TOLA tō lə, a personal name applied to two men in the OT. The name appears in Genesis 46:13 as one of the sons of Issachar (Heb. תּﯴלָ֥ע; LXX Θωλα). There are two possible etymologies for the name: the one is derived from the use of an identical term as the name to mean “worm,” as Akkad tultu?; the other as in the OT (Isa 1:18), “crimson.” The latter carries more weight as the name appears with Puah (Heb. פוּאָ֛ה), which is understood as derived from the term “utterance,” or “green” or some other color. However both of these explanations are based on folk etymologies and lack sound philological evidence. As a son of Issachar this man was one of the party to go into Egypt and as such was the founder of a subtribe of Israelites called Tolaites in Numbers 26:23. The genealogy is repeated in 1 Chronicles 7:1, 2. A second man of the same name appears as a judge of the tribe of Issachar in Judges 10:1. Here as in the earlier case the name Puah also appears. The Scripture gives no other information about the two Tolas, and rabbinic tradition is comparatively silent concerning them.