What's in a Word? Synonyms in the Hebrew Language
The Princess & the Prophetess – Sarah, Sarai, Iscah, Jessica
From the moment that Abraham’s wife is introduced in Genesis 12:29 and for the next five and a half chapters, her name is always given as Sarai (seventeen times). In Genesis 17:15, Hashem tells Abraham that his wife Sarai’s name should no longer be Sarai, but rather Sarah. From then on through the rest of the book of Genesis, she is consistently referred to as Sarah (thirty-eight times). The only other time her name appears again in the Bible is in Isaiah 51:2, when the prophet Isaiah exhorts the Jewish People to remember their forebears, Abraham and Sarah. In this essay, we will discuss the names Sarai and Sarah borne by of Abraham’s wife. Afterwards, we will examine a third name associated with her — Iscah — and will explore how that particular name of hers fits into the story.
Both names, Sarai and Sarah, are related to the word sar (“prince/officer/minister”) and denote the princeliness and prominence of Abraham’s wife. Even though those names, as well as the word sar, are typically spelled with an initial SIN-REISH, Rabbi Shlomo Pappenheim in Cheshek Shlomo traces the word sar to the biliteral root SAMECH-REISH (based on the interchangeability of the letters SIN and SAMECH). He explains the core meaning of that root to refer to “removal” (i.e., moving something away from its original place or position), and a corollary of that core meaning is the idea of asirah (“jailing/incarcerating”), which removes a prisoner’s freedom of movement. The way Rabbi Pappenheim explains it, the word sar derives from this branch of the SAMECH-REISH root because a sar uses his position of authority to limit his subordinates’ movements and dictate how they may or may not act.
If both Sarai and Sarah are related to sar, then what is the difference between them and what is the significance of Hashem changing the name of Abraham’s wife?
The difference between the names Sarai and Sarah is that the former is spelled with a YOD as the final letter, while the latter is spelled with a HEY as the final letter. There are two rabbinic traditions regarding the YOD which was taken away from the name Sarai. One tradition states that the YOD (which holds a gematria value of ten) was split in twain resulting in two HEYs (each of which holds a gematria value of five). Then, one HEY was given to Abraham (to switch his name from Avram to Avraham), and the other HEY was given to his wife (to switch her name from Sarai to Sarah).
The other tradition relates that when Hashem removed the letter YOD from Sarai’s name, the letter complained to Him, arguing that just because it is the smallest of letters, that does not mean that it is less significant. In response, Hashem upgraded the position of the letter YOD by prepending that letter to the name of Moses’ protégé Hosea, who name was changed to Joshua (Num. 13:16). In doing so, the letter HEY went from being the last letter in the name of a righteous woman to being the first letter in the name of a righteous man (see Jerusalemic Talmud Sanhedrin 2:6, Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 107a, and Bereishit Rabbah §47:1).
The Talmud (Brachot 13a, see also Tosefta Brachot 1:14 and Bereishit Rabbah §47:1) explains the significance of Sarai/Sarah’s name change by noting that the name Sarai implies that she was a princess only of her own nation, while the name Sarah means that she is a princess over the entire world. Rashi (to Brachot 13a and Gen. 17:15) further clarifies that this distinction is derived from the fact that the YOD at the end of Sarai is reminiscent of the first-person possessive, which limits Sarai’s prominence. Similarly, Maharal (Tiferet Yisrael ch. 49) writes that the appearance of YOD as the final letter in Sarai implies diminution and limitation because YOD is orthographically the smallest letter in the Hebrew Alphabet, while the HEY of Sarah implies expansion and growth.
Interestingly, in the Septuagint (that is, the Greek translation of the Torah), Abraham’s wife is originally named Sara and her name is then changed to Sarra. As Philo of Alexandria explains it, this name change represents a shift from Abraham’s wife serving as his “personal princess” to her universal role as a “princess” in general, with her newer name relating to serarah (“authority/rulership”), not unlike the Talmud’s exegesis cited above.
A similar interpretation is offered by Abarbanel, who writes that Sarai was named such by her parents to allude to her destiny as the lady of a special man (i.e., Abraham), but Hashem changed her name to Sarah to stresses her absolute specialness in her own right. Likewise, Rabbi Shlomo Astruc explains that Sarai was only destined to be the mistress over her own household, while her new name Sarah implies that she is to serve as the mistress of the world in general.
The Maharsha (to Brachot 13a) explains the shift slightly differently: Initially, Sarai’s prominence and prestige was to be limited to her own lifetime, because as long as she lived, people would look up to her; but once she died, she would have had no progeny to continue her legacy. Afterwards, once she was renamed Sarah, this extended her princely role to beyond her lifetime, as Sarah (but not Sarai) was destined to bear a son, Isaac, whose descendants would continue on with her life mission.
Rabbi David Luria, in explaining how the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah §47:1) understands the passage (Gen. 17:15) about Hashem changing Sarai’s name to Sarah, writes that when Hashem said to Abraham “Do not call her name Sarai,” this means “Do not think that you are the one who bestows upon her the name Sarai,” implying that her princess-like prominence and importance stems from the fact that she is Abraham’s wife. Rather, “for her name is Sarah” — she herself is a ruler and important person in her own right. In fact, Rabbi Luria understands that Midrash as highlighting that Sarah’s rulership extends over others and that her husband is crowned by her achievements, and not vice versa.
Rabbi Shmuel David Luzzatto, also known as Shadal, explains (in his commentary to Gen. 17:15) the switch from Sarai to Sarah by noting that the ancient practice was that when a commoner ascends to a position of greatness, they assume a new name. This is seen when Pharaoh renamed Joseph as Tzafnat Paneach (Gen. 41:45), Moses renamed Hosea as Joshua (Num. 13:16), Nebuchadnezzar renamed Matanyahu as Zedekiah (II Kgs. 24:17), and then Nebuchadnezzar later renamed Daniel, Chananya, Mishael, and Azaria as Beltshazzar, Shadrach, Meishach, and Aved-Nego respectively (Dan. 1:7).
Shadal also suggests that the additional HEY added to Abram (to become Abraham) and Sarai (to become Sarah) signifies femininity, and was added to both Avraham and Sarah’s names as a sign of fertility and procreation (see Kli Yakar to Gen. 17:15 who offers a similar explanation).
Moreover, Shadal also writes that the name Sarah is related to the Arabic word shara, which apparently means “having lots of children.” My friends Rabbi Yosef Kerman and Rabbi Shaul Goldman are unsure as to exactly what Arabic word Shadal meant to refer. Rabbi Goldman suggests that he meant to refer to the Arabic word zara (“sowed, seeded, planted”) or the Arabic word dhara (“grain, seed, produce”), but then wonders why Shadal had to resort to Arabic to prove this point, if a Hebrew cognate zera (“seed/offspring”) would have sufficed to illustrate the same idea. Indeed, Rabbi Goldman notices that the root ZAYIN-REISH-AYIN from whence zera derives may be viewed as related to the three-letter string SIN-REISH-HEY (which spells out the name Sarah) because SIN and ZAYIN are interchangeable, and HEY and AYIN are interchangeable. In fact, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (in his comments to Gen. 17:15) compares SIN-REISH-HEY to ZAYIN-REISH-AYIN when elaborating on how the transformation from “Sarai” to “Sarah” is symbolic, as Abraham’s wife shifts from an isolated figure to one embodying moral leadership for all, a role in which each daughter of Israel is seen as aspiring to emulate.
When the Torah introduces us to the Abraham and his family, it discusses Abraham and his brother Nahor getting married. The full verse reads: “And Abram and Nahor married wives, the name of Abram’s wife is Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife is Milcah, daughter of Haran, who was the father of Milcah and Iscah [Yiscah in Hebrew]” (Gen. 11:29). This difficult-to-read passage introduces us to a character named Iscah, who is never again mentioned in the Bible. An ancient tradition preserved in rabbinic sources (Seder Olam Rabbah ch. 2, Megillah 14a, Sanhedrin 69b, and Targum pseudo-Jonathan to Gen. 11:29) and by Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Ch. 6) maintains that Iscah is none other than Sarai/Sarah!
Rabbeinu Nissim offers proof to the assertion that Iscah is the same person as Sarai/Sarah from the fact that the Torah provides the paternity of Nahor’s wife Milcah, yet does not mention the paternity of Abraham’s wife Sarai. Given that the Torah delineates the father of one brother’s wife (Nahor’s), we would have expected it to mention the father of the other brother’s wife as well (Abram’s). This difficulty can be resolved if we assume that Sarai is indeed Iscah, since the Torah states that Haran was the father of Iscah, which gives us Iscah/Sarai’s parentage.
On a more esoteric level, Baal HaTurim, Peirush HaRokeach, and Rabbeinu Efrayim bar Shimshon (to Gen. 11:29) explain that the identification of Sarah as Iscah is alluded to in the very name Sarah: under the At-Bash cipher, the name Sarah becomes Bagatz, and the gematria of Bagatz equals that of Iscah (=95).
Nonetheless, it should be noted that Ibn Ezra and Shadal (to Gen. 11:29) express skepticism regarding the identification of Iscah with Sarai.
The Talmud (Megillah 14a, Sanhedrin 69b) offers two ways of explaining why Sarai/Sarah was called Iscah: the first is that she had the ability to “gaze” (sachta) with the prophetic Holy Spirit, and the second is that all people “gazed” (sachin) upon her beauty. Both of these explanations are seemingly based on connecting Iscah to the root SAMECH-KAF-(HEY), which refers to “seeing/looking/staring/gazing” in Rabbinic Hebrew. Examples of words derived from that root appear in HaBachur’s Meturgaman, as he lists declensions of this root being used by the Targumim as translations for various Hebrew terms related to “seeing” like habatah, hashkafah, tzofeh, shur, andhover. [I discussed a plethora of words for “seeing” in my essay “Seeing is Believing” (Nov. 2017), and I specifically discussed socheh as a word for “gazing” in “Welcome to Rooster City” (July 2021).]
Indeed, Dr. Alexander Kohut (in HeAruch HaShaleim) connects this root SAMECH-KAF-(HEY) to the Talmud’s exegesis on the name Iscah. He also theorizes that perhaps this root is of an Indo-European etymology, related to the German schauen (“look”) and the Sanskrit sku (and the English see).
Rabbi Avraham Abba Herczl (in Sifsei Chachamim to Megillah 14a) also seems to follow this explanation of the Talmud, although he understood that the Talmud connects the name Iscah to the root SAMECH-KAF-LAMMED (from whence the histakel, “looking/staring” derives). But then, Rabbi Herczl suggests that perhaps the Talmud meant to connect Iscah with sukkah (“hut/covering/canopy”) to stress Sarai/Sarah’s extreme modesty in hiding (“covering”) her prophetic levels without showing off. He also explains that perhaps the Talmud’s second explanation of Iscah means that everybody “talked about” (sichah, with a CHET) Sarai/Sarah’s superlative beauty, rather than they “gazed” upon it.Rashi (to Gen. 11:29) adds that the name Iscah also relates to the word nesichah (“princess”), just like Sarah relates to serarah (as noted in Part I). Based on this, Rabbi Eliyahu Benamozegh (in Eim L’Mikra Eim L’Mesoret to Gen. 11:29) and Rabbi Yaakov Emden (Eim L’Binah there) argue that the thematic affinity between the meanings of the names Sarai and Iscah (as both relate to princeliness) points to the notion that both names were borne by the very same person. (See Rabbi Shabsai Bass’ Sifsei Chachamim who discusses why Rashi felt the need to add another explanation to the name Iscah that does not appear in the Talmud).
Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (Ben Yehoyada to Sanhedrin 69b and Benayahu to Megillah 14a) merges the Talmud’s two explanations by explaining when she was younger, she was called Iscah on account of her beauty, but when she matured, it became apparent that the name Iscah also alludes to her elevated spiritual status that allowed her to attain prophecy. With this in mind, he explains that the Torah refrains from calling her Iscah (save for one passage, as mentioned above) because despite the positive connotation of that name, it also somewhat implies an undue focus on beauty and external aesthetics, which contradicts the ideals of modesty and might give the reader the wrong impression of her.
I found two more explanations for how the name Iscah interacts with the name Sarai/Sarah: Rabbi Aharon Marcus (in Keset HaSofer to Gen. 11:29) writes that it is a well-attested to phenomenon in the Ancient Near East that people would have more than one name, often going by one name in childhood and then changing their name after marriage. Accordingly, her childhood name was Iscah; but after she married Abraham, she went by Sarai; and then, Hashem eventually changed her name to Sarah when she was in her late eighties. Additionally, Rabbi Moshe Sofer (Toras Moshe to Gen. 23:5) writes that Iscah was her Aramaic name, while Sarai/Sarah was her Hebrew name.
Interestingly, the English name Jessica — which first appears in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice in the character of Shylock’s daughter — is generally understood by onomasts as an Anglicization of the Biblical name Iscah.
That said, Professor Grant W. Smith (from Eastern Washington University) argues that the name Jessica is actually rooted in falconry, rather than in the Biblical character in question. He presents linguistic and literary evidence that Shakespeare intended the name as a reference to “jess strings” — the straps used to tether a falcon’s legs to its master. This term “jess” comes from the Old French gesse, which itself originates from the Latin jactus, meaning “throw” or “cast,” reflecting the act of controlling a bird of prey. In the context of Shakespeare’s play, the metaphor aligns with Jessica’s situation because Jessica feels trapped under her father Shylock’s control, just like a hawk restrained by jesses might yearn for its freedom.
Furthermore, Professor Smith argues that the –ica suffix in Jessica is interpreted as a Latin nominative feminine singular ending (e.g., Judaica, Hebraica), referring to a subject or field of knowledge. In this case, it suggests “jess strings.” His proposal posits that Shakespeare, who apparently frequently referenced falconry, coined the name to symbolize Jessica’s emotional and physical desire to break free from her father’s control, a theme that would have resonated with Elizabethan audiences familiar with falconry and Latin grammar.
While Professor Smith’s falconry connection can be appreciated as an intriguing layer of Shakespearean wordplay, I maintain that the simpler explanation that Jessica stems from the Hebrew name Iscah remains valid. The transition from Yiscah to Jessica does not require deep Hebrew knowledge, as English translations of the Bible that preceded Shakespeare already rendered Yiscah as “Jescha” (Wycliffe) and “Jiſca/Jisca” (Coverdale). Since Shakespeare was familiar with such biblical translations (especially the Geneva Bible, but possibly also Coverdale’s), this evolution of the name likely influenced his choice in naming Shylock’s daughter.
Furthermore, scholars have noted that other obscure names in The Merchant of Venice also come from Genesis, suggesting that Shakespeare’s use of Biblical names in the play aligns with his broader pattern of drawing from Scripture, without the need for the falconry connection to explain Jessica’s etymology. It has been argued that the name Shylock derives from Shelach (Gen. 10:24), while the names Tuball and Chus likewise derive from other Biblical names in Genesis. If so, it is less of a stretch to argue that Jessica likewise derives from Iscah, which likewise appears in Genesis.
Once we’re talking onomastics, the name Sarah also has quite a few derivatives, including the given names: Sari, Suri, Szori, Sarolta, Zara, Serita, and Serl. Believe it or not, the English name Sadie actually began as a nickname of Sarah, undergoing the shortening and softening of the “sar-” sound to “sad-,” with the addition of the “-ie” ending as a term of endearment. Likewise, the English name Sally also seems to derive from Sarah. The sound-change from “Sarah” to “Sally” likely occurred due to an English linguistic pattern whereby the letters “r” and “l” were interchanged when creating diminutives/nicknames. Famous examples of this include Harry becoming Hal, Mary becoming Molly, and Dorothy becoming Dolly. In all those cases, the r-sound was replaced with an l-sound, and the diminutive suffix “y” was appended to the name.
Several Jewish surnames also seem to be related to the name Sarah, including Shore, Sirkes, Sharlin, and Sarles. I remember back in Emek Hebrew Academy, there was a girl in my grade named Sara Sarles. Interestingly, some have argued that the Hungarian surname Soros might be related to the name Sarah, although others see it as related to the name Schorsch, which is a Germanized form of George.
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