Читать книгу The Book of Gratitudes - Pablo R. Andiñach - Страница 10

In ancient times, there was a passion for seeing beauty in certain animals and expressing it in names: Rachel means sheep. Deborah means bee. Jonah is a man’s name, but in its original Hebrew, yonah meant “dove.”

In the Bible, Susana (shoshanah) is the word that names a lily and is related to the number six, for the petals of the lilies. Curiously, Azucena also derives from the same Semitic word, but reached us through the Arabs who lived in Spain. Note the coincidence in the sound of the consonants of the two names; from the same root, the name took different routes to arrive in different forms to the same Spanish language.

The name Leila holds the mystery of the night (laila means “night” in Hebrew). Esther is the name of the Persian goddess Ishtar. In Persian, estara means “star” and passed almost unchanged into English.

The book of Ruth (a name which means “friend, friendship”) introduces us to Naomi, whose meaning in Hebrew is “sweet” or “graceful one,” while Mara (alas!) means bitter, bitterness.

David means “beloved.” Another great monarch Salomon, bears in his name the idea of a pacifier (in Hebrew it is shelomó, very close to the word shalom—peace).

Names that include the syllable el are a whole other chapter. They are called theophories, that is, God is included in them. Daniel means “God is my judge,” understood as “only God can judge me” (dan is “judge” in Hebrew). Manuel (also Emmanuel) means “God is with us.” Raphael means “God is my physician.” Gabriel and Gabriella mean “man (or woman) of God” (geber, geberet are man and woman in Hebrew). Finally, “my mountain, fortress, rock, is God” is expressed by Ariel (ar is “mount” in Hebrew).

Delilah (same in Hebrew delilah) means “weak,” “languishing,” which does not do justice to her courage and ingenuity in deceiving Samson (Hebrew shimshon), also the name of a Canaanite deity. According to his name, Samson believed himself to be practically a god, but he was actually so weak that he lost his power when his hair was cut.