Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 16/05/2004 12:29, Unikom-Ug Corp. wrote:

> I'm not sure if this list is a proper place to ask, but perhaps someone can 
> explain me:
>
> are there any grammatical (not doctrinal) reasons beyond the change of 
> "Elizabeth" etymology from Jezebel in Weekley to Elisheba?
>
>  
Well, where I come from my head might be in danger for linking my 
queen's name to that of Jezebel. :-)

"Elizabeth" is highly unlikely to derive from "Jezebel" as the order of 
the consonants is different, and because a good Jewish woman was called 
Elizabeth and would surely not have been named after the evil queen Jezebel.

Consider the variant forms Jehoshabeath in 2 Chronicles 22:11 and 
Jehosheba in 2 Kings 11:2. -Sheba (masculine) became -Shabeath 
(feminine), which could easily become -Sabet in Greek (Luke 1:7) because 
Greek has no letter "sh", and thence -Zabeth in English. So the 
underlying Hebrew was probably Elishabeath, which would be a variant of 
Elisheba.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/