Shraga Feitel

[RC Klein]

What is the connection between the name "Shraga" (which means fire) and "Feitel" (the Yiddish name which generally comes along with Shraga)?

A friend of mine told me that he heard that Feit is the name of a Germanic fire-god so the connection between Shraga and Feitel is thematic in that way. Have you heard of such thing? I was unable to find any evidence of a Germanic fire-god with that name?

I also found a theory here that claims that Feitel is a corruption/phonological change from the Italian Vital (which means the same as it does in English, "life"). But that would be more appropriate as a tag-along to Chaim, not to Shraga.

Gmar Chasimah Tovah,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

[RC Klein]

Thanks to all the people that replied both on the list and privately.

It seems that indeed my friend meant to refer to Feivush/Feivel, not Feitel. As some of you wrote to me, Feivel seems to be derived from the Greek name Phoebus. From my research (i.e. Wikipedia), Phoebus is a description which has been applied to the Greek god Apollo who was the god of light. The thing is that his *name* wasn't Phoebus, rater it was a title applied to him. There is a Greek Titaness named Phoebe which might be an earlier form the word which also means "light" or "bright". Mrs. Schiffman wrote that Feivel is one of a few Jewish names related to pagan gods (the others being Mordchai and Esther, and I might add Anat and Fortuna). But I'm more hesitant to make such an assertion because I don't think Phoebus was the *name* of a pagan god, it was a descrption applied to Apollo and ultimately it says phoebus is a common noun that refers to light or brightness. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The name Feitel also sounds interesting, but I guess that's a different discussion.

Anyways, thanks again for all your responses (I didn't have a chance to reply to each person separately).

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

On Mon, Sep 17, 2018 at 6:14 PM Yoel Elitzur <Yoel.E...@mail.huji.ac.il> wrote:

שלום. לפי הידוע לי השם המלווה את 'שרגא' הוא פייבל ולפעמים פייש. מציע לשאול חוקרי יידיש. שנה טובה וברכות שמים. יואל אליצור

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[Alexandre Beider]

The name Feivel (Yiddish Fayvl) is derived from Feivus (Yiddish Fayvus) or its (more recent) variant Feivush (Yiddish Fayvush).

There was also a name Feibel (Yiddish Faybl) derived from Feibus[h] (Yiddish Faybus[h]), a phonetic variant of Feivus, and more recent than Feivus.

The given name Fayvus(h)/Faybus(h) is not etymologically derived from the Greek name Phoebus, but from the name Vivus (or Vives, Vivas), of Romance origin. There is no doubt about it. Yet, since the Middle Ages, Fayvus and related forms were considered in the rabbinical tradition to be kinnuim to the shem ha-qodesh Uri. The link was not etymological, but folk etymological (or, "rabbinically etymological"): the meaning of Uri in Hebrew has been related to the fact that Phoebus (that by chance have several sounds in common or close to those present in Fayvus/Faybus) is a byname of Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun.

Later, Fayvus became considered a kinnui not only for Uri, but also for Uri Shraga or just Shraga ("candle" in Aramaic), with the same association to the notion of light. 

The name Feitel (Yiddish Faytl) is unrelated to the names discussed above (being ultimately derived from Romance Vital).

 Yet, in Ashkenazic rabbinical tradition (valid at least during the 19th century in Eastern Europe), it was considered a kinnui mainly for two shemot ha-qodesh: (1) Yaker (Israeli Yakar or Yakir), (2) Urshraga = Uri Shraga.

The last link corresponds to what you indicated in your initial request. 

I don't know how this link came to life. Maybe, it appeared because Yiddish Faytl is close enough to Fayvl / Faybl that were (for the reasons I explained above) linked to Uri (Shraga) in the rabbinical cultural tradition.

Alexander Beider

[RC Klein]

Very interesting. Do you have any sources for what you wrote? I want to write this up in a paper about using pagan gods in Jewish names.

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 2:25 PM Alexandre Beider <albe...@yahoo.fr> wrote:

The name Feivel (Yiddish Fayvl) is derived from Feivus (Yiddish Fayvus) or its (more recent) variant Feivush (Yiddish Fayvush).

There was also a name Feibel (Yiddish Faybl) derived from Feibus[h] (Yiddish Faybus[h]), a phonetic variant of Feivus, and more recent than Feivus.

The given name Fayvus(h)/Faybus(h) is not etymologically derived from the Greek name Phoebus, but from the name Vivus (or Vives, Vivas), of Romance origin. There is no doubt about it. Yet, since the Middle Ages, Fayvus and related forms were considered in the rabbinical tradition to be kinnuim to the shem ha-qodesh Uri. The link was not etymological, but folk etymological (or, "rabbinically etymological"): the meaning of Uri in Hebrew has been related to the fact that Phoebus (that by chance have several sounds in common or close to those present in Fayvus/Faybus) is a byname of Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun.

Later, Fayvus became considered a kinnui not only for Uri, but also for Uri Shraga or just Shraga ("candle" in Aramaic), with the same association to the notion of light. 

The name Feitel (Yiddish Faytl) is unrelated to the names discussed above (being ultimately derived from Romance Vital).

 Yet, in Ashkenazic rabbinical tradition (valid at least during the 19th century in Eastern Europe), it was considered a kinnui mainly for two shemot ha-qodesh: (1) Yaker (Israeli Yakar or Yakir), (2) Urshraga = Uri Shraga.

The last link corresponds to what you indicated in your initial request. 

I don't know how this link came to life. Maybe, it appeared because Yiddish Faytl is close enough to Fayvl / Faybl that were (for the reasons I explained above) linked to Uri (Shraga) in the rabbinical cultural tradition.

Alexander Beider

Le jeudi 20 septembre 2018 à 11:46:17 UTC+2, RC Klein <yesh...@gmail.com> a écrit :

Thanks to all the people that replied both on the list and privately.

It seems that indeed my friend meant to refer to Feivush/Feivel, not Feitel. As some of you wrote to me, Feivel seems to be derived from the Greek name Phoebus. From my research (i.e. Wikipedia), Phoebus is a description which has been applied to the Greek god Apollo who was the god of light. The thing is that his *name* wasn't Phoebus, rater it was a title applied to him. There is a Greek Titaness named Phoebe which might be an earlier form the word which also means "light" or "bright". Mrs. Schiffman wrote that Feivel is one of a few Jewish names related to pagan gods (the others being Mordchai and Esther, and I might add Anat and Fortuna). But I'm more hesitant to make such an assertion because I don't think Phoebus was the *name* of a pagan god, it was a descrption applied to Apollo and ultimately it says phoebus is a common noun that refers to light or brightness. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

The name Feitel also sounds interesting, but I guess that's a different discussion.

Anyways, thanks again for all your responses (I didn't have a chance to reply to each person separately).

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

[Alexandre Beider]

(1) Salfeld, Siegmund.1898. Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches // Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, 3. Berlin: L. Simion.

(2) Weinreich, Max. 1973. Geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh. 4 vols. New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. (English translation: History of the Yiddish language. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.). This book appears as GYS below.

(3) Beider, Alexander. 2001. A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu. This book appears as DAGN below. I include not only etymologies, but also linguistic analysis of all known morphological variants and phonetic forms, and provide large lists of references from the Middle Ages until the 20th century, as well as correspondences shemot ha-qodesh/kinnuim taken from various rabbinical treatises (16th-19th centuries). The other books in this list do not discuss links shemot ha-qodesh/kinnuim.

(4) Beider, Alexander. 2015. Origins of Yiddish Dialects. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Called OYD below.

Correct etymology of Fayvush: Salfeld 1898:417, GYS 2:54, 2:316; 4:72, 4:76, DAGN pp. 308-312, OYD pp.383, 386, 406, 464, 490, 532, 556

Etymology of Faytl: GYS 2:54-55, 2:316, 4:203, DAGN pp.307-308, OYD pp.385, 406.

The linguistic history of these names and particularly Fayvush allows to observe numerous phonetic phenomena general to Yiddish. For this reason, they are discussed in detail in studies dealing with the history of Yiddish (GYS, OYD). 

[RC Klein]

To Dr. Beider,

Thank you for taking the time to help me with this. I still have a few more follow-up questions. Do those sources mention any specific rabbinic sources which cite the Fayvus/Phoebus etymology? Also, according your understanding that Fayvus is derived from Vivus, then why did the first v-consonant evolve into an f-sound, while the second v-consonat evolved into a b-sound (or remained a v-sound)? Also, the link between Fayvus and Uri/Shraga seems to support the folk/rabbinic etymology, although I guess you would argue that that folk etymology preceded whatever instances of the combination we know of and was actually the reason behind the association. Are there any early sources which associated Fayvus with Chaim (which would bolster your understanding)?

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 11:31 PM Alexandre Beider <albe...@yahoo.fr> wrote:

(1) Salfeld, Siegmund.1898. Das Martyrologium des Nürnberger Memorbuches // Quellen zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland, 3. Berlin: L. Simion.

(2) Weinreich, Max. 1973. Geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh. 4 vols. New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research. (English translation: History of the Yiddish language. 2 vols. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.). This book appears as GYS below.

(3) Beider, Alexander. 2001. A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu. This book appears as DAGN below. I include not only etymologies, but also linguistic analysis of all known morphological variants and phonetic forms, and provide large lists of references from the Middle Ages until the 20th century, as well as correspondences shemot ha-qodesh/kinnuim taken from various rabbinical treatises (16th-19th centuries). The other books in this list do not discuss links shemot ha-qodesh/kinnuim.

(4) Beider, Alexander. 2015. Origins of Yiddish Dialects. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Called OYD below.

Correct etymology of Fayvush: Salfeld 1898:417, GYS 2:54, 2:316; 4:72, 4:76, DAGN pp. 308-312, OYD pp.383, 386, 406, 464, 490, 532, 556

Etymology of Faytl: GYS 2:54-55, 2:316, 4:203, DAGN pp.307-308, OYD pp.385, 406.

The linguistic history of these names and particularly Fayvush allows to observe numerous phonetic phenomena general to Yiddish. For this reason, they are discussed in detail in studies dealing with the history of Yiddish (GYS, OYD). 

Le jeudi 20 septembre 2018 à 19:56:01 UTC+2, RC Klein <yesh...@gmail.com> a écrit :

Very interesting. Do you have any sources for what you wrote? I want to write this up in a paper about using pagan gods in Jewish names.

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

[Alexandre Beider]

1. Rabbinic sources rarely discuss etymologies. They usually discuss (or, even more often, just provide) links shemot-ha-qodesh / kinnuim. Maybe, the quote below from my dictionary (DAGN, p.XXV) can be useful for you. I used Sefer shemot extensively, though numerous links provided in that source are actually copied from the books by Jacob Margolis:

-----------------------------------------------

The primary purpose of these [AB: rabbinical] books was to determine the given names of both the husband and the wife in divorce documents, and to include for men both the kinnui  used in everyday life and shem ha-qodesh  used in religious life. Among the first important studies of this group are treatises based on the work by German rabbi Jacob Margolis (circa 1430–1501) published during the 16th and early 17th century.[Seder H/aliz/ah, ha-arokh ve-ha-kaz/ar, le-rabenu ... Yaakov Margolis [in Hebrew]. Ed. Y.Satz. Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1998; Seder ha-get (Laws of Divorce) by R.Yaacov Margolis [in Hebrew]. Ed. Y.Satz. Jerusalem: Machon Yerushalayim, 1983.] Simcha ben Gershon ha-Kohen, an Ashkenazic rabbi who was born in Belgrade, published in Venice in 1657 Sefer shemot (Book of Names) that includes a representative list of first names. The most famous opus of this kind, Sefer Beit Shmuel, was written in the late 17th century by Samuel ben Uri Shraga Phoebus. An entire chapter of this book about family law deals with Jewish names used in his time. The background of the author—that he was of Polish origin, a rabbi in his native country, and lived in Fürth (Middle Franconia)—contributed to the author’s deep knowledge of names used by Ashkenazic Jews in this large geographic area. Certain historical events of that time, such as the presence in Central and Western Europe of numerous refugees from Ukraine and Poland after the Cossack massacres, also contributed to the author’s knowledge. Ephraim Zalmen Margulies, a rabbi who lived in Galicia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, prepared the most classical edition of that work under the title Tiv Gittin.

---------------------------

Surely, the name of the father of the author of Sefer shemot was not Uri Shraga Phoebus, but Uri Shraga Fayvus(h). But, traditionally, his patronymic is transcribed this way following the (false) link from Fayvus to Phoebus that was common in German Jewish literature since the 19th century.

2. I copy below the general part of the entry Fayvush in my dictionary (DAGN, p.308):

The ultimate source of this name is the Latin vivus ‘living’, ‘alive’. It is likely to have been created as a calque of the appellations Chaim (meaning life in Hebrew; see the entry for Khayem) and/or Yechiel (which includes the Hebrew verb meaning to live in its structure; see the entry for Yekhiel). In England during the first half of the 13th century, there are references to an individual called Vives in Latin sources and חיים (Chaim) in Hebrew (Seror 1989:275). Yechiel ben Joseph (who was between 1225 and 1260 the head of the Yeshiva of Paris) is also known as Sire *Vives (ויויש שיר; Gross 1897:341). However, in medieval France, it was used as a kinnui for other Hebrew names too (Seror 1989:XVI). The earliest Ashkenazic forms—Vivus, Vives and Vivis—came to Germany from France (cf. occurrences in Christian and Jewish sources from France in Seror 1989:275). It was found in both northern and southern France (Gross 1897:341-342, Seror 1989:273). Numerous Jewish Vives and Vivas appear in medieval Spain (see indices to Baer 1936, Régné 1978; Miret 1914:73).... In rabbinical practice, the name Fayvush and its variants were generally considered as derived from the Greek name Phoibos (Latin Phoebus), god of the sun. This erroneous etymology is also suggested by several linguists (Fischer 1938:156, Wexler 1987:49). The association was thought to have been corroborated by the use of Fayvush as a kinnui for the biblical Uri (which in turn is derived from the Hebrew root meaning light, flame). However, the chronology of the occurrences of various forms of Fayvush (see below) clearly shows that Fayvush is related to Vivus and is independent of Phoibos (Salfeld 1898:417, GYS 2:54, 316; 4:72, 76). Moreover, among the eleven men named Vives/Vivis/Vivus in the Latin sources from Cologne dating from 1235–1339 (Hoeniger 1888) for which their appellations in Hebrew documents are known as well, there are two named Uri, two Eliezer and two Vives, as well as one Zadok, one Nechemia, one Meshulam, one Yakar and one Eliakim. As a result, it is evident that in medieval Cologne the relationship between Uri and Vives already existed, although it was not definitively fixed.

From the Rhineland (where the initial /v/ shifted to /f/), the forms Vivis/Fivis, Vives/Fives, Vivus/Fivus came to southeastern Germany (Franconia, Bavaria) where the phonetic shift /i/ > /ay/ occurred giving rise to the forms Fayvis, Fayves and Fayvus. From southeastern Germany Jewish migrants brought these new phonetic variants to the Slavic countries where the final element ‑is/es/us was in some cases replaced by the similarly sounding elements ‑ish/esh/ush that correspond to the Slavic diminutive suffixes... In recent centuries, Fayvush, its variants and derived forms were considered to be kinnuim for Uri, Uri Shraga, Shraga, Eliezer, Eleazar, Samuel, Chaim, Joel, Meshullam, Hezekiah and Samson (see the entries for Ure, Urshrage, Shrage, Elieyzer, Elozer, Shmuel, Khayem, Yoyel, Meshulem, Khiskie and Shimshn).

3. Since the publication of DAGN (2001), I found one major change to be done to the above description: the name Vives/Vivus, was not originally created by Jews, but borrowed by them in northern Spain from Christians (numerous Christian bearers of the names Vives/Vivus/Vivas lived in medieval northern Spain). Jews borrowed this name because of its meaning allowing them to make connections to Hayyim and Yehiel. 

In OYD, I noted this recent finding and discuss various phonetic processes in more detail than in DAGN or GYS, namely:

(1) Initial Middle High German (MHG) /v/ became in the Middle Ages pronounced /f/ (though spelling did not change, "V" in modern standard German). This pan-German change affected the pronunciation of Ashkenazic names of non-German origin by German-speaking Jews ==> It is the origin of the initial /F/ in Fayvus

(2) Internal MHG /v/ received different development in various German dialects: /f/ in the west and /v/ (or, at least, the lenis [v̥]). Yiddish dialects followed these changes. For this reasons, we have Eastern Yiddish Fayvus, with internal /v/, while in West Germany we have already in the Middle Ages:

  (a) Vifus, Vifis, Fifus, Fifis, Vifel(man): in the north (Frankfurt area, where the long /i/ that merged with MHG î did not diphthongize in open syllables in local German dialects)

  (b)   Veifis, Veifel: in the south (Nürnberg area), with the diphthongization.

(3) The variant with internal /b/ (Faybus instead of the original Fayvus) is typical for Slavic countries. It was in Yiddish of the Czech lands-  and consecutively in Eastern Yiddish dialects - that intervocalic or final /v/ turned in /b/ in some words: compare standard (Eastern) Yiddish eybik 'eternal' (German ewig), shvebl 'sulphur' (German Schwefel), leyb 'lion' (German Löwe). The earliest reference (quote from DAGN): Veybuzz [German] 1387 Moravia 

 

Hope this helps.

[RC Klein]

I am already aware of all those sources (I actually have semicha in Jewish Family Law and am quite familiar with the Beis Shmuel, and I'm actually a descendant of his). But what I want to know is your reason for asserting in DAGN: "In rabbinical practice, the name Fayvush and its variants were generally considered as derived from the Greek name Phoibos (Latin Phoebus), god of the sun." Or, as you wrote in your initial email: "The link was not etymological, but folk etymological (or, "rabbinically etymological"): the meaning of Uri in Hebrew has been related to the fact that Phoebus (that by chance have several sounds in common or close to those present in Fayvus/Faybus) is a byname of Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun." What makes you say that the link between Fayvush and Phoebus is rabbinic? Are you aware of any rabbinic sources which make that contention? I have not found any rabbinic sources which mention the link between Fayvush and Phoebus.

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

[Alexandre Beider]

Thank you for insisting. I see that my assertion in DAGN was inaccurate.

I checked my sources: The link between Fayvus and Phoebus appears, for example, in the book:

Kulisher, Iser. Sbornik dlya soglasovaniya raznovidnostej imen [in Russian and Hebrew]. Zhitomir, 1911.

The author was a Russian state rabbi ("kazennyy ravvin"). Almost all his references are taken from the books for Gittin I cited in my previous message, but not this one for which he quotes another Russian Jewish author, Osip Rabinovich (1859), who wrote an article  in which he tried to present an exhaustive list of given names used by Russian Jews, suggesting etymologies for most of these names. Actually, numerous explanations were borrowed by Rabinovich from "Namen der Juden" by Leopold Zunz (1837). I checked Zunz: he does not mention Fayvus, but speaks about the Ashkenazic given name Phoebus (he certainly means Fayvus) used instead of Uri because of a semantic link. 

So, you are right, there is no attested rabbinical tradition linking Fayvus to Phoebus (at least, I was unable to find any evidence about it). 

This tradition is rather related to "Wissenschaft des Judentums" (start of the 19th century). Yet, the rabbinical tradition clearly links Fayvus to Uri. Moreover, as I wrote in my previous message, the link between Vivus (the ancestor of Fayvus) and Uri existed already in 13th-century Cologne, though this link was not firm yet. So the question is: according to which criterion, medieval German rabbis linked Uri to forms related to Vivus? Some phonetic similarity between Vivus and Phoebus could be a criterion. However, the link could also be done according to some other criteria: there are numerous cases of links shem ha-qodesh / kinnui that are hard to be explained today.

[RC Klein]

Earlier today, I just came across the only rabbinic source I know of which connects Feivish to Phoebus: Rabbi Aharon Marcus' work Keset HaSofer (first paragraph on this page). Rabbi Marcus (1843-1916) was an interesting fellow and he is probably familiar to those of you who have done some research on shorashim in the Hebrew language. (By the way, I cited Dr. Beider's explanation of Feivish in my weekly article on synonyms in the Hebrew langauge last week, available here and here).

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Author of: God versus Gods: Judaism in the Age of Idolatry (NEW!) & Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

On Sat, Sep 22, 2018 at 10:21 PM Alexandre Beider <albe...@yahoo.fr> wrote:

Thank you for insisting. I see that my assertion in DAGN was inaccurate.

I checked my sources: The link between Fayvus and Phoebus appears, for example, in the book:

Kulisher, Iser. Sbornik dlya soglasovaniya raznovidnostej imen [in Russian and Hebrew]. Zhitomir, 1911.

The author was a Russian state rabbi ("kazennyy ravvin"). Almost all his references are taken from the books for Gittin I cited in my previous message, but not this one for which he quotes another Russian Jewish author, Osip Rabinovich (1859), who wrote an article  in which he tried to present an exhaustive list of given names used by Russian Jews, suggesting etymologies for most of these names. Actually, numerous explanations were borrowed by Rabinovich from "Namen der Juden" by Leopold Zunz (1837). I checked Zunz: he does not mention Fayvus, but speaks about the Ashkenazic given name Phoebus (he certainly means Fayvus) used instead of Uri because of a semantic link. 

So, you are right, there is no attested rabbinical tradition linking Fayvus to Phoebus (at least, I was unable to find any evidence about it). 

This tradition is rather related to "Wissenschaft des Judentums" (start of the 19th century). Yet, the rabbinical tradition clearly links Fayvus to Uri. Moreover, as I wrote in my previous message, the link between Vivus (the ancestor of Fayvus) and Uri existed already in 13th-century Cologne, though this link was not firm yet. So the question is: according to which criterion, medieval German rabbis linked Uri to forms related to Vivus? Some phonetic similarity between Vivus and Phoebus could be a criterion. However, the link could also be done according to some other criteria: there are numerous cases of links shem ha-qodesh / kinnui that are hard to be explained today.

Le samedi 22 septembre 2018 à 18:57:25 UTC+2, RC Klein <yesh...@gmail.com> a écrit :

I am already aware of all those sources (I actually have semicha in Jewish Family Law and am quite familiar with the Beis Shmuel, and I'm actually a descendant of his). But what I want to know is your reason for asserting in DAGN: "In rabbinical practice, the name Fayvush and its variants were generally considered as derived from the Greek name Phoibos (Latin Phoebus), god of the sun." Or, as you wrote in your initial email: "The link was not etymological, but folk etymological (or, "rabbinically etymological"): the meaning of Uri in Hebrew has been related to the fact that Phoebus (that by chance have several sounds in common or close to those present in Fayvus/Faybus) is a byname of Apollo, the Greek God of the Sun." What makes you say that the link between Fayvush and Phoebus is rabbinic? Are you aware of any rabbinic sources which make that contention? I have not found any rabbinic sources which mention the link between Fayvush and Phoebus.

Kol Tuv,

Reuven Chaim Klein

Beitar Illit, Israel

Check out my book Lashon HaKodesh: History, Holiness, & Hebrew

ORCiD | LinkedIN | Google Scholar | Amazon

[Alexandre Beider]

DAGN:

Beider, Alexander. 2001. A Dictionary of Ashkenazic Given Names: Their Origins, Structure, Pronunciation, and Migrations. Bergenfield, NJ: Avotaynu. 

Le vendredi 14 décembre 2018 à 23:11:17 UTC+1, Dan Nussbaum <yek...@aol.com> a écrit :

For what does DAGN stand?

שבת שלום,

גדליה

Daniel Nussbaum II, M.D., FAAP
Retired Developmental Pediatrician
Rochester, New York

Tone can be misinterpreted in email. Please read my words with warmth, kindness, and good intentions.

Searching for;
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