, p. 169) (with reference to S. Lieberman, “Metatron, the Meaning of His Name and His Functions” in I. Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkavah Mysticism, Leiden:Brill, 1980, pp. 235–241) and is noted by Scholem (MTJM:69). But Scholem’s objections to it are pretty strong: there is no such Greek word – no matter how attractive the meta + thronos (behind/with the throne) construction might seem; there isn’t a good reason for the use or invention of a Greek term here when it is not done elsewhere; there doesn’t seem to be a good way to derive the precise Hebrew form from the supposed Greek term. (Though just on this last point, it’s possible that numerological concerns could have been influential. See ‘metatrior’ below.)

Metatyrannos:

A Greek term meaning ‘with the ruler’. This proposal is often associated with the term synthronos which is ‘together on the throne.’ To be frank, I can’t see any reason for thinking the two terms are related or what one adds in plausibility to the other. It is even more mystifying to be told that there is the possibility of deriving Metatron from synthronos; how is that supposed to work?

Metator:

The name “Metatron,” which, as stated above, occurs only in Hebrew writings, is in itself striking. The derivation from the Latin “metator” (=”guide”) is doubtless correct, for Enoch also is represented as a guide in the apocryphal work which bears his name; and the Hebrew Book of Enoch, in which, however, reference to Me?a?ron is constantly implied, says: “He is the most excellent of all the heavenly host, and the guide [Me?a?ron] to all the treasuries of my [God]” (B. H. ii. 117) (Jewish Enc. s.v. Metatron)

This was first apparently proposed by Eleazar ben Judah (c. 1165 – c. 1230) and Moshe ben Nachman, and revived by H. Odeberg in his edition of 3 Enoch 1.125, 1.126; but Scholem is dismissive of this too since “there is nothing in the authentic sayings about Metatron that justified the derivation of the name from metator.” (G. Scholem, Jewish Gnosticism, p. 43) On the other hand Alexander (op. cit. 243, 228 n 11) notes that metator is known as a loan word in Hebrew and Jewish Aramaic, and claims that this gives added support to the idea that the word could be adapted by the inventors of Metatron. But this is misguided: there is no doubt that it is possible to get to metatron from metator, given enough flexibility in the manner of ‘derivation’, and that the word was there for the having; the question is whether there’s any of the evidence that that is what happened that we would expect to see – and there isn’t.

Metatrior + gematria:

Grunwald (in Jahrb. für Jüdische Gesch. und Literatur, 1901, pp. 127 ff.) has yet another solution for the problem of Metatron. The ancients had already noticed that the numerical value of the letters in the word “Metatron” corresponded with those of the word “Shaddai” (= 314), and “Metatron” is also said to mean “palace” (“metatrion”), and to be connected with the divine name, MQWM (“place”), etc. (Jewish Enc. s.v. Metatron)

Metron + Metator:

A new proposal that Orlov (op. cit.) describes thus:

Still another possible etymological source for the name “Metatron” is the Greek metron, “a measure.” Adolf Jellinek may well be the first scholar to suggest metron as an alternative explanation of Metatron, on the assumption that Metatron was identical with Horos.[20] In his recent article Gedaliahu Stroumsa provides some new convincing reasons for the acceptance of this etymology. These reasons focus on the fact that Metatron not only carried God’s name but also measured the Deity and was thus viewed as God’s Shi’ur Qomah (the measurement of the divine Body). [21] Stroumsa argues that “renewed attention should be given to metron and/or metator (a conflation of the two terms should not be excluded) as a possible etymology of Metatron.” [22]

[20] Odeberg, 3 Enoch, 1.134.
[21] Stroumsa, “Form(s) of God: Some Notes on Metatron and Christ,” 287.
[22] ibid. 287.

I particularly like the idea of a conflation of the terms, but surely this is a derivation that it would be very difficult to justify. One would like to see other examples of such conflations and whether they are as unremarked upon as this one. Otherwise this is an ad hoc solution to a straightforward problem.

Mitra:

The proposal that I’m most partial to is the one that makes Metatron a hidden form of the Zoroastrian Mitra. The possibility was raised by Kohut (Jüdische Angelologie und Dämonologie, pp. 36 et seq., Leipsic, 1866 – ref. in Jewish Enc. s.v. Metatron) on the grounds of some similarities of the functions of the two beings. The editors of the Jew. Enc. (sv. Merkaba) certainly seem to be convinced, and they point out that

Mithra, the heavenly charioteer, with his Quadriga, a chariot drawn by four horses, who was worshiped in ancient Persia as the god of light and regarded in early Roman times as the prime mover of the world, formed of the four elements (Dio Chrysostomus, “Oratio,” xxxvi.; see Cumont, “Die Mysterien des Mithra,” 1903, pp. 87-88; Windischmann, “Zoroastrische Studien,” 1863, pp. 309-312), was invoked under mysterious rites as the mediator between the inaccessible and unknowable Deity, in the ethereal regions of light, and man on earth (Cumont, l.c. pp. 95, 122).

Which would be an interesting enough parallel, but I think there is a little more to this too. It was mentioned above that the name ‘Yaho’el’ became attached to Metatron, and the suspicion on the part of some is that this is due to speculative explanation for the claim by God that the guardian angel of Ex 23:21 ‘has my name in him.’ Clearly if the angels name was to contain the tetragrammaton YHWH or some part of it then the name was not ‘Metatron’. Therefore, Metatron had to be associated with a more standard theophoric name. Thus, in the 2nd C we find then that Enoch was identified with the angel Yaho’el, and that name is also the first of the 70 names of Metatron listed in Gaonic period texts. Yaho’el is also referred to as the “lesser Yaho” by Jewish gnostics, and that term in the form “lesser YHWH” was daringly used by Merkabah mystics to refer to their guardian angel, who sits by (?) the throne of God.