Possible origins of the name Mary
2 min • Digitized on July 23, 2024
From Mariology, page 34
By Rev. Joseph Pohle, Ph.D., D.D.
The word “Mary” (מִרְיָם, Aramaic ???, Septuagint Μαριάμ) is genuinely Hebraic. The first woman who bore it in Bible history is the sister of Moses. Lauth’s attempt to derive the word from the Egyptian has proved a failure.
The Aramaic etymon signifies “Lady” (Domina, from ???, Lord). According to the various Hebrew words that have been assigned as its root, the word may have any one of a variety of meanings.
First, illuminatrix (??? from ???, light-bearer). Then, the stubborn, refractory one (from ???, to be stubborn). It is not likely that a father would give his new-born daughter either of these fantastic names.
As regards the other proposed derivations, myrrh (myrrha, ???; Heb. ???), which is both ancient and popular, will hardly be displaced by Bardenhewer’s more recent and rather prosaic interpretation of the corpulent one (from ???, to fatten). Akin to this derivation is an older but nobler one, i. e., the strong, the tall.
The final syllable iam is usually treated as the suffix characteristic of Hebrew adjectives and abstract nouns, though some interpret it substantively and explain Miriam to mean the bitter sea (mare amarum, ???, from ???, bitter, and ???, sea) or a drop of the sea, (stilla maris, from ???, drop, and ???, sea).
On purely linguistic grounds “Mary” may also be derived from Marjam, i. e., the bitter, or, figuratively, the sorrowful one (amara, afflicta).
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