In the Hebrew language, a -y (י) ending can signify possession-“ my. It is the feminine form (with the -h, ה ending) of the masculine s ar (שר), thus representing the Semitic/Hebrew word meaning “princess.” This seems logical-and in this “debate,” interpretation of the name Sarah is straightforward. Many are familiar with her name change, also contained within the 17th chapter of Genesis: “And God said unto Abraham: ‘As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be” (verse 15).įrom the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia: “‘Sarah’ and ‘Sarai,’ are identical in meaning it is difficult to understand the reason for the change.”Īs we covered with Abram/Abraham, is that really a sufficient answer?Ī fairly standard interpretation of the meaning of the two names, Sarai (שרי) and Sarah (שרה), is that they center around the root word sar (שר), meaning “prince” (or similarly, “chief,” “leader” or “captain”). As covered in the earlier article, there is not only good reason for the name change-with the former and latter names each having an entirely different meaning-but also for the apparent ambiguity, tied directly to the foreign and sojourning nature of the patriarch.īut ditto for the name of Abraham’s wife. The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: “basically identical in form and meaning”). Numerous commentaries have struggled with not only the name but also the reason for the change, with a common proposition being that the names Abram and Abraham are essentially the same (e.g. The word in its totality, Ab-ra-ham, doesn’t appear to make sense-in Hebrew, that is. The meaning of the name “Abraham,” as changed from “Abram,” has- as we covered in a recent article-been the subject of an enormous amount of debate over the centuries.
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