Obscure ethnic or patronymic name of the prophet Nahum (Nahum 1:1). According to Jerome, Elkosh, the birthplace of the prophet, was the name of a village in Galilee; according to others, of a village to the east of the Jordan. Peiser ("Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft," 7:349) thinks the name is derived from "Ḳosh," name of an Assyrian divinity. Ḳimḥi and Ibn Ezra explained it as being either ethnic or patronymic; in the latter case "Elkosh" may be compared with "Kish," the father of Saul (1 Samuel 9:1).