Gender Distinction in Israelite Personal Names: A Socioreligious Investigation

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This work challenges the traditional view that no significant distinction exists between male and female names in the Hebrew Bible by comparing all female names from the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew inscriptions, and Elephantine documents with comparable male names.

It shows clear distinctions, unnoted or dismissed by previous studies, and analyzes more subtle differences as reflecting social and religious customs and values over time. Particular attention is given to the work of Rainer Albertz in Family and Household Religion in Ancient Israel and the Levant (co-authored with Rdiger Schmitt), where he analyzes the personal names found in epigraphic sources as a complement to the biblical names and a primary source for reconstruction of household religion in ancient Israel. Two appendices treat (A) the distribution of FNs in the Hebrew Bible, with attention to the implications of distinct literary sources for the biblical FNs and MNs, and (B) detailed analysis of all theophoric FNs, with comparison to MNs from the same root.

Author Bio

Phyllis A. Bird is Professor Emerita of Old Testament Interpretation at GarrettEvangelical Theological Seminary, USA.