From the Scriptures, "Gilead" means hill of testimony or mound of witness, (Gen. 31:21), a mountainous region east of the Jordan river. It is also referred to by the Aramaic name Yegar-Sahdutha, which carries the same meaning as the Hebrew (Gen. 31:47). From its mountainous character it is called "the mount of Gilead" (Gen. 31:25).

Gilead is a novel written by Marilynne Robinson and published in 2004. It won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the National Book Critics Circle Award.