…the name or designation of the author, Qoheleth (in vii27 and xii8 “the Qoheleth”), is an ancient puzzle. It has the form of an active feminine participle of the verb q-h-l…, from which is derived the noun qahal, “a gathering, assembly, congregation.” “Qoheleth” seems to mean, therefore, “one who assembles a company or congregation.” In the context of the Wisdom movement, the term or title could designate a teacher or academician who gathers about him pupils or disciples, as indeed (we are told in xii9) Qoheleth did. … The “Ecclesiastes” of the Latin and English versions comes from the Greek Bible where it is an attempt to translate “Qoheleth” on the analogy of the rendering of qahal, “congregation,” by the Greek word ekklesia, “assembly, church.” The ekklesiastes is then understood as the leader or speaker of the assembly….
R.B.Y. Scott, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1965), 192-193.