‘And the man knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bore Cain (qayin from the stem qon), saying, “I have obtained (qanithi from the stem qanah) a man with Yahweh.” '
“Knew” is a regular euphemism for sexual intercourse. Eve's words are interesting. Notice that she does not say ‘I have borne a child' but ‘I have obtained a man'. There may possibly be the thought here that here is someone to help them with their hard labour (the birth of a boy in agricultural areas in many Eastern countries is still looked on as a special joy because he will be able to share the work burden), compare Genesis 5:29 where Lamech rejoices in Noah's birth because he will help with the work. It may even emphasise that she felt she had already had too many daughters and had wanted another son.
“Cain” - ‘qayin' - later meaning spear. It may be that his mother was hoping he would be a hunter to bring meat to the family and that the original word translated qayin meant a throwing instrument of some kind. Instead he becomes a hunter of men. But in Arabic ‘qyn' equals ‘to fashion, give form'. Thus it could mean ‘one formed'.
“With Yahweh” - this is an unusual use of ‘with' (‘eth'). We must probably translate ‘with the help or agreement of Yahweh', the point being that she feels that this is one more step in her reinstatement, which is with Yahweh's approval. Akkadian ‘itti' is used with this meaning as is sometimes the Hebrew ‘im (‘with' - 1 Samuel 14:45). It could thus mean ‘in participation with', acknowledging that Yahweh gave life in conception. For this idea see Psalms 139:13, ‘for you formed (qanah) my inward parts'.
There is an indirect play on words between qayin and qanah but it is not drawn out, and there is no similar word association with Abel. (The original account would be passed down in a primitive language. The translator is seeking to express the pun in his translation as best he can).