Miriam

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Miriam or Mirjam (also in other spellings, see under "Variants") is a female given name .

Miriam with her brother Moses hiding in the reeds.

origin

The name is of Hebrew origin and is actually Mirjam (Hebrew מִרְיָם). The name tradition goes back to the Bible . In the Tanach the older sister of Moses , the prophetess Miriam , bears this name ( Ex 15.20  EU ). In the Septuagint and the New Testament the name Mirjam is transcribed in Greek Μαριαμ ( Mariam , cf. Aramaic ܡܪܝܡ Maryam ). The name Maria emerged from this when it was adopted in Latin . In the New Testament this is primarily called Mary , the mother of Jesus . In addition, Mary Magdalene is significant as a disciple of Jesus.

The common form Miriam goes to the reshaping of the Hebrew consonants iodine to the Greek vowel IOTA and Latin I return.

meaning

With its many variations, the name Mirjam / Miriam / Maria is the most common female first name in the German-speaking area. The meaning of the name is not completely clear, however.

According to an older understanding - also in the Jewish tradition - the name is a nominal formation from the Hebrew terms mir / mar for "bitter" and jam for "sea". It would then be translated as "sea bitter", also "sea myrrh" or "sea drops". This meaning may still resonate in the medieval name Stella Maris (“star of the sea”) for Mary, the mother of Jesus.

More recent interpretations, however, see an originally Egyptian origin as a derivation of mry ("loved"), possibly with the divine subject Amun : merit-amun , "beloved by Amun".

There are also other theories:

  • The sublime , elevated as a participle of the Hebrew verbal stem rwm for "stand up, raise"
  • The Unruly or Untamed , from the Hebrew verb stem mry "recalcitrant" for
  • The gift (from God) , from the Hebrew verbal stem rym for "to give"
  • The fertile , from the Hebrew verbal stem mry for "to be fertile".

Name days

Name bearers

(for the Mirjam variant see below)

variants

  • Maria , Mariam, Mariamne , Marie, Maryam , Marjam, Marjan , Marjane (other variants under Maria)
  • Meriam, Meriuma, Meriyam
  • Mia, Mii, Mij, Mijam, Mira, Miria, Mirian, Mirja , Mirjam , Miryam, Mirijam, Myriam
  • Myri, Myriam , Myrjam
  • Meryem, Meyrem, Mejrem, Merjem
  • Mimi (Hebrew variant)
  • Miri
  • Mhairi

Others

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ M. Görg: Mirjam. In: NBL II, col. 815-816
  2. ↑ M. Görg: Mirjam. In: NBL II, col. 815-816